Working with a routine is a girl’s best friend… wait, that didn’t sound right… what I meant was that if you create routines, you may find that it is easier to create a system that works for you and your family. In addition, creating a laundry routine can help your family get organized. This particular laundry routine, that your family can follow, will help you maintain some semblance of sanity.
In my house we do laundry once a week. YES, O.N.C.E. a week. I like the idea that everything gets done in one fell swoop and then the chore is completed. Others believe that doing a load a day will make the task less daunting. I just hate the idea of constantly having to wash, dry, fold and put away clothes. E.V.E.R.Y. S.I.N.G.L.E. D.A.Y. I am sure you are just as bored reading that as I am thinking about it.
So Friday has become our #Unstoppable Laundry day. Why unstoppable? Because last summer, I was sent a few samples of a laundry wash scent booster. They are these little beads that you add to your laundry and it makes the clothes and sheets & towels smell really nicely. Let’s just say, it made me stop and smell the roses (and re-evaluate how and when I was doing laundry for my family of five).
Margarita’s 7 Laundry Tips start with ROUTINE, ROUTINE, ROUTINE
I’ve decided to give you a few tips on streamlining your laundry routine to make it easier. Like I said before, having a set routine is all part of running an organized household.
Tip #1 – Pick a Day – I like doing the laundry on Fridays. It is the end of the week and the weekend is in our sights. I am not really interested in doing a lot of housework and laundry on the weekend when I would rather spend some time with my kids & hubby. Once the loads are all dry on Friday night, we sit around and watch TV and fold the laundry. It is folded and put away all by the end of the day. My kids expect to do laundry on that day and it becomes a family ‘chore’ not just one person’s tedious task.
Tip #2 – Teach Your Children Well – get your kids involved in doing the laundry. I adore my mom but she did everything for us when I was growing up, that meant that when I finally moved out and had to do my own chores: it was really hard because it was not part of my routine. My mother-in-law on the other hand taught my husband to do his own laundry when he was a teenager. Once she showed him how to do it correctly, she never did his laundry again. {I love her dearly for teaching him this life skill}.
We, too, have gone through this lesson with every one of our kids. My son is still a bit slow on the uptake but I’ll cut him some slack since he’s only 12. My husband was 15 or 16 when he learned this skill.
Even young children can be part of the process. Sorting can be a game for them and even toddlers can learn how to fold or match socks together. You are never to young to learn…
Tip #3 – Laundry Sorter in Every Room – As a kid, we had just one laundry basket in the bathroom. My mom must have emptied that thing once a day to keep on top of dirty laundry from 5 kids. In our family every bedroom has a laundry sorter or hamper. Soccer Sporty Spice (as we have dubbed our second daughter) has one with two baskets so whites and darks (usually sports gear) get sorted right away. Because she produced an awful lot of laundry, she is the only exception that might do a load mid-week. Frankly, this doesn’t happen often but when it does: she has to do it herself.
In our bedroom, we have MY FAVOURITE laundry sorter with three baskets: darks, lights and delicates. I have that extra bag because my husband has ruined a few sweaters by shrinking them. So, now, he is not ‘allowed’ to wash what is in that basket. That gets done by me. I still lament the merino wool Holts Renfrew sweater that he shrunk years ago.
Tip #4 – Use Hot Water – don’t ever be afraid to use hot water when you need to. We don’t usually use hot water for clothing but you can rest assured that linens get that extra shot of hot water to kill bacteria. I know you want to conserve energy and keep your electricity costs down but there is nothing wrong with cleaning the sheets in hot water every two weeks. If your kids take a shower before they go to bed (like all of mine do) you can stretch that out a week.
Tip #5 – Use the different cycles – By nature we tend to get stuck on one particular wash cycle. We have all sorts of settings on our washing machine and we use many of them. For example, I am not one to wash clothes by hand. First of all, I always think that I am stretching sweaters when I wring them out or I am not being careful enough with those delicate blouses. But as you see below, there are settings that I can use to wash those extra delicate clothes. Everything is adjusted: the churning speed and the spinning speed. All of those delicates come out perfectly. Problem solved.
Remember to regulate the level of the water if you want to conserve water. All washing machines have this feature. Don’t over stuff your washing machine either because you can cause damage and more importantly, you won’t do a good job of cleaning the clothes so you end up doing the load twice. Time and money wasted.
Tip #6 – Use the correct Heat setting – Just like the wash, make sure to use the correct dryer setting to keep your clothes from shrinking. We have a temperature regulator on our dryer and it adjusts to the amount of clothes in the dryer the moisture in the drum. What that does is stop the dryer automatically when the load is dry. Not over dried and not heated until scalding to the touch. Just dry and DONE. My hubby likes to set his dress shirts to ‘wrinkle release’. When they come out of the dryer, he hangs them up and by doing so, makes ironing them that much easier. He also has the ironing down to a routine. Sunday nights he irons 5 shirts for the next week. He watches T.V. and presses them exactly how he wants them done.
Tip #7 – Give Yourself a Treat – Never be afraid to give your kids a treat for a job well done. Like Pavlov’s Dog, we all react well when we are rewarded. So make sure to tell your kids what a great job they did and let them have an ice cream once all the folding is done or let them watch a special movie while you fold or maybe let them select what tomorrow’s dinner is going to be. While you’re at it, make sure to reward yourself for committing to a routine that will help you and your family stay organized.
Margarita Ibbott is a travel and lifestyle blogger. She blogs about travel in Canada, the United States and Europe giving practical advice through restaurant, hotel and attraction reviews. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and other online media outlets.