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!