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A Heart For Home: Tackling the Laundry Pile

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tackling the Laundry Pile

In our house we don't have a specific laundry day. With an 8 month old in cloth diapers and starting his first foods, a 2 year old in the final (hopefully for good) stages of potty training and still learning to use utensils to eat, a gardening, grass cutting, weed whacking husband, and the fact that I can't seem to go a day without getting something on my clothes, laundry is a daily occurrence in our home.

On most days I start a load of laundry before eating breakfast. However, while the clothes might be cleaned every day I have the awful habit of simply pulling out what we need from the pile of clean clothes instead of taking the time to fold and put them all away.

A few months ago I read a tip about sorting the pile of clean clothes before I begin folding and then putting each smaller pile away as it is folded. I like to sort our clean laundry by where it goes once folded. If you have older children that help put laundry away, you could also sort by what each child is responsible for.

Presorting the laundry and putting away each smaller pile has cuts out a huge problem with our clean laundry situation. If you have young children at home, you may be able to relate to getting an entire load of laundry folded and placed into neat, sorted stacks on the floor only to have a baby or toddler make their way through the middle of the stacks or try to "refold" the clothes by themselves.

So far, this idea has been working well at our house. It's also a great way to start training children to help with the laundry. Even a toddler can place all of the diapers in a pile or separate out all of the socks. The best part is that since nothing has been folded when the clothes are sorted, there is nothing to mess up.

No, it doesn't mean that I always fold the clothes on the day they were washed, I'm still working on that. It does however save me time, which means I'm more likely to begin. And once I begin to sort and fold I normally feel compelled to finish folding and putting away.

Here's a sample pile of clean laundry that needs to be put folded and put away.


Here are the piles that I presorted the laundry in to. left to right and top to bottom

Tim & My Dresser
Kitchen & Bathroom
Diapers
Kid's Dresser
Kid's Blankets


Once each pile is folded, I put it away before moving on to the next pile. This way no laundry gets unfolded by my helpers. :)


Do you have any tips for completing housework with children underfoot? We'd love to read your suggestions!

Related Posts:
Training a Toddler: Dish Washing
Getting you Toddler to Clean the Toilet
Involving Our Children

To see other piles that have been conquered visit Tammy's Make Your Home a Haven.
Visit
5 Minutes for Mom to see other tackling projects.
Presorting laundry
works for me!

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7 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Sorting the laundry into small piles according to were it goes is a great idea. My older kids (10+) are responsible for their own colored clothing and jeans. I still wash all of the whites together though. When I bring in a load of whites, all of the kids have to stand at attention (near the laundry basket) as I sort though what is theirs. They then have to fold it and put it away.

May 19, 2009 at 9:56 PM  
Blogger Amy said...

That really makes sense to me. I'm like you, not so good about getting the clean clothes folded and put away. I might try this, thanks!

My WFMW post today is all about how to make a diaper cake for a baby gift. It's fun and easy! :)

May 20, 2009 at 8:36 AM  
Blogger Jenn @ Beautiful Calling said...

Wow, we are sort of in the same "boat" (if I had a boat that is!)

Chloe is 2 and potty training. John is 9 months and in cloth diapers.

I as trying to do laundry on one day and I just can't!

I do it all the time and always seem to have clean piles here or there! I'm still working on that too. But at least it is clean!

:)

May 20, 2009 at 9:22 AM  
Blogger Kristin said...

I do laundry every day, too. I sort my laundry straight from the dryer. I didn't realize it was an organizational tip-- I just thought I was OCD! It does help, though. My kids are a little older than yours, but after it is all folded, they are responsible for putting the piles in the correct rooms.

May 20, 2009 at 1:36 PM  
Blogger Edi said...

I do the piles too (sometimes) to make it easier for the kids (7 & 9)...I wash the clothes, put them in the dryer and it's their jobs to fold and put everything away - except for large hard to fold items like sheets or blankets.

It doesn't seem like such a daunting task to a child when things are in piles sep. by who's room things go into.

Definitely get the kids to help when old enough!

May 20, 2009 at 5:57 PM  
Blogger Deborah said...

Laundry work is a huge amount of work at our house so I use laundry baskets ( I have 5 baskets that I can use ) to store them in until I have time to fold and put away.

May 24, 2009 at 2:56 AM  
Blogger Anne said...

Hahaha! I have photos of my sofa covered with laundry like that when my kids were the ages of yours! Good news... it gets better!

May 29, 2009 at 8:18 PM  

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