I do the laundry for all 6 of us in my house, keep in mind I have 4 small children and they have to change alot durring the day (spilles, diperleaks,dirty,sticky ect..) I have loads of laundry and not enough time to do it.
2006-06-10 05:40:49 · 19 answers · asked by mini_may04 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Cleaning & Laundry
well I have the same situation as you Here's the way I handle it just before I start cooking dinner I toss a load in the washer just before we sit down to eat I put them in the dryer and another load in the washer after dinner I put the clothes on the couch until after baths/stories then after kids are asleep I put the laundry away also through the day I may drop a load in whenever I get a moment...putting the clothes away is what really is time consuming for me so I do it after the kids are sleeping
2006-06-10 05:46:29 · answer #1 · answered by laura468 5 · 4⤊ 2⤋
I have two small children (total 4 in the house) and we do maybe 5 loads a week. Dinner time or snack time.. strip them down to the diaper or at least take their shirt off. Saves on laundry amount and stain removal products... The only time I change my kids clothes is if we go somewhere nice, or diaper leaks but those don't happen very often... almost next to never.. Try White Cloud diapers. You can find them at walmart. Great product and great price. Works better than national brands for my kids. And as for time to do it in.. try one load per day or two at the most. Start the load when you get ready to go to work. throw it in the dryer when you get home and fold and put away b4 the kids go to bed or right after(if nothing goes in thier room of course). Good luck.
2006-06-10 05:47:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, I know what it can be like. It must seem like trying to sweep out the incoming tide, trying to keep up with the laundry with four small kids.
But, when my kids were little (and I didn't put this into practice until years later) I did not automatically throw everything into the hamper to be washed. T-shirts, underwear and socks HAVE to go into the hamper, but I soon discovered that unless shorts and long pants were really dirty or smelly, I would put them aside to be worn later. I would not put these, "almost clean" clothes on for going out visiting but if they were just going out to play, then I would put them on them and get maybe 2 or 3 wearings out of them. Also, I always only ever folded clothing when I watched TV. Now that I don't have a lot of laundry to do, it seems weird to JUST watch TV and not fold clothing. Also, depending on the ages of the kids, mine, when they were in the 4 to 8 year bracket actually like to help fold laundry and we would make a game out of it. So, I guess I haven't given any great advice, just try to get as much out of one outfit as you can and fold laundry whenever you are watching TV.
Also, with towels, they can really pile up if all 6 of you are taking showers or baths every day. For the kids, I usually used the same towel for drying all and tried to conserve on the towels for the adults as well. For instance, if I was drying my hair (separately from a shower) I would hang this towel over a door and use again. Anyway, hope that helps a bit.
2006-06-10 05:52:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. With 4 children, and assuming that you are living with him, the children's father should be willing to help.
2. Buy a second washing machine? A bigger one?
3. You may be able to do the laundry in less time by going to a laundromat and doing 10 loads at once (although laundromats are boring places for children as well as adults).
2006-06-10 05:48:44 · answer #4 · answered by lamprod_fishtongue 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I get up in the morning and get ready for work, I put a load of clothes in the washer. Later that evening, I place that load in the dryer and put on another load. Then, dry and put that load away. If you do this everyday your laundry will become manageable. As a busy mom I understand how difficult it can be to manage your household, including laudry. Check out the website, flylady,net. It has a ton of useful information you can use. It has totally transformed my daily routine!
2006-06-10 05:49:46 · answer #5 · answered by Lamb725 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I also do a ton of laundry. I usually save it up and just go to the laundro mat. It saves some money on the water bill and I can get as many loads done as I want in an hour or so. Plus, they have industrial sized washers and dryers, so loading them up is usually really easy.
2006-06-10 13:58:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is only 1 way to do it, and that's a little each night. I try to get at least 2 loads done per night, and all my clothes are clean all the time. It sucks though.
By the way my wife does her part too, when you have a lot of work around the house if you both work you both have to chip in.
2006-06-10 05:45:29 · answer #7 · answered by Thirdman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have tons of laundry to do and my dryer broke last year. until i waited for it to be fixed, i discovered that it was really a blessing in disguise! my laundry routine, which if kept to, keeps me ahead of the mounds, is:
i load the machine at night and run a load while i clean up and wash the dishes. i hang i up immediately. if it is called for, i put another load in and let it sit (i dont run the load). in the morning, i run the load as soon as i get up and it is ready to be hung once i am dressed. in the summer, the wash from the previous night is already dry. if not, or if i dont have time to remove it from the line, i just pull out my extra clothes dryer horse and hang it then. by the time i come home from work, it is ready to be folded!
i never take the clothes off the line and into a basket. i always fold it as i take it off the line. i try to fold it directly into separate piles - one for each member of household. it goes on the spare bed unless i have time to put it away immediately (Very unusual!). the kids even know to put their stuff away - it is one of our acitivites and learning to clean things we do. if i land up putting it away in a spare moment - or not at all - it is at least clean and folded!
i never iron. i put all the stuff we need ironed (we both wear cotton button downs to work) on a shelf in our room and we both take turns to iron each others' stuff the night before, before we go to sleep. i try to prioritise - like the linen can be done whenever, but the darks need to be done almost every day. the towels can wait, but take the longest to dry etc etc.
goodluck!
2006-06-12 06:40:42 · answer #8 · answered by Leah S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy the kids some more clothes or a bigger washing machine so you can do the wash less often. If that doesn't help, neighborhood kids can help out. My sister used to be paid by a lady to help her with the kids and do the laundry while she was around.
2006-06-10 05:44:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keep a bib on them throughout the day for drool. When they eat take their shirt off. Rubber pants over the diapers. These will cut it down. Make sure you hang up bath towels so you can get a few days use with them.
2006-06-10 13:15:36 · answer #10 · answered by Jillian 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋