Wednesday

Motherhood: Taming the Laundry-Mess Monster


What does laundry have to do with being a mother? Everything! For those of you drowning in the abyss of last week's dirty clothes, here is a life raft for you!  No matter how small your laundry room, you can find a way to better organize it so that it runs like a fine-tuned machine.  We found great success with taming our laundry mess monster a few years ago, and it still works like a charm!


Step 1: Collect and label small bins--one for each family member (we used white plastic dishpans from Walmart at about $3 each). We also labeled one "linens", one "socks" and one "charity".  This way we can sort through those clothes that are too small and send them out the door instead of back into the drawer.

Step 2: Place bins on shelves in your laundry room--either attached to the wall or even a tall bookshelf will work.

Step 3: As you pull clothes out of the dryer, immediately fold them and place them in the proper bin.  Have a rod or behind-the-door hook for hanging the clothing that doesn't go into drawers.

Step 4: Assign family members the responsibility of emptying their own bin into their drawers and closets (Yes, even husbands and 2-yr-olds can do this!)

We have felt the satisfaction of seeing this method work for 5 years straight, and it has truly helped tame that Laundry-Mess Monster!

2 comments:

Jamie said...

Thanks for pointing me to this post! You have much knowledge grasshopper!

Jill said...

I can't believe it's already been 5 years since you started that. And, if a 2 year old can do it, I need to enlist my 3 year old. He's already a helpful hand when it comes to loading it in the washer/dryer.