Tip Tuesday No. 1 ~ laundry

i’ve been asked a few times over the years how we manage having nine kids. i’m no expert, but i’ve learned a few things that work well for us. for me actually, these things work well for me. i had the idea to share some of what i’ve learned so i’m starting Tip Tuesday. i hoped to post earlier in the day, but well, i have nine kids.  okay, only eight at home right now, but six of them are schooling remotely so, my hands are a bit full during school hours. and then there’s dinner. and bedtime. so here goes…my first tip is about laundry.

do it every day.

yes, do the laundry every day.

if i do the laundry every day, i sometimes only have one or two loads. there are 10 people in this house, but for years there were 11.

our dirty laundry is fairly easy to round up as we have two places where it gathers. we have a hamper in our hall bathroom and a hamper, um, well actually a pile, on the basement stairs. (our laundry room is in the basement. it’s fine. i’m fine.) i’m not running from room to room gathering everyone’s dirty clothes so you put it in the two places i’ve said it can go, or i’m not washing it.

i try to start the laundry in the morning so i sort the clothes that are upstairs first. then i bring those baskets to the top of the basement stairs where i sort the rest. this only takes about five minutes. i don’t always sort lights and darks. if i know nothing in the darks will bleed i will wash them all together. i always wash the whites separately so i can bleach them. more on that in another post.

here’s where the magic happens.

the laundry is usually done by the afternoon. i leave the lid open so the washer can dry out.

i guess this is a two tip post because i have a tip on folding the laundry…teenagers! our teens vacuum the family room and fold the laundry in there every night we have clean laundry.  they have to do this before they can watch any tv.  other than them giving the wrong clothes to the wrong kids sometimes, this has worked out very well. 

the only way i can think of making my laundry routine any better is if it always had this view. sigh…