Laundry is an inevitable part of family life.
But it can actually be a pleasant activity that builds relationships!
Listen as April and Saren share their experiences with laundry–alongside lots of concrete tips from our community.
Want to hear some creative ideas for involving your children in the laundry?
Wondering when it’s the right time for your children to launder their own clothes?
Looking for ways to make laundry a happier part of your day?
Simply click below to listen!
Show Notes:
Answers from our Facebook community (over 50 great responses!)
Laundry Routines (short video showing how Saren’s family does laundry)
Music from Creations by Michael R. Hicks.
Audio Editing by Christy Elder
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Image courtesy of markuso at freedigitalphotos.net
An idea that has made a difference for me regarding socks is that I started safety pinning our socks together instead of folding them. This idea came from my aunt who has 12 children. Originally, when I was younger, it always seemed like more work to me than just simply folding them but I decided to try it out (now that I have a family and lots of socks!) and I’m sold for good! We just keep the safety pin towards the top opening of the sock and when it’s time to wear them the safety pin opens, one sock gets removed while the other sock keeps the safety pin (now closed) attached to it for the duration that it’s worn. The key to this golden method is that the launderer doesn’t have to continue trying to keep matches together whether they are dirty or clean, off or on, his or hers because they go everywhere together. If they aren’t on the owner’s feet they are matched. The best part of all is that the workload is spread throughout the family. They are the ones that open and close the safety pin.
My husband was hesitant at first but he’s all for it now and doesn’t mind the change. The baby’s socks aren’t pinned for safety reasons and my husband and I pin and unpin our 3 year old’s. No more keeping track of 40 little and big socks every time I do laundry! This may seem like a minuscule thing but honestly it’s changed my laundry life. 🙂
This is a timely podcast for me. My brother in law just built me these in trade for me making some special handmade gifts for their family to give for Christmas.
http://ana-white.com/2010/11/laundry-basket-dresser
I have never had a good laundry system, and I dread laundry. But after listening today I keep thinking “I can do this… and like it too”!
Thanks!
AWESOME!!! Thanks Jeanette!!
My friend who has five daughters gives each of them a mesh laundry bag in addition to their laundry hamper. All socks and undies go into the mesh bag as soon as the girls take them off. Then she just throws the mesh bags right into the washer and dryer with everything else, hands it back to the girls with their laundry, and they put their socks and undies away–theirs are never mixed with the rest of the families, so nothing gets lost. Brilliant!
Another friend of mine suggested the IKEA painting smocks as bibs for my toddler–they are cheap and they provide FULL coverage–long-sleeves and everything. Love it!
Thanks for the great tips!
very good
I didn’t notice how much I appreciated how pretty my laundry room was. When we moved in the previous owner had painted it a happy, sky blue. She also had her husband put in laundry bins with a counter top. I am great at washing and drying laundry, not so great at folding, but I love that I don’t have to see it all!! It is also off my kitchen, I have a baby and a toddler, plus three older boys. I am always scrubbing and pretreating, etc – it is so nice to have my kitchen sink four feet from my washer. This is all over the place, I just had so many thoughts while listening. I LOVE my bins, I have one laundry basket in my house now. My three boys sleep downstairs and I used to have kids walk out in clothes much too big or too small and they would say, “It was in my pile”….That was when I quit doing any sorting or folding for them. The youngest is six down there so they are more than capable. The one laundry basket lives on top of my dryer, as soon as I have any of their clean things it gets sorted straight into that basket. Which helps to only have us four on the counter….it still gets bad at times. There truly is joy in laundry and clean clothes.