Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Works-for-me Wednesday: My Beloved Laundry Schedule

For years it had been taking over. For far too long, it was an ever-visible reminder of a never-ending chore. For much of my life as a wife and mother, it taunted me: the laundry.

I read enough blogs and have been around the WFMW block enough to know that chore and laundry schedules are nothing new and have been shared repeatedly. But, this is Works for Me Wednesday... and I haven't shared mine yet! Besides, I was thinking just yesterday how this really. works. for. me.

Scheduling my laundry has become a sanity saver for me, ranking right up there with planning meals. It has freed my mind (and my hands which used to fold laundry at all types of odd times, or dig through mounds of clean clothes trying to find something someone needed). I decided a couple of years ago to do laundry according to people, not loads. The following schedule is currently posted in our laundry room:

I have found it best to do laundry, for the most part, according to the owner (each member of the family), rather than category (combining everyone's lights, darks, etc.) With the exception of cleaning rags, which I do on Mondays because of weekend cleaning, car washing, home projects etc. And towels and bed linens which I do on Fridays, each person gets a day. When Minte came home, I put him on Kyle's day, since their dirty clothes live in the same hamper.

I love how there is a sense of completion each day. Yesterday, all of mine and my husband's clothes were done. Today is my daughter's day. Tomorrow will be the boys. Each day, ALL of someone's clothes are completely washed, folded and put away. It is so much more manageable for me. I have found it's easier to sort socks, since it's just one or two people's. (I can handle a small basket of one or two people's clean underwear to fold, but not a couch full of everyones!) I can more easily keep track of uniforms, too (which still go in their designated spot). I like to hang some things to dry, which takes up a lot of room if it's everyone's, but much less space if it's just one person. I found that when I was doing lights one day, darks another, etc. parts or pieces of outfits a particular person needed were always missing or at some other stage of the laundry continuum... but now, everything that person wears is clean at one time.

I love this schedule because I don't do any laundry or folding on the weekend, when we're either really busy or need the clothes. My kids are old enough to fold their own clothes now, so the chore schedule on their particular laundry day is lighter to afford them more time to fold and put theirs away. On their laundry day they only have one other chore in addition to taking care of their laundry, so that's been a big help. By scheduling it this way, there's a light at the end of the laundry tunnel each day. And I need that!

Laundry is never ending. By God's grace, we are an active family generating lots of dirty clothes. This is a huge blessing! Lots of laundry indicates an adequate amount of clothes. Having plenty of clothing is truly a gift. Managing our laundry this way has helped me to see it more as the blessing it is, than the burden it used to feel like . Works for me!

For more WFMW ideas, or to share your own tip, visit We Are That Family. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

10 comments:

Liza on Maui said...

This sounds great! Thanks for sharing - I try this schedule. Speaking of laundry, I have a load right now waiting to be transfered to dryer. Aloha!

Jodee said...

I try to think of laundry as a blessing too. Otherwise, it drives me nuts! I am not sure if we are the cleanest people in town or the dirtiest people in town!

Jen @ JenuineJen said...

I HATE laundry. I never minded it until my twins were born but now I cannot tolerate it. I have never thought of doing it by person rather than by color or 1 big huge pile of clothes that I use only cold water on and never sort (not that I have ever done it that way).

I am going to try this for the next week and see how I like it. I can see how it would be so much easier that sorting by color with everyone's clothes mixed together. I do would not have to sort out 4 different kinds of socks and then sort those socks to smaller sections. The same would go for kinds of underwear or shirts or pants. I'm looking forward to experimenting with your method.

Monica said...

I really love this idea!! I'm going to give it a try. I need to feel a sense of accomplishment where laundry is concerned. Thanks for sharing!

Jill said...

I'm going to give this a try! What a great idea!

Sandwiched said...

I've been meaning to try this, but so far I haven't made it through a whole week yet. Might have something to do with the fact that I'm washing 4 yo's bedding almost daily. *sigh*

Thanks for the inspiration!

Angie @ Many Little Blessings said...

Sounds like you have found a schedule that really works for you! Awesome! I can see how it has more of a sense of accomplishment than the more traditional way of doing darks/whites/towels/colors, etc. I can't help it -- I just can't move from that method though! ;)

Moore Minutes said...

What a great idea! Laundry is always there, always waiting for me to finish off the folds nicely and put it away in it's proper place instead of little piles throughout the house. I appreciate this idea and I am excited to try it!

Veggiemomof2 said...

Planning seems to be the theme for today! :) Great tip.

Karen said...

Oh I need to try this, I have talked about doing it but never done it. I think with Teens and preteens though, this might not work:(