It’s time for another mom tip! I am so thankful for all of my friends and my family who have given me wisdom and advice over the years. Some wisdom and/or advice has become a staple in our home, and other advice has not. It didn’t make the advice wrong necessarily. The advice usually just didn’t work for myself or for our family. So, this blog is geared towards giving you something that works for me, and if it works for your family then that is great too!
Laundry is one of those chores where it seems like we do it, and it still seems to multiply. There was a speaker at a women’s bible study who once said it was her goal to keep her family one laundry load away from naked. Being the good southern woman that she was, she pronounced the word like “necked”, not naked.
I feel that way sometimes, but this is a schedule I used for so many years I couldn’t even count them. It was the quickest and fastest way I found to keep my family, hopefully, more than one load away from naked. Here’s the schedule.
Day One-Monday
Collect/5 minutes-Collect dirty clothes from kid’s rooms, dirty towels, sheets, etc. Have big kids bring you their dirty clothes.
Sort/3 minutes– Sort your laundry according to colors, wash cycles, etc. to make one load in your laundry basket.
Wash/3 minutes-Load your washer and start your wash cycle.
Dry/2 minutes-Load your dryer with your wet clothes and start the drying cycle.
Done for the day. Do not unload the dryer when it completes its cycle.
Total Time-13 minutes
Day Two-Tuesday
Tumble/1 minute-Set your dryer for tumble press to get the wrinkles out of your Monday load.
Sort/3 minutes-While the clothes are tumbling in the dryer, sort your laundry to make one load in your laundry basket.
Wash/3 minutes-Load your washer and start the wash cycle.
Fold/6 minutes-Take the clothes that are tumbling out of the dryer. Fold and put away. Let kids over 4 or 5 put their own clothes away.
Dry/2 minutes-Load your dryer with your wet clothes and start the drying cycle.
Done for the day. Do not unload the dryer when it completes its cycle.
Total time-15 minutes
Day Three-Wednesday
Same routine as Day Two.
Day Four-Thursday
Same routine as Day Two
Day Five-Friday
Same routine as Day Two
Day Six-Saturday
Same routine as Day Two
Day Seven-Sunday
Take a rest. You deserve it!
I think it is a great schedule for those with little ones where you can’t take your eyes off of them for long. All you might have during the day are those 2 or 3 minute snipets of time throughout the day. When the kids are little, 6 loads in a week is enough to keep up with the laundry load. I also think it is a great schedule for families where both parents are working. Taking 15 minutes before or after work does not seem like such a daunting task.
I have to admit I don’t follow this schedule anymore. I do all of my laundry usually in one day, because I have a little bit more time now. Six loads in a week also became a stretch for me with a family of 5. But when my kids were little, this was the schedule that worked for me. I had a friend tell me one time how much this schedule had changed the way she did her laundry, and she was so appreciative. Maybe it can change yours too!