Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Well, I don’t think we are doing as much laundry as usual! But, dishes are another story. Wow! We are constantly loading and unloading it seems. I hear this from my friends and fellow bloggers, too. I guess to put a positive spin on it – we are cooking and eating at home more than ever!
Anyway, back to laundry… ,I wanted to share what is working for us right now.
I bought four of these tall hampers. I have one in my new closet, hub has one in his new closet, and each boy has one in their room. I don’t know why it is, but this seems much easier to lug around than the traditional laundry basket. When our hamper gets full we each do our own laundry. I have been pleasantly surprised by the fact that I don’t have to nag the boys and I am not involved in their laundry anymore. Hallelujah! But, seriously, I taught them to do laundry when they were 10 maybe but I still had to ask them to transfer from washer to dryer and put things away. And, for the past 7 years I have done lots of telling them what to do in regards to laundry.
When one of us does our laundry, we simply leave the empty hamper in the mudroom to tote the clean laundry back to our room or closet. These days I do one once a week. My husband can usually wait two weeks and the boys maybe once every week and a half?
The person takes the clean laundry back to their room to fold. I like not mixing each other’s clothes together because that seems like an added step.
I mostly have the job of washing the towels but Tom helps with sheets and he will help with anything else that needs to be done. The boys are responsible for their own sheets, too.
This has really been working for us. How do you handle laundry in your home?
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
This is a great idea. I really like the input of when and what you teach the boys to do themselves. I am so type a, I tend to rush through things and forget they have to learn these skills! What else have you taught them to do themselves and at roughly what age? My 10 year old still doesn’t (can’t?) cut his own apple and I think that’s on me. 🙂
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I’m the same, Paige. I still do too much for them. Don’t feel bad. Now I’m trying to make sure they know everything they will need to know living in a dorm room.
Probably around 10 we had them empty trash and take cans down and bring back up, feed dog, clean dog bowl, vacuum, dust, load and unload dishwasher, things like that. In middle school I started making them responsible for communicating with teachers and emailing them.
One boy is a little more interested in cooking but neither is very interested. I keep asking and offering to teach and I usually get a no thanks.
I am scared to death of them getting cut with knives still!
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That is a fantastic system!
I do the laundry because I like having control over it and I do have a system. Ours obviously gets all mixed together and I wash sheets and blankets a lot it seems. I would say that 50% of my time is laundry-related tasks as a SAHM lol.
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This is fairly new system. I have literally spent 17 years spinning my wheels on the best way to do laundry! Lol!
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Our boys do their own laundry too and I do it for my husband and me. Our dishwasher seems to run non stop! When it was just the two of us at home we ran it maybe twice a week but now it gets run daily. Such a difference!
xo,
Kellyann
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My husband has never let me do his laundry! I tried when we first got married and he told me he preferred to do his own! Haha! He is particular about folding a certain way.
I bet your dishes and grocery shopping have changed drastically!
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I love this system. After years of mixing the kids’ clothes for one load , about three years ago I did a load for each of them . You are right. It was an extra step to sort! For the past few years, it’s been their Tuesday chore to hang and put up their clothes after I was them. I’m still involved but glad to have them help
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Their clothes get bigger as they get bigger! I started doing my own laundry when I was about their age because I liked clothes so much and I wanted certain things clean!
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I think that’s when I made the switch. Their clothes were getting bigger & Hadley changes clothes three times a day 🤪
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Haha! I can relate! You need a morning, midday, and evening outfit!
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I meant three years ago that I started separate loads for each kid 😂 & for the past couple years, my husband does his laundry and I do mine
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Laundry will always be a tedious chore – at least the folding part but this seems better for you!
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This is the same system we have at our house. The boys have been doing their laundry since the sixth grade. I definitely do not like mixing the clothes, especially socks. Mostly I do towels, but sometimes if there’s a towel that gets put near the washer everyone knows to stick it in with their load. For the most part my boys have their own towels and wash them with their laundry.
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I’m a little late to this system! I hate dealing with socks!
I am afraid lotions from towels will hurt clothes so I don’t like to mix towels and clothes. We have had unfortunate acne creams stain towels! Good to hear from you!
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The dishwasher! I keep thinking that there is going to be a shortage of dishwasher soap next! I think it’s great that you are teaching your boys skills that they will need at college so that the routine things will be easy when the beginning of school can be overwhelming.
I’m super picky about my clothes and have been forever so I have no problem doing laundry for both of us. If I go out of town on my own, I have to reteach my husband how the washer and dryer work in case he need them! : )
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Good point! I ordered some more dishwasher soap for my Kroger pick up tomorrow!
I am picky too and line dry most clothes!
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