Mrs Paula St. Amour
Belleville, MI
Amy asked me to write another blog post, and I kept thinking last night about what I wanted to write, and a few things came to mind, but I could never settle on one thing. This morning when my wonderful husband woke me up at 4am, and I could not go back to sleep, I started to think about it again, and I kept coming back to the same thing, so, here it goes…
LAUNDRY!!!
I know you are all thinking, the same thing I used to think, NO!!!!!
Now, my system is what works for me, but I have told several people about it, and the people that have tried it like, it too, and have adapted it to fit their needs. I am not perfect and some times, my laundry schedule gets messed with due to sickness, conferences, parties, etc… but for the most part we stick to it, and if not, I go crazy with backed up laundry! J I am not telling you that this will work for you and your house, but it does work for us.
Now, my system is what works for me, but I have told several people about it, and the people that have tried it like, it too, and have adapted it to fit their needs. I am not perfect and some times, my laundry schedule gets messed with due to sickness, conferences, parties, etc… but for the most part we stick to it, and if not, I go crazy with backed up laundry! J I am not telling you that this will work for you and your house, but it does work for us.
Quite a few years ago when we were still living in Northwest Indiana, my husband and I had a friend that went to the same church we went to. She always looked lovely, and I told her how I loved her clothes, and the fact that they never looked warn, faded, or stained. Her clothes looked brand new all the time! One day I was over at her house and she was doing her laundry so I asked her for some advice to help me with my laundry. At the time, we were living in an apartment that did not have laundry hook-ups, so I would have to make a trip to the laundromat every 2-3 weeks, depending on how the laundry looked, but no matter how I separated my laundry, after a few months of washing and drying my clothes always started to look faded and well-loved. She told me her secret… wash everything together, wash it on cold, and dry it on low. Growing up my mom always told me, separate your colors, wash everything on hot, and dry it on high to get it done faster and get the next load in. Washing in cold water keeps the colors from running and your clothes wont look faded, now don’t get me wrong, after YEARS, they will still fade, but years, not months! Drying on low temps, keeps your clothes from becoming faded as well, because if you dry on high, you tend to “fry” your clothes and they will darken or lighten over time, depending on their color.
It was genius… well I took it and ran with it, then took it a step farther… I started to sort by person. I got clothes hampers for each person in my house, one for towels, and one for bedding. Everyone started to put their own clothes into their baskets and my life changed on laundry day. Now, I no longer have to sort, before washing, and then again after drying while folding. What a stress relief, and time saver. At the time that I started my oldest two children were 3 and 2, and I was pregnant with the 3rd. All of Aaron’s clothes went into the same washer, at the same time, then to the dryer. They all came out at the same time, they got folded into his basket and then all I had to do was put them away when I got home from the laundromat!
I have continued this and now have 5 kids. We started taking it a step farther now that the kids are older, and we have a washer and dryer in our house. Everyone has their own laundry day, they do their own laundry from start to finish, wash, dry, fold, and put away. Here is our schedule:
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
Sunday
|
Aaron (10yrs)
|
Amanda (8yrs)
|
Adrienne (6yrs)
|
Andrew (4yrs)
|
Adam (10mts)
|
Mom & Bedding
|
Dad & Towels
|
We wash one load a day, except Saturday and Sunday, those days get 2 loads. When socks are removed they are placed in a lingerie bag (bought from dollar tree) and zipped shut, everyone has their own sock bag, and the socks stay in the bag while washing and drying with their other clothes. (no more socks inside the pant legs, heaven!) Once dry they come out, and are mated and put away along with the rest of the laundry that is done. There is no more arguing or fighting over who stole my shirt, etc… My kids wear a minimum of 12 outfits a week, 2 every day for school and 1 each day on the weekends, 7 pairs of underwear, 7 pairs of socks (for the girls it is probably more like 14 pairs of socks, they love changing socks), 2 pairs of pajamas a week, if we have soccer on Saturday, there is another outfit change in there for everyone, so we end up with a full load per person each week. Craig likes to fold towels, so he washes them on his day, and now my 8 year old will sneak into my closet and steal my skirts and shirts to complete her outfits, and I usually don’t notice until she is wearing them at school… I can’t break her of that habit though, still working on it! J If anyone has some tips on that one, fell free to share! J
I hope you all have a wonderful day.
No comments:
Post a Comment