Putting washing away - the secret

Mt FoldMore gets mentioned often on my FB feed. So often that I am always amazed how other mothers spend the time folding their washing and putting it away.

Over the past 6 1/2yrs of being married my own Mt has evolved from being put away nicely, to having no where to go, to being dumped on the spare bed, to being put into tubs. I am not really one for purchasing new furniture for each person who is born into the family. Actually we move so often it is better not to have any/much.

Because I have lots of LITTLE kids time runs away from me too fast that I don't even bother to FOLD our washing because simply I don't have the TIME to do such a task. In fact I am semi-at-a-point where I am not putting washing away, the kids are. For the past 6 1/2yrs all the washing has been left up to me, and me alone.

Training the children to be independent is important to me. Let's face it. Most likely they will grow up, and if that is likely they will have their own homes to look after, and most likely that will include such tasks as washing.

At just 3yrs of age my 2nd child can put away nearly 6 loads of washing ALL BY HERSELF! With the large sum of 10 cents for doing so. She's worth the expense. So how do we manage to do this?!

Here's the secret:
Everything has a PLACE to be in.
ALL the washing is kept in the SAME ROOM
MOST washing is sorted into TUBS/BOXES according to who's or what they are

Each of the children have their OWN tub/box.
PLUS we have the PJ box (everyone's PJs go in here Except Michael's because.. he doesn't have any).
Then there is Papa's cupboard, and Mummy's cupboard.
There is also a SOCK box, a JOCK box,
& a leggings box (for thy princess who practically ALWAYS has to wear them for modesty reasons).

Then there is the SWIMMING box,
the summer HAT box,
the winter HAT/BEANIE box,
the CURVES (my gym) box,
the DANCING box (for dancing),
& the CHURCH box (for church clothes),
and Bubba's Modern Cloth Nappies, and another box for nappies & wipes.
Oh & also the 'library box'. Which doesn't always sit on the clothing shelves.

On top of this is now the TOWEL box (kept in the linen cupboard),
the FLOOR TOWEL box (old nappy flats),
and a heap of boxes for the different types of sheets/rugs/blankets we have.
I was (meant to be) doing the towels and sheets etc. But they were being put 'out of the way' and thus not getting put away. So I got another box for towels to go straight into. Unfolded. Yep. Even the towels havn't been folded.  Okay. So I have folded some. But not all. But you know what? When you fold 5 towels, to shower/bathe the family and 5 towels get unfolded to be used... it is kind of annoying.

The children's tubs are kept in the WARDROBES where the hangable washing is put on their rails (der). Out of sight means the washing area just about always looks tidy.

It means:
Everyone knows where to look for something, everyone knows where to put things. It means that I can ask one of the older children to get something for me that doesn't 'belong' to them and they know where to look and can find it easily.

It means family-helpers *Hi Vicki* know where things are or atleast where to look.

It is all about being ORGANISED in a way that is effective and efficient for OUR family at THIS stage in our lives. Eg. I can grab the dancing box and have all we need ready-to-go at the drop of a hat. It means that I can say alright church clothes and the children can grab the box with what they need. It means when socks are needed they know where to look.

When time is available we will *home school* and "pair" socks up. Then with the paired socks I'll put them in each persons SHOE box (box for their shoes = different post needed) so we can get socks and shoes quick.

What used to take ages, takes barely any time. What used to be a frustrating task searching for clothing items in piles is done in moments. I used to have to do EVERYTHING, now the children are gaining the ABILITY to do (just about) everything I can do.

I love my system, it works for me, and I hope that you may gain some thing from this that will work for you too.

5 Things that I am THANKFUL For:
1. A system that WORKS for me
2. A system that WORKS for the children
3. Packing alot of STUFF into a small area
4. Free & cheap tubs for items to be stored in
5. That the children are older, with abilities, leaving me with LESS (ha!) jobs


This has been linked to: www.wearethatfamily.com WFMW
Please Note: We live in a SMALL 3br house. We have OUR bedroom, the children's bedroom & the school room / storage room / clothes room separated using wardrobes.

[Continue Reading]

Laundry

With a couple of little kids... and the hubby... we somehow manage to make a LOT of washing. Which has my house cluttered throughout of dirty washing. {read: not impressed}. So with Lots of little kids... hubby at work {& not house trained}, lots of little kids too little to tackle lots of loads of washing means that the job is just about completely and soley all my responsibility.

Although I do admit... over the years... my washing habits have swayed between a love / hate relationship. It has somewhat evolved from manageable to out of control to permissable to forgotten to Mt WashMe... I remain not impressed.

Until VERY recently Monday was my "washing day". Which meant that I *cough* ONLY did washing on MONDAY. So if it was any other day (with the exception on a few occassions of washing hubbies work clothes on a Saturday - I know... shocking!) my two, yep TWO washing machines wouldn't get touched.

Come a (pregnant) sunday night where sleep was absent from my life I'd lie in bed desperately trying to find the balance of comfort and pain-free resting positions (because I didn't sleep) and getting up to put the next two loads of washing on. By morning I'd have 4 washing baskets piled up with 8-14 (sometimes 20) loads of washing. Actually some days I'd tip the wet washing onto the couch and start the 'sorting' process. Hangables on coat hangers, little stuff (jocks & socks mainly) on the little airer and 'others' in the basket ready to be hung on the line with the pegs.

((What? You think that 6 loads is lots? Ha!))

After sleep returned to me and the bubba was out I kept up our 'washing routine' to discover that it really wasn't working for me. Climbing Mt WashMe to get to the toilet was annoying. Staring at basket loads of washing was reminding me of my housekeeping skills - or lack of. Hearing the hubby demand and demand where his ### were was driving both of us madder than we already are. The worst part was when I was sick, or too darn lazy, or one of the children really needed me and I was unable to tend to up-to-20-loads-of-washing-in-a-day. Lets face it, with lots of little kids your bound to be needed every day. Something just had to be done... and I knew it was the washing.

As I was hanging out in the laundry hanging washing on coat hangers I cried out in desperation to a God that I do know "Why can I not get this done?". & then it hit me. We'd (@ Mum's place) always done the majority of our jobs on a saturday morning. I had to break the cycle. But how?

Within the week I split my 'washing day' into 'washing days' and now I wash TWICE a week. But ACTUALLY!! I have been doing washing SEVERAL times per week. Monday & Thursday are my new 'washing days' but you'll probably catch me hanging out washing on a more regular basis. So why Monday & Thursdays? Monday is the first day of the week. As in non-week-end day. So lots of washing has been piled up over my 'non-work-days' of the weekend & it was taking 3-4 days for my washing to dry in our wet weather undercover so that brings it to Thursday. Go Me!

Actually this has meant that I've been able to put the kiddies back into MCNs!! YEAH!! 

Now that I have more wash days, and I remember to bring the washing inside before it gets wet again I seem to have a LOT of folding to do... DOH... {Worthy of another post = I'm paying the little kids to do it}. Fortunately I have a doable and easy solution for this!

[Continue Reading]

Washing

This kid spins me out:

Yesterday (Monday) was my designated "washing day" which means I do between 10 & 20 loads of washing in one giant, long hit. This works well for *me* because I manage to do things in BULK rather than a slow and steady pace. Kind of like: The Hare & The Tortoise. You know the story right? How the Hare says to the Tortoise I'm faster than you and they race. The Hare takes off so fast and is almost at the finish line when he stops to have a rest. When he wakes up the Tortoise has won the race... Well... I'm The Hare. Which has its bonuses, but mostly stuff piles up til its ridiculus, then wham its done and finished with.

Anyhoo...

Yesterday, I was in our 'carport/lean to' thingy hanging washing up, when Isaiah says to me "Can I help?" [Home Schooling Mother Here!!!] Course you can mate!! So help he does.

So today, the boy comes up to me, asking me if I am going to do washing today. Well No Son! I did washing yesterday, but what are you up to? Usually I am posed with the question "Are you tired" which I usually replied yes or a little bit. He always says "Go have a sleep", some days he'll say "Go have a sleep, I wont go outside". So reassuring right? So I am wondering, what is his motive? What does he REALLY want to do? What is he getting at?

So he checks the washing machines (I have TWO), Yep they're done he states. Grabs a washing basket, rounds two helpers & pulls all the washing out. One machine had been washed, the other was just sitting their. He needs pegs (he reckons) so he goes OUTSIDE. Yep that is what he wanted I am thinking. Grabs the pegs, comes inside and hangs the washing up ALL BY HIMSELF!!! (the going outside distracted two helpers from helping).

No devious plan, no sneaky ideas, no alterier motive.

Love him... LOTS!!!

[Continue Reading]