Laundry for 6 ...... - Virginia Beach,VA

There are 5 of us.. I wash everyone's clothes together, no need to separate it out until I'm at the folding part. My 2 boys have their own laundry basket, they share a room so both their clothes go into it anyways.

seriously after you wash clothes the first time colors don't run. So I don't seperate clothes. I throw stuff in intill the washer is full and call it a day. My two year old helps me once it is out of the drier. We dump it on the bed and he helps me sort it into piles (its cute hearing him, "This is mama's sock, this is sissy's, this is daddy's. this is you's." yeah he calls himself you, because when we show him pictures we say this is a picture of you.) Then he can put away his own clothes. (so your two eldest should be able to do that no problem)Everyone in my house uses a towel for a week before it gets washed. And my son usually shares a towel with me.

I would get the 6 and 5 yr old their own baskets - when those are full, you wash and dry them and they put it away. If you bleach whites, have them put those in a separate basket because they might not get a load quick enough??

Either wash clothes according to the same drying times, or each person gets their own basket and you assign a basket to each day to wash. That way, when you fold and put away, you are only going to one room or dresser or closet per day.

When our 8 kids were home we had a hamper for each child. They were smaller ones but each child put their clothes in that hamper and when time to wash I just did each load. Sometimes I separated the whites from the dark and maybe if not enough in one I'd combine the smaller 2 girls, etc. You can work with it but it's easy to do and then each child had a day to do their load. Or I did and of course with 8 kids there were more than a week so I combined the younger kids. Then I had towels and sheets, etc. just weekly or spread out over the week as I always did 3 or more loads a day counting towels and sheets, rugs, etc. I think separating by kids helped a lot compared to when we just threw it all in the laundry room. When the load for each was dry I just put it all in the older kids rooms, in a laundry basket, and they folded and put away. The younger kids learned to fold theirs as soon as they could with help of course. Usually the girls folded towels, etc. while the older boys did some other job like trash, etc. So it all worked out that all helped out with it. I wouldn't have had room in the bathroom for bins for that many but it worked great in their closets for the hamper/bin.

There are 5 of us anduntil recently, my husband did all the laundry. But our kids are older (16 spec needs, 12 and 9)and he's now teachting them to do their own. We all have our own laundry baskets in our bedrooms. the kids just take their basket to the laundry room once a week and throws the whole thing in the washer (no sorting at our house!). Then when its done, they take it in their rooms, sort and put away themselves. We reuse our towels and hubby washes them once a week. This works for us but my suggestion would get the boys to start helping as early as possible. Good luck!

I have no suggestions. I have a nearly 10 yr old stepson, three boys (6,5,3), a husband who works outside and produces at least two outfits/layers of dirty clothes a day and a baby on the way. Laundry is my biggest enemy. I also do about 2 loads a day on average, but my problem is that I let it pile up for about a week or so and then it gets out of hand. Currently, I have about 2 weeks worth (probably close to 20 loads) piled on my love seat and the floor around it....just waiting to be folded and put away. This is worse than usual for me as I had a huge assignment for one of my classes last week and the kids were on spring break...this week I am TIRED and avoiding the laundry like the plague. So, I will be watching for any advice too! ...and I'll keep praying that the Laundry Fairy pays me a long overdue visit!! :)

Can I just say how impressed I am that you are able to keep up with laundry? :) I have 3 girls (2 play full time travel softball, the little one plays tee ball and my hubby and I both work 40+ hours a week) and I can't remember the last time I was caught up on laundry! :)

i never was one to seperate clothes. i wash them when the hamper gets full. after my time of the month i seperate the whites from others to bleach the whites. we wash towels after about a week of use. when they are done i bring them inand dump them on my bed sense it's higher up that my couch and gives memore room to sort. throw hubbys on his side of the bed for him to deal with and then make piles for the kids. my oldest comes to get hers and i take my youngest to her room and hang them up. if i were you id still be hanging everyones up myself...i actually enjoy that part...just seeing their cute outfits makes me happy inside i guess.

There are five of us! Towels are done together! Twice a week. My three daughters help with sorting and washing their own and have been since they were 3&5. (now 10,7&4) there clothes get washed in two loads. One dark and one light. I try and do it during the weekend so they have clean clothes for school come monday. They also put together five out fits for the week sunday night. They wash and fold their own clothes. With a little to no help from me. I wash my clothes and my husbands together. One or two dark and one light. wash sheets and blankets together as needed. I do not just throw clothes in because I have seen to many light colored clothes ruined! Hope this helps!

All the baby clothes got laundered in Dreft-I did at least, one dark, one light and one pink load/day generally. Towels got used more than once-dry cleaning and dress shirts were picked up, laundered/cleaned commercially and brought back on hangers. The children each had their own basket in the laundry room (5 of them) and they put away their own clothes, made their beds, loaded their dishes in the dishwasher and picked up their toys-all at a very young age. Would give anything to have the chance to do it all over again!

The 6 and 5 year olds are definitely old enough to put their clothes away, but I'm not sure about folding them. I think folding is around 7, but that's just me.

It would make it easier if they had their own bins so you don't have to separate their clothes from everyone else's.

I noticed a huge reduction in our laundry pile when we started using our towels 3-5 times before washing them (because really, how can towels get dirty when you're drying off your clean self?).

Other than that, I decided one day to get rid of all bins that hold dirty clothes. For us, more bins=more places to stash dirty clothes. I have one basket where the clothes get tossed, then I march the basket to the washing machine, separate, and wash/dry. Then back to the basket, folded, and put away. If it's not in the basket, it's not getting washed. But I try to help out and pick up a few socks or a shirt off the floor here and there...

This isn't the most budget friendly idea but ... Shout has a new product called "Color Catcher" I believe. I was skeptical but got a free sample and it worked. It really does catch the colors and you can wash lights and darks together (not that I would do a new dark item with it but older ones, sure). I use those on occasion when I want to do the little one's laundry separate from ours so I can get it done and put away easily.