Are you running loads of wash everyday of the week?
Why not consider setting several regular wash days. This way you can look forward to your days off, but yet have a more committed mind set on wash days to get everything you possibly can run through the washer and dryer.
From little on up teach your family that everything needs a home and this includes the dirty wash. Make it easy for items to be placed in the wash basket.
Teach children to check their clothing for stains when they take it off….if the knees of the pants look ok……if there is no lunch or supper spilled on the front of the shirt…..then it is clean enough for another wear. Have them put the item back in their drawer or, better yet, hang it on the handy hooks that you have installed in their bedroom.
If it’s dirty teach them to rub the spot with a laundry ‘stain stick’ themselves before putting the item into the wash. As we teach our children from little on up that each member of the family has their part to play, we are teaching them valuable life skills.
It is very important for each member of the family to have a laundry basket in their own room. In fact we suggest having two stacked together. When the top one is removed and taken to the laundry room, then there is still one in place to receive dirty wash.
The basic key to keeping up with laundry is to not have too many clothes in circulation. This is especially true for children. Decide on a reasonable number of pants, t-shirts etc. to have for each child.
If you have trouble discerning these numbers, ask an organized friend what she does for her children. If you have too many clothes in circulation, then you tend to wait too long between laundry loads. If you run on the lean side then you are forced to keep up! Once you form this new habit, we think you will find that you like it. As your children approach the age that they can start being responsible for parts of the process themselves, you will already have this good manageable habit in place.
One client told us her laundry method years ago, and we have passed it along to many busy moms. They love it!! Consider washing each person’s laundry in a separate load. Don’t worry about sorting by colour. This way it goes into the wash together, comes out of the dryer together, goes back into the basket together, and gets returned to the owner’s room together. Time saved on sorting and quick and easy to put away! Obviously, certain dressy items would be excluded from the load. The natural thought might be – what about the red item that turns everything else pink? This busy mom said she only had it happen once through the years. The benefits far out weighed any negative outcomes in her mind 🙂
Tips to simplify the laundry process:
1. Purchase all white washcloths, hand towels and bath towels. These can be washed together in one load with a small amount of bleach.
2. Teach kids from little on up to take part in the laundry process. Even very young children are able to pin items to dry on the clothes horse, put dirty clothes in the hamper, put clean clothing away into drawers.
3. Buy each member of the family their own brand (or colour) of socks and underwear. This helps sorting and matching. Or have all the men & boys in the house, with similar foot size, wear the same socks. That way there is no matching and it doesn’t matter what socks get in which drawer.
4. Give each family member their own mesh bags to put their socks/underwear inside for washing and keeping separate.
5. My personal choice for removal of stains on clothing is Sunlight Dish Soap. For tough stains I use it full strength (and give it a scrub with a toothbrush). I always have a squirt bottle handy filled with a diluted version of Sunlight and water for a quick rub on everyday dirt. I find that it works for most any stain that I encounter.
With wash, like anything around your home, the key is to………..
TODAY’S SMILE:
Q: How much fun is washing your clothes? A: Loads.
Q: What happened to the leopard that fell into the washing machine? A: He came out spotless.
Wouldn’t it be SO nice if we could put ourselves in the dryer for 10 minutes and come out wrinkle free…. and three sizes smaller?
Don’t you just love those 12 seconds when all the laundry is done?
Sometimes I feel like throwing in the towel. But you know what that means… more laundry!
If you know of someone who finds keeping up difficult, please share this blog with them. Or, maybe you can think of someone who would benefit from a Heart of the Matter Gift Certificate for some personal coaching? Contact us today to get the ball rolling!