Large Family Laundry

I decided to participate in "All In A Day" large family info linky thing, but I can't figure out how to link it, nor do I want to waste any more time trying to figure it out. So, I'm just doing my own version of answering the laundry question that I hear all the time.

This house is the first time we've had a laundry room and it's helped my system so, so much. Right now, my oldest two children store their dirty clothes in hampers in their own rooms and do it as their schedule permits. My next two children are permitted to put to their clothes in the laundry system, but they usually pile it up in their rooms until they have a few of their own loads and they just do it. By "doing" it, I generally mean they put it in the washer and forget about it. At that point, I move it to the dryer, then a basket, then make them come and fold it and put it away.

The regular laundry system is JD and I and the youngest five children. We have a hamper in the master bath and the little girls have one in their room. The boys just sort their clothes directly into the "system" since their room is down-stairs. Every morning, I haul down the two upstairs hampers, sort them and start the first two loads.

This way the clothes are then pre-sorted in the laundry room by whites, colors, darks and towels (which are around the corner). I like these hampers because I just drag over whatever color I'm doing and easily load it into the washer. When they are full, they are two loads each.



It's an enormous blessing to have two sets of washers and dryers and it really saves on how many times I'm running down the stairs every day to switch loads. We have an older stacking set and then a newer unstacked set. I generally put two loads in first thing in the morning, two mid-morning and two more at lunch time. I've never been one of those people that runs for the dryer buzzer, in fact, I turn the buzzers off. So, yeah, our clothes are generally wrinkled, but it's either non-wrinkled wear or homeschooling at this point.

As I pull the clothes out of the dryer, I try to sort them into kid baskets and line them on the laundry counter; however, if I'm in a hurry (or someone is crying), Alei handles that step in the evening.



Alei is the chief folder, she assumed that job a few years ago when she wanted relieved of all kitchen duty. She takes the baskets to the couch area to fold them, generally in the evening and watches a DVD at the same time. All the towels go in one basket, which is folded by Moriah. Alei folds mine, JD's and Elijah's in one basket and the little girls into another. The boys clothes go into the green basket for them to fold and any Moriah and Alyssa clothes go into the blue basket for them to fold.


I generally bring up the baskets of folded clothes and put them away the next morning, after I start the next day's first two loads. Then the story repeats, unless we have one of those weekends that is so busy I don't do any laundry, then on Monday the washers and dryers run all day instead of just until lunch!