A Laundry System for Large Families...and small ones too!

A few years ago, I was about ready to give up on doing laundry. Luckily, one of my good friends (with 6 kids!) suggested a great way to organize myself with this arduous task. I now call this "Stephanie's System," and thanks to her, my laundry is under control...for the most part!!

Steps to follow.

1. The best way to start is with about 2 weeks worth of outfits for everyone to wear. This will help extend how often you do laundry.

2. Every child in the family gets their own laundry basket. In our home, my DH and I share baskets, one for darks and one for lights.

3. Once a basket gets full, the child (if able) brings it to the laundry room to be washed. This means that you will do about 2 loads of laundry per child (1 lights & 1 darks).

4. Once washed and dried, the clothing is immediately folded and taken to be put away. Since the clothing is already separated, it only takes about 5-10 minutes to fold and put away!

5. Stagger your days when you do laundry so that you aren't doing it every day. For me, it's about 2-3 times a week with 7 total in my family. But...those three days are EASY since I don't have a mountain of clothing to wash! You might find that some weeks you will have less laundry than others.

Tips:

• Wash your linens (sheets, towels, etc.) on a light day. I do this about every other week.
• Buy matching socks. We love Gold Toe from Target for boys and girls. The lines on the toes make for easy size matching and my picky daughter loves that they don't bunch. I gathered all our old socks and either threw out the ones without matches or donated them.
• Have a small basket for "can't wait" loads like soiled underwear, uniforms, etc. that need to be washed frequently. I have a hanging basket over our laundry door for this purpose.