the.laundry

Laundry.

It never goes away.  Even when it's done, people are still wearing clothes in my house (and I'm certain that someone is dripping syrup, a popsicle, or ketchup on their shirt). 

My friend, Erin, posted some laundry questions on her blog the other day, and I'm going to answer them as best as I can over here because I think my comment on her blog might take up too much space! :)  I'm even going to break them up into a couple of different posts. 

Here are Erin's questions:

How often do you do laundry?
Where do you store dirty laundry?
How do you sort laundry?
Any favorite laundry detergents?

What stain-fighting weapons do you use?

Please share any and all tips about laundry care.

Here we go...

How often do you do laundry?

I've tried several different approaches to laundry.  I've been the main laundry do-er for about 8 years now.  I did my own laundry while I was away at college (very insightful!), and I've tried to figure out the best method regarding laundry for our family. 

There are lots of different laundry-doing schedules.  And, honestly, there is no right or wrong schedule.  You have to do what works for you and your family.  Here are a few schedules that I've heard of or tried myself:

• schedule certain laundry on certain days: darks on Tuesdays/lights on Wednesdays/towels and linens on Thursdays
• fill the hamper and wash:  once a hamper is full, do a load
• daily laundry:  a load a day
• weekly laundry:  laundry day every Wednesday (or day of your choosing)

I've tried all of these.  And each of them has worked for me at one time or another.  It really depends on where we are in our craziness as to what I'm doing!  I started our current method last November, and it is working extremely well for us (well, at least me!) for the time being.  Here's what I do:

• two week cycle
• week 1: clothes only (no towels/bedding/bibs/etc. unless necessary)
• week 2: linens only (no clothes unless necessary)
• stain stick (Spray 'n Wash) anything that can wait to be laundered
• set items on the washer that need to be washed in the next cycle (regardless if it fits the clothes only/linens only category)
• wash items immediately that need washed immediately and do a full load at that time
• clothes only loads typically take 2 days
• linens only loads typically take 1 day

Here are some things that made this work for us:

• make sure everyone has enough socks and undies to make it 2 weeks
• wear your clothes more than once each cycle (I made this work extremely well for me while I was away at college, and I started doing it again last fall!)
• when your kids put their pajamas on, remind them that you aren't doing laundry for a week or two and that they need to wear that piece of clothing again if it's still clean
• choose 1-2 days a week when you are typically home to do laundry (I am almost always home on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so those are our laundry days)
• don't be too proud to wear the same outfit two days in a row (not to work, of course!) 

The hardest part about this was making sure that Josh had enough clothes for work.  He had to buy a few more pairs of black socks, and sometimes toward the end of our 2 weeks, he has to dig out the rarely-worn dress shirts (like the pink one that I love!). 

What's working for you right now?

Stay tuned for more...