Why do I have so much laundry?

[luvdisney00]

All of these posts sound SO familiar. It's a never ending cycle around here too. It's not the washing, drying or folding that I mind. It's the putting away that I absolutely Hate!
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Me too!!! I have clean folded laundry right now to put away, but I thought i'd check out the Dis instead. LOL! Anything to put it off.
I usually do a load or more a day. 5 of us, but sometimes I swear that someone else in the neighborhood must be putting things in our hampers, because they are never empty!

 

[bless7ings]

We are a family of nine.(newly nine) Our oldest is away at college though right now. But, I taught the kids to do their own laundry when the 5th(a surprise) came along. The two youngest were 7 and 9, so it took quite a while before they caught on and successfully did it by themselves. I would say 5th grade is a good age, but each child is differant. Some are capeable before than and some need more help. With our ninth one only 11 weeks old, I am so glad they do their own laundry. I do mine and the three youngest and that takes quite a while. I inspect and check each piece for stains before and after putting it in the laundry and drying.

Since the baby has come laundry has gotten out of hand the 2 and 4 year old are going through clothes like some of the other posts.(a few outfits a day and a differant pair of pjs every night!) This has got to stop! I am actually thinking of having my 4 year old help me do her laundry, she has been asking, because she sees her older siblings do theres. And if she does the 2 year old will want to give it a try a few times.(at least) Yeah I was thinking of setting up a time and folding. I can see her so into that and be so proud of herself!

Oh and not to mention all the baby clothes!!!!!!!!! I forgot how many loads you can go through. He definitely goes through 3 outfits a day and burpers and sheets. Well we are surviving. I am blessed with a very loving and nurturing 11 year old who has recently just up and does her younger sisters clothes!(I think she is tired of looking at their mountain of a pile in her room-soon she will have her own room!)

So in answer to your question, I have no clue how many loads of laundry we go through in a day or week. I think a lot!!!! And at this point I don't care too much how much laundry detergent they use or if it is hot water.(but I believe they use cold)

 

[kribit]

I know how it feels. I do laundry every single day and I can never get ahead of it. If there isn't a load of wash, there is 2-3 loads of folding.

My kids have been great in helping me with folding and putting away, but I just never get ahead. Oh well.

 

[vhoffman]

I've just resigned myself to being married to the washer. I actually feel sentimental about my washing machine. We spend so much time together !!

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[suffolkprincess]

Here's how I got my entire household in order, laundry included: www.flylady.net! Conquer Mt. Washmore!

Good luck, see ya 'round the spin cycle!

Do yourself a favor and do check her out-- even if you don't follow the flylady routines exactly forever-- just try them to the letter for a few weeks and keep what works because... her systems straightened me out more than anything else ever could. Its like a miracle. Truly. And I work outside the home-- and today: my sink shines. my dishwasher ran this am during getting ready time so I have to unload tonight but otherwise every dish is clean. I have a folded basket to put away this evening (couldn't put away last night, DD was sleeping) but otherwise we have *maybe* a load and half waiting to be done. I'll do a load tonight (wash and dry and fold) put it away tomorrow, etc etc. My bathroom sparkles. And dinner is already made and in the fridge waiting to be heated up.

Thanks to flylady's principles. Because I, personally, am a TOTAL FREAKING MESS.
A miracle, I tell you.

 

[vhoffman]

Ok, guess i'm in the "norm". Seems like we all run the washer/dryer at least once a day, maybe more. I'm trying to cut back on utility bills, so I'm trying to do laundry 2x week, run larger loads, instead of several small, frequent loads. Its not working--I just hate stinky laundry piled up everywhere!

 

[suffolkprincess]

Ok, guess i'm in the "norm". Seems like we all run the washer/dryer at least once a day, maybe more. I'm trying to cut back on utility bills, so I'm trying to do laundry 2x week, run larger loads, instead of several small, frequent loads. Its not working--I just hate stinky laundry piled up everywhere!

One thing you can do is to try to wash in cold water as much as possible. I wash almost all of my clothes that way. We used to segregate our clothes and DH would have several loads, then min, then DDs. Its much more energy efficient to combine the hot water things like socks and underwear into bigger loads with towels and such and wash everyone's clothes in cold water. They get clean and actually its better for the fabric anyway.

I also rarely dry my clothes in the dryer. I hang just about everything of mine until its just damp and then (if they are permanent press things) finish them in the dryer to avoid ironing. Another savings tip for the dryer is to check your load from time to time and remove things that are actually dry already-- make mroe space to get the other stuff dry. Also, you can take items that take FOREVER to dry, like jeans, and hang them and just toss for a little bit to finish them off. Again, the dryer is really hard on fabrics so you get some savings in wear and tear, too.
HTH!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Do yourself a favor and do check her out-- even if you don't follow the flylady routines exactly forever-- just try them to the letter for a few weeks and keep what works because... her systems straightened me out more than anything else ever could. Its like a miracle. Truly. And I work outside the home-- and today: my sink shines. my dishwasher ran this am during getting ready time so I have to unload tonight but otherwise every dish is clean. I have a folded basket to put away this evening (couldn't put away last night, DD was sleeping) but otherwise we have *maybe* a load and half waiting to be done. I'll do a load tonight (wash and dry and fold) put it away tomorrow, etc etc. My bathroom sparkles. And dinner is already made and in the fridge waiting to be heated up.

Thanks to flylady's principles. Because I, personally, am a TOTAL FREAKING MESS.
A miracle, I tell you.

I just had to say "Hi" to another Flybaby! I don't follow everything exactly as she does. I also work outside the home, so I spread my weekly blessing over the whole week, and I put a load of laundry in each day as part of my morning routine. I immediately change to the dryer when I get home, and I fold and put away after dinner.

Even when things get out of hand, I find myself setting my timer for 15 minutes, and before I know things look great. I am totally BO at work (born organized), but my home...let's just say I'm a believer in Flylady!

Maria

 

[vhoffman]

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[jennifer293]

I would rather scrub toilets all day rather than doing laundry. It is not the washing it or sorting it that bothers me so bad, but I HATE folding, hanging and putting it away. I CANNOT STAND IT!!!

I do it, because I cannot stand the clutter, but I put it off as long as I can. We always have clean clothes, but they are just always in a basket and always wrinkled so I have to iron everynight after I put DD's to bed, so DD6 has non-wrinkled clothes... The rest of my house is clean so that has to account for something right???

 

[suffolkprincess]

I just had to say "Hi" to another Flybaby! I don't follow everything exactly as she does. I also work outside the home, so I spread my weekly blessing over the whole week, and I put a load of laundry in each day as part of my morning routine. I immediately change to the dryer when I get home, and I fold and put away after dinner.

Even when things get out of hand, I find myself setting my timer for 15 minutes, and before I know things look great. I am totally BO at work (born organized), but my home...let's just say I'm a believer in Flylady!

Maria

I also spread my blessing across the week. And... I even broke down the swish and swipe a little so that its... Monday, wipe mirrors, Tuesday, Toilet Day-- swish and wipe and refill paper [keep a basket on the back of each toilet with extra rolls] (so no, I don't swish the toilets everyday. Just Tuesday); Wednesday is Windows (we have big ones in our baths and they get smeary); Thursday is Tub day (always wipe after use but this day I make it shine), Friday is FREE, Saturday is Showers and Sunday is Swiffer (floors)
I do follow her routine of wiping the vanity top and sinks everyday-- makes the biggest difference, I never need to scrub them!

I am a freak. With sparkly clean bathrooms. That seem to clean themselves.

 

[mjantz]

It seems like a few times a year I actually get caught up on the laundry. And then we go out of town for the weekend or I get sick or something & I go back to piles all over again.
I thought uniforms would help but DD always wants to change after school so its really 2 sets/day. She's a clothes horse too so her closet is stuffed with 'cute clothes'. She'd honestly rather have new clothes than toys & such.

 

[momma leaps]

Big FLYLADY fan here too.
I've been following her for about 3 years now. I don't follow her to a T but what I do seems to help a little bit.

My morning routine consists of swishing the bathroom, making the bed, bringing down the laundry (do a load daily. Or try to anyway), empyting out the dishwasher and then I get started on the days REAL chores.

I really recommend Flylady. It starts you off slow. If your house is in total chaos (like that Family on Oprah yesterday) than it gives you hope . You don't have to do everything at once.

Her biggest motto is it didn't get to be like that Overnight. So it won't be all cleaned up overnight as well.

FLYLADY