what do you find to be more efficient...

[semo233]

One of the best systems I ever set in my house is the laundry! I have a linen closet near the bedrooms and I took out the bottom shelf. There is just enough room width wise, to put three hampers. Each hamper is labled white, medium or dark and I had my DD (4 at the time) draw on them with the appropriate colored crayons so that she knew how to sort her dirty laundry at 4 years old. This means that I just grab the hamper and wash...no sorting for me. I check the hampers every evening and do one load of the fullest hamper. I collect all the towels once per week and do them in two seperate loads: white and colored. One day per week, I strip all the beds and do the sheets.
Although there are nights that I miss the wash, I simply do two loads the next night. I use my drying rack to dry most of the way (if I'm not in a big hurry to get it done) and then finish in the dryer. I need to find a good place for an outdoor drying line, but have not been able to decide as yet.

 

[DISdreamin']

I didn't see anyone bring this up, so I will - it costs electricity to heat up your dryer. If you do loads continuously, while the dryer is still hot from the load before, it's less expensive because there isn't a warm-up time for the dryer itself, before the clothes start drying.

This little detail could easily be overcome by night rates being cheaper than day, but all other things being equal, it will save electricity/money to start with a hot dryer when you are doing multiple loads.

 

[PHXscuba]

I think if were a working mother with few full days at home I would do laundry every night while I did other things like dinner, helping with homework, etc. I don't think I would want to be spending all of a day off doing 5 loads of laundry.
Since I am an "at-home mom" (right!) Monday is laundry day around here, and I just accept it's the big chore of that day. Also, if I did whites on a different day than colors, some of my daughters' outfits wouldn't match up and they start their fashion-don't mixing.

PHXscuba

P.S. As for socks, it made my life SOOO much eaiser when I got a sock bag so my washer didn't eat them, and got one daughter pink-toed socks and the other purple-toed. One of the few things I love about summer in AZ is that my kids rarely wear socks!