WFMW: Laundry Quandary

With 6 of us laundry is a daily chore. I do at least a load a day. Most days it's two. So if I didn't get a system it would quickly become overwhelming.

Here is how I solve the Laundry Quandary in Bahama Shores: Laundry Baskets!

Each basket serves a purpose. I have four of these big mamma jammas. In addition each of my older children have smaller baskets. My Man and I have another of the big mamma jammas we use as a hamper. Bugaboo also has her own hamper that is cute and matches her nursery. I also have a traditional basket with the side handles that sits on top of our front loading washer.

Here's the process:

In the morning, the kids bring me their baskets with the dirty laundry in them. They leave their baskets in front of the laundry room door. I drag my hamper over and start sorting the clothes.
We use three of the big mamma jammas to hold clothes once they've been sorted. The one closest to the door holds most colored clothes. The middle basket has whites that WILL be bleached. The last basket is for items that need to be washed in cold water. The basket that resides on top of the washer is for towels and sheets.

Whichever basket is most full gets thrown in that day. If there is more than one brimming, two will get done. Never more than three because I know realistically I won't have time to fold and put away that much. I time them so I am constantly flipping laundry. We upgraded to a front loader and a high efficiency dryer last year, but I am convinced the dryer uses more energy as I usually have to do two cycles to get the clothes dry!

On to the folding! I use the fourth big mamma jamma to bring the dried clothes into the living room. I set up the kids baskets on the trunk and turn on a DVR'd show I've been wanting to watch. I fold the clothes and put them into each child's respective basket. I then take my man and my clothes and any towels, etc. and put them away during commercials. When the kids get home from whatever activity/school they take their baskets to their rooms and put their clothes away. I have trained them to lay the clean clothes out on their beds and sort them into what drawers they go into. Then put them in the RIGHT place. I will do spot checks. With Boo Bear, I still have him come get me once he's organized his piles so I can watch him put them in drawers. When I've been lazy at this step, his drawers have no organization and everything just shoved into whatever space he has. He is also famous for returning clean clothes to the laundry room to be cleaned again instead of putting them away!

They then use their baskets as hampers for the night and everything starts over again the next day. I do the baby's laundry separately for now and so when her hamper gets full I pull it to the laundry room and wash hers in a baby laundry detergent. Then it goes into the big mamma jamma and back to her room where I fold and put it away. I have bought her a basket like the big kids and as soon as I finish this last bottle of baby laundry detergent, she'll be in the rotation!

This is what totally works for me........let me know if you have any questions. If not, go see what works for others at Rocks in my Dryer.