Families of 4+: How Do You Handle the Laundry?

I have a family of 7 and it is a CONSTANT battle. It never ends. Sorry, no advice. I just do it every day- some days, one load and some days, six loads. I always have a "pile" of clean, unfolded laundry.
The very first thing I will do when I win the lottery is hire a laundress! Now I just have to start buying tickets... :)

My husband washes/dries the clothes and towels on his days off (which are Monday and Tuesday right now). Then I fold them and put them away in the evening.
Weekends (my days off) I do linens and a load or two if there is a lot from the week. I also keep a stack of my clothes that need to be on delicate and/or lined dry and do those myself on the weekend.

I do it every day -- it usually works out to about 1-2 loads per day. I sort into 3 baskets: lights, darks and towels. I have trained my kids (and husband) to sort their dirties so every day I'll pick the fullest basket and start that in the wash. Do my other stuff then pick the 2nd fullest basket and do that one.

I try reeeeally hard not to leave the dry clothes in the dryer, but I "forget" sometimes.

I'm not really particular about laundry - I'll wash jeans, blouses & tshirts in the same load. As long as it smells good and isn't wrinkled I'm happy. My mother would be horrified!

If it aint dirty dont wash it! cut down on laundry, cut down on wasted water and electriity. If your pants dont look dirty and wrinkled can they be worn again? If kids take bath right before bed, can their pajamas be worn for several nights? Right after bath, hang up towels to dry and use them for a week or two. If they dont get musty or smelly from being wet, do you think they are dirty from wiping just out of the bath./shower wet bodies?
if they bathe right before bed, how dirty are the sheets? let them go two weeks if there are no night time accidents or sick children.
I agree that sorting clothes can be made easier, for instance you and the youngest put clothes together. Easy to sort. Your oldest and your husband clothes together. Easy to sort.

Whether I have 1 kid or 5, and whether it myself as the only adult, or there are 4 of us I do laundry the same way. And, its actually apx the same amount of work, where there are 2, 6, or 9 of us.

Say what?

- Everyone has their own hamper for all of their clothes
- There is one hamper for dry cleaning

- Everyone does their own clothes twice a week
- Sheets & Towels get washed once a week.
- Drycleaning is dropped off on Friday / picked up on Sat

- I help toddlers with their clothes (picking them up so they can pour in the soap & spin the knobs & bang the lid down. Ditto tramsferring I reach in, and set on dryer lid, they lob in the heavy wets, then i pick up so they can set it & clean put the lint. From apx 18mo - 4 (or they're tall enough)
- Everyone else brings their hamper down, washes & dries.

- I have a "hook" system for clothes. So that we don't use hangers or drawers except for PJs/underwear/socks. Which means that even 2yos can put all of their clothes away.

((These are rounded brushed nickle "dish towel" hooks for a buck each. I screw in 2 rows, top for tops, bottom for bottoms. Then a 3 drawer plastic "filing" bin/ night stand for socks/underwear/PJs. Drycleaning & ironed shirts for church are the only hanger items.))

- For long term guests (like when I had 5 ADHD kids over the summer) I use premade clothes hooks bars, that take less than a minute each to screw in. 2 for each kid. Then their luggage is where the socks/undies/pjs get tossed into.

SO REALLY... I'm only ever washing/drying/sorting my OWN clothes. Laundry runs all week. Because at this age 5-14, I don't even have to supervise. Everyone does their own. Of course, when the house-apt was full of toddlers, I got a good arm workout lifting them up. Took longer than me doing it all by myself. WORTH it, hands down.

No schedule.

My Tips:
1) Politely tell your husband if he wants to wear something don't expect to see it clean again for at least a week!
2) Tell hubby to wear pants more than once if possible.
3) Make a game with kids out of folding things like underwear that don't have to be wrinkle free.
4) One laundry basket of dirty clothes upstairs.
5) Before you go to bed to night take it downstairs and if you have enough prepare a load. Put it in as soon as you wake up. This way you can do a dark load one day, light the next, undies the next, sheets the next. If you are doing a load of whites you can start it and let it soak all night. Your load for the day will probably be in the dryer by 9am. Worry about the folding part later.
6) It isn't easy and some days the tips won't work. Life Happens!

My GF with 4 kids does this interesting and simple and manageable system:

She no longer sorts her kids clothes. She dumps their entire laundry basket, which has accumulated in their room through out the week, into the tub. Wash/Dry and that kid is done for the week.

I'm particular about sorting out whites for bleaching. But it works well for them.

In our home, my kids sort all the laundry usually on SAT AM. Then all weekend I keep the laundry going. I load, I or the kids help turn it over and fold and put away. My kids have been sorting laundry since they knew their colors, so 2 or 3 yrs old?

It's usually done by Monday afternoon, when we're home over the weekend. If we're not home on the weekend, then we sort Sunday night before bed, and I start the whole process over again.

Laundry is NEVER done. Never. Never. Never. I just make sure we have enough clean panties/socks/uniforms for the week and we're good.

Our family is the same size as yours. My house is not set up so that laudry can accumulate...I have no room for dirty clothes. I usually have one load in the washer and one load in the dryer at all times. Laundry IS a neverending thing in order to keep up with it. I usually do at least one load per day. I sometimes put it in the washer before I leave for work and switch it over after work. My laundry room is attached to one of the upstairs bathrooms so I tend to fold while my kids are getting their baths at night.

When the kids were too young to do it themselves, it went in a pile in the utility room and was sorted into loads by color. Then everybody helped sort and fold to their own ability. When they got older, the laundry became all theirs. We totally handed it off to them, other than towels and communal items. We still do this with DD. She can help me sort out towels and things from the pile but it's all mostly dumped and washed by color. We do not have a good schedule and I guarantee you I have Mt. St. Laundry, too.

We live in a coop building with a communal coin operated laundry room. My husband does everyone's laundry once a week (or so). He's particular about things being sorted (not so much by color, but by temperature), so I let him do it. Having a few commercial sized double front loaders and commercial driers at your disposal, means that the entire wash and dry cycle runs 1.5hrs total. He folds larger items like pants, sweaters, towels and linens in the laundry room and puts them away immediately. Smaller items like underwear, socks, t-shirts we fold and put away after DS (2 is asleep).

Hubs and I try not to generate a lot of laundry. Unless stained or smelly, our suits get more than one wear before being put in the drycleaning hamper. Casual clothes such as jeans, trousers, sweaters are also usually worn at least twice. We put fresh clothes on DS daily, but all of us wear out PJs for several days before getting fresh ones. Towels are reused, and linens get done every 2 or three weeks unless something warrants they be changed sooner.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

We have five total (myself, husband, 2 kids, and grandpa). We do it all two days a week, so that it doesn't get too overwhelming. Usually it looks like:

Saturdays: 3 loads (one my husbands work clothes, one of lights, and one of darks)

Wednesdays: 2 loads (one of lights, one of darks)

Sometimes there is a random one thrown in, or my dad will wash kids clothes on a day when he is home during the week. I am a stickler for folding and putting everything away immediately. My husband is not, so I usually wind up doing that, otherwise it will pile up. The kids put their own clothes away, and will help us sort (ages 3 and 5).

Good luck!

We have 4 of us and I do one load a day and skip Wednesdays since that is a really busy day for me. The kids sort their laundry into lights and darks into pop up laundry bins.

I don't stress about what load i'm washing on what day. I just take a look at what is coming up in our lives and who needs what washed first. Usually one load a day means I wash everyones darks once a week and a load of lights that I combine, since we have limited lights. Then I wash at least one load of sheets, towels and rags.

I make sure that each daily load gets washed, hung to dry or into the dryer at bare minimum. Usually I fold and put away too, if there is time although sometimes that happens the next day. Oh and I put the kids folded clothes into 2 fabric bins with their names on them and they put their clothes away.

We have a hamper that is divided into three parts: reds/pinks; whites; darks. There is a separate hamper in the closet for delicates/dry clean only items. The kids each have a hamper in their own rooms. When one of the divided sections starts to get full, all of the stuff from the kids' hampers is brought in and sorted into the proper section - then the fullest one gets washed. If any other sections are also more than half full, they will get washed that day, too.

Bed sheets and towels are washed on Mondays. (If I can work it so that I can put them right back on the beds without having to fold them, that's my preferred method.) My dryer is kind of slow, so delicates are washed right after the first load of bedsheets - the delicates can all be hang-dried - I hung a clothes rod in the laundry area, and plastic clothes hangers to do most of this. Otherwise, I have a foldable drying rack set up in the bathtub when there are lots of delicates. (I have also been known to hang things to dry from the shower curtain rod.) This way, if I have to run several loads, the second one doesn't have to wait for the dryer.

If somebody needs something special, a whole load is run. It might not get folded promptly, but at least no one is going to work/school/dance lessons naked.

Laundry kicks my butt day in and day out . . . and my two are 18 and 15 (years!!). I feel like no matter what I do I can't get it together.

I just wanted you to know that you are not alone. Thanks for asking the question!

We have a small hamper, one that fits basically one load of clothes. My kids rotate chores and one of them is to bring the clothes to the washer and start it. They all know how to do it and have for two years now, they are about to be 6, 8, and 10. So at 4, my youngest started. It's fun to toss in the Tide Pop and push the buttons!

Hubby does his own clothes. I am not his mom or maid, so he does his own.

I wash my pants and shirts separate as well because I don't dry many of my clothes.

I do 1-2 loads everyday, and then once a month i do a few extras---first Friday of the month I wash all blankets, mattress pads, etc.

I start a load in the morning, and then do another one at night. So when I collect laundry from the dryer, i just out another one in the washer.

My father always jokes that I am always doing laundry. I am.

for now supervise your children's laundry, but one of the biggest favors i did for myself as a busy working homeschooling mom was to teach my kids to do their own. then give them 'their' days and you have yours.
i myself can't bear the never-ending cycle, although i know that works for many. the weekends have always been *my* laundry days, and i knock it all out then.
khairete
S.

I do one load of laundry every day. I may throw a load in, go to work for a 1/2 day, come home and throw it in the dryer. Fold it and put it away after supper. I stopped sorting the laundry by colour because I honestly haven't had anything run in the wash in a really long time.

I try to put sheets and blankets right back on the beds after I wash them so I don't have to fold and put away. Same with towels, back on the rack.

I don't let anyone throw clean clothes in the laundry. It either has to be visibly dirty, smelly or worn at least twice before it is laundry.

I avoid anything that needs special handling. I do one delicates cycle every couple of weeks, and hang dry stuff gets hung in the downstairs shower.

Laundry started on Saturday. We had a clothes shoot so dirty laundry did not stay in bedrooms, it got thrown down the shoot into a really big plastic garbage tub. On Saturday morning I sorted (I can't do laundry without sorting, my mother taught me too well) and started washing. By Sunday night, I brought all the clean laundry into the family room, dumped it on the floor and everyone sorted and folded as something to do while the TV was on. Everyone took their own basket up to their room and put their own laundry away (my kids were teens). Done for the week.

I took care of exceptions like things that needed to be hung up or they would wrinkle, or hung to dry since those were usually my things. I typically did not do any laundry during the work week. Everyone had enough socks and underwear to last, and knew they needed to plan if they wanted a specific thing clean on a certain day.

One load every single day. Works perfectly for my family of 4.

I just wash as it's needed. Laundry baskets start filling up, it's time. My husband does his own, because he's really picky about how it's done. The only schedule is that I follow is to do towels and sheets on the weekend.

I do it a couple of times a week, but no specific schedule although i try to make it on Saturday mornings if I can. When i do it, I fold the laundry in the family room, away from everything so I can just keep folding it and piling it up as the loads get done. In no time I have done 6 or 7 loads and it's ready to put away, which I make my kids do. I also make them gather up the laundry, since it is their mess anyway. I have a laundry chute in my bathroom that we use so that helps a lot. Whatever the case, laundry is NEVER done!!

I work 2 days.. so I laundry the other 5 days.. I do whites one day, light colors one day, darks the next day... then back to whites..

my baskets are always full.

Laundry has always been the bane of my existance in this house. With 10 people laundry was never being caught up on.

A month ago I redid my laundry room. I put up a folding table, just a cheap table. Then bought a hanging laundry rack. We lack closet space because we live in an old farm house and closet weren't a big deal back then. I'v also removed all the laundry baskets, except one. You HAVE to do at least a load or two a day and put it away. If they are over two they are capable of at least taking their laundry to their room. It's taken a lot of retraining on my part to get into the groove, but it's been worth it.

ETA..........................

My laundry room is also in the basement, it's part of why I dread doing it. It's not really even a room, it's in the hall that leads to the two bedrooms that are down there. It took some creativity to find a table that would fit, it's actually a camping table, and the rack is somewhat in the way, but I can deal with that if laundry is being kept up.

1-2 loads a day! I try to do them first thing!

My new years resolution was to stop letting the laundry pile up. What I have been doing is throwing in a load every morning while the kids eat breakfast, then switch it over during lunch. If I do a load or two a day, it seems to be more manageable. I find it harder to get it sorted and put away. My ds is 14 months and loves nothing more than grabbing my sort piles and throwing them all on the floor then jumping in them, so I end up sorting it all 2-3 times...

While I get lazy and let it pile up (mostly the clean, folded, waiting to be put away laundry), here's what we do to make it easier for our family:
Each kid has a laundry basket in their rooms. Mine are still little (almost 4 and almost 2), so their clothes are colorfast and are washed in Dreft, so I wash their stuff together, once a week at least. I usually do their laundry on Thursday nights, since they spend Friday at Grandma's and I can put clothes away when they're gone. If not, I put away on Saturday while they play with Daddy.
We swim every Saturday, so wet towels and suits and all of their dark towels from baths during the week get done Saturday afternoon.
Hubby and I TRY to wash, fold and put away at least one load a day during the week. We have 4 hampers in our room-blacks/reds, blues/darks, lights, whites. We also have a hamper in the bathroom for the light colored household towels. When a hamper is full or almost, that's one load. If nothing is close to full, we get a pass that day.
Again, I say we TRY to stick with this plan, but it does make it easier. Oh, and our laundry room is downstairs, off our kitchen, and tiny. The only place to fold is on the couches/coffee table (where my 2 year old is a great anti-helper, if around) or upstairs on our bed. The kitchen table often becomes Mount Laundry, that high peak of cleanliness, but I hate that, so we TRY to stick with dumping clean laundry on our bed instead.

I do the boy's clothes twice a week - together in one load. I do mine once a week, towels once a week, sheets twice a month. Hubby does his own laundry- yes, they are perfectly capable of doing so. :) A consistent routine really helps.

wash then dry then add another wash fold what was in dryer put away redo daily,if not then i'll wash or dry before I leave or go to bed then dry what was in the wash or fold what is dry as for hampers I have 1 dirty hamper everyone is responsible to put their own clothes in the dirty hamper the others for clean clothes that I fold then put away.Having too many dirty hampers no not in their rooms or bathrooms that creates to much clutter.