Can I ask a boring laundry/organization question? 2+ kids

winery

Obviously laundry is out of control, but in order to have it be a bit more organized, I'm thinking of buying 2 different colored laundry baskets so that I can wash, fold and stack the boys' clothes separately, then take that basket into their respective room to put it away.

Right now, it's just a nightmare.  All the clothes - including ours - get washed together, which is several (upon several) loads and then I'm running all over the upstairs putting clothes away all over the place.

If you do the laundry for multiple people, how do you manage it? 

sooosie

I have laundry baskets for separate people.  Except the boys' stuff I dump together in one basket.  Then when I take the basket upstairs, I will generally dump it all on Ian's bed and put his stuff away while throwing Max's stuff back in the basket.  Then I go to Max's room and put his stuff  away. 

Bellisimo

That's a good idea.  We too have a shitton of laundry and I'm totally ADD and NOT OCD about it, so it all ends up getting washed together (not sorted according to colors or anything), folded together and put away together which means I'm all over the house.  Up and down the stairs several times...sometimes I wish I had a set of W&D upstairs too.

Katherine

I wash all ours together and I fold it on my bed into piles for the different rooms.  When it's all folded I bring each kid (or the linen closet) their respective pile and I put my DH's and my clothes away as I fold.

I also do one load a day so I am not bombarded with multiple loads of laundry a day.  So my task is not as daunting. 

Marce921

I wash the boys things together and then DH and my stuff together. So, either the whole load goes to our room or to the boys' rooms. It's easier than having to run all over the place.

mamarazzi

I was *just* thinking about this today (as I folded a buttload of clothes and then sorted them into respective baskets).

Our boys are in the same room, so I was thinking maybe I'd wash all their stuff together and then do mine and H's separately.  Right now, I throw it all together and then sort it into different load types, fold it and then sort it to different baskets for the respective rooms.  It shouldn't be too hard for us to keep the boys' and our stuff separate since they have a hamper in their room and we have different bathrooms.

amiamish

I wash the boys laundry together, all as one load. When the basket is full I throw it the wash. DH and I have 3 baskets- 1 for colors, whites, jeans. As those get full I throw them in. Also, 1 basket for towells and again, when its full I throw it in. I can usually get 2-3 loads wash/dried/put away in a day. Also, I fold the boys laundry and stack it so each kid has their own stacks. I fold DH and I's clothes in our room as I'm catching up on TV usually.

Temp970088312507122

I actually find it easier to wash them all together. I do 7 different loads and have sorting bins and bushels downstairs for them all: towels, sheets, darks, colors, lights, whites, jeans. 

I do laundry over the weekend. I try to wash the darks, colors and lights one right after the other. As each one of those loads comes out of the dryer, I throw it in my biggest bushel and just load those three up on top of each other and fold them all at the same time because they have the most actual clothes. When I fold them, I put DH and mine's clothes in one bushel, and the girls' clothes in a separate bushel, makes putting them away easier.

I just started this routine sometime last month and it's making things easier so far.

libra31

I do all the white's (kids & ours) together b/c we don't have as many as darks. Kids darks are a separate load.  I like to separate our darks into 2 loads: one is all clothes that get hung and the other is T-shirts, socks, undies, pj's ect.  This works well and I don't ever iron!  Towels are separate loads too.

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AZ_Erica

I do what you are suggesting.  I wash all the kids clothes together then fold them out of the dryer and they go up to their rooms.  It's a little easier for organization reasons but i'm really never ahead of the laundry.

DandR

Monday is my clothes day for laundry

I do it all together...3 kids, 2 adults.  sort by color. wash. dry. dump on our bed the clean clothes.  Then I pull hangers from the kids closet and I like to hang most everything except socks/underwear/pajamas/shorts.

I hang and fold.  Then I make my kids help put it away.  THey are great at throwing the socks and underwear in the correct drawer.  Pajamas..ehh...they don't get put away nicely, but its pj's...I don't care if they aren't perfect. and the rest is on hangers and the kids can hang them up in the closet....they all have low bars that the "current" clothes hang on. future seasons hang on the high bar.

I put away my clothes.  I fold DH's and leave it on the bed for him to put away when he gets home.

Its usually about 5 loads of laundry...and my total time occupied with it, I would guess is about 2 hours???? That may be high.  The kids LOVE to help, and I appreciate not having to cart full baskets into their rooms. 

Sheets and towels are another day.

UGAbride

I suck at laundry, but I do at least have it separated.  Each child gets their own load (I do not separate whites/darks for them, just select "mixed load" on the washer for color option).  That way I know the entire load coming out of the dryer goes to one room, and I go put that away while the next one dries.  I do wash DH and my clothes together, and we separate whites vs. darks, and there are separate loads for towels and then sheets.  But where I suck is at actually folding mine and DH's clothes.  We pretty much never do it!

Rebekah1021

I have the same dilemma.

My mom is getting me to a new system. I am washing our clothes together and then fold and separate into baskets right then. I do a load of DH's work shirts and then dry them on permanent press and then hang them up immediately. I also do the same for the work pants for him too.

It has helped a lot. It's just a hard habit to get into. 

AngelaSue

I wash all of our clothes together, except for the Stella's clothes, I wash hers separate. DH and my clothes get put into one clothes basket. Amelia and Adeline's go in a basket together, because they share a bedroom and Paul's go into his own clothes basket. In my laundry room I have an organizer similar to this

So I hang our shirts, girls' dresses,etc as soon as I pull them out of the dryer and sometimes they stay in the laundry room for a while, but at least they are hung, it has helped with my never ending clothes baskets waiting to be put away!

Heidisean

I have a hamper in Giada's room and wash her clothes once a week. In our room I also have a hamper and do a load of wash everyday to keep up with it (gym clothes, work clothes, pj's and lounging clothes pile up).

shouldbworkin

I wash everything together.  We have a sorter in our laundry room, so I put everything in there and sort out whites, lights and darks.  Then I wash, dry and lay out on my bed so that things don't get wrinkled.  I wash everything in one day and fold it all at once after I"m done.  Towels and sheets get washed during the week and folded when I fold everything else b/c I don't care if they get wrinkled.  Kids clothes go in one basket and DH's and mine go in another.  Usually they get put away the day after I wash/fold. 

goodheartedmommy

I usually fold and have a basket for the upstairs. I lay the clothes on their beds, and let them put the clothes away. Laundry is just really hard with this many people! I haven't done any laundry since the weekend (I was OOT Tuesday-yesterday), and I'll be home doing laundry until after the kids are in bed tonight, I know. I keep a hamper in their bathroom and try to have one of them bring it down daily so I can go ahead and sort it into the hampers to laundry day isn't a huge nightmare of sorting. I try to just do one load per day, but it never works out that way any more.

katie277s

I wash the boys clothing separately.  Then I pile them in the basket according to child and go to each room to put away. 

Dcubed

I have been thinking about how I am going to work this when we move to our house in a few months.  Right now I wash all the kids clothes together which is about a load every other day and then I wash DH and mine together normally separated dark/light.  I would like to have color coded baskets for each kid and their clean folded clothes to bring upstairs (which they will help with).  I haven't figured out if it would be easier to fold upstairs where their rooms are or downstairs and bring up folded.  I guess that will be a trial and error once we are in the house.

peekaboo716

I'll tell you what I try to do, then what actually happens.

Saturday is laundry day. As many loads as possible get done, with any leftovers on Sunday. I wash the kids' clothes together (one white, one dark). Their loads come upstairs in baskets, and folded back into two baskets - one for each room. I put the clothes away, and then the baskets are ready to get refilled.

DH and my clothes are separated into 3 loads (whites, lights, darks). I made a new rule in the house that clothes cannot stay on our family room couch, but must come upstairs to the living room couch for folding. That ensures that DH will actually put his clothes away rather than just using the family as a giant closet. I refuse to put his away. Towels, sheets, and blankets get done last.

Now, lately, I have ignored the putting away of kid clothes. DD has 3 baskets of mostly her clothes sitting on her floor because I haven't pulled out the clothes she's outgrown and the seasonal clothes from her dresser. There's no room for anything, so it's just a huge mess.

r9stedt

My laundry is ridiculous. 

It isn't even a topic I like to speak about!!!