Laundry

After going camping for 3 days I just completed a TON of laundry. And as I've been meaning to blog about how we do laundry I figured now was a good time.

We do laundry like a lot of people with very few differences. I have a washer and dryer (which both work at the moment!!!) but I don't use boxes of laundry soap or bottles of liquid soap. I make my own laundry soap as I find it's cheaper and it works better. I mix it in a 3 gallon bucket and keep under a chair in the entrance where my washer and dryer are at. A bucket full lasts me about 5 or 6 months and cost me about $30. I actually got the recipe off the Internet ant love it. It's simple and works great. 1 box of Borax and 1 box of soap powder. Mix in equal amounts. Then I buy sunlight soap bars (very pure soap) and either grate them into the bucket with my salad shooter or grate some into each load as I do laundry. Papa grated this batch but normally I just grate with a small knife into the laundry if needed. Not all loads need the extra. I do use a stain remover called Spray and Wash on the tough stuff. But I could just rub bar soap into it. I'm too lazy and there are other things I'd rather be doing. So I add a little spray and wash into the washer with the soap and only spot remove if 2 washings don't remove the stain. It works for me. I do use color safe bleach when I can find it which is rarely these days. I only use it on really nasty stuff. ( like Camping stuff) I also do use regular bleach on my whites and rinse them 2 or more times so that E doesn't break out in a rash after wearing them.


I have a trunk in our bedroom which is Laundry Central. I put totes or laundry baskets of different shapes and sizes. For example I have a short white laundry basket that is only for whites. Large blue totes are for darks and the green large laundry basket is for colors. I need one more really for lighter colors but now I just do some of the darks first and then re-sort the colors into that tote and the green basket. What I need before another colored laundry basket is more room for it. This color system makes it really easy for the kids to put dirty laundry away and also pre-sorts it and saves me time on laundry day.

I know people who are totally convinced that the only way to do laundry is to do a little bit every day. That drives me crazy!! Really. Then I ALWAYS have laundry EVERYWHERE!! And I don't have a 'laundry room' so it's on the couch, on the beds and everywhere in between!! So I do mine all in one day. Or if I'm not on the ball in 2 days. I start early when I get up and throw a load in. By the time I'm done chores it's washed it goes in the dryer. Load 2 goes in and when it's washed and if it's summer and I have a laundry line it goes on the line. My washer takes half the time of my dryer and I can really only hang dry about 1.5 loads at a time. (we are working on ideas for a longer line) So every second load goes on the line. And if it's nice enough the 1st load is dry on the line when the 3rd load goes up. If not the washer sits for a bit while we catch up. I can do a lot of laundry this way. Even with forgetting to start a load or turn on the dryer which happens often enough. By early evening I've done 5 or 6 or 7 loads (in the last 2 days I did about 10 and I was done folding by 5ish.) and after supper when the tables cleared we fold. This time because of camping and doing sheets and some camping blankets I had closer to 10 loads. What a lot of laundry. Sheets in my house do not get folded. They get taken off in the morning or after naps and are back on beds before naps or bedtime. What ever works for that day.


Folding. I like folding laundry. It's very satisfying.. No really. This nasty dirty stuff is now clean and folded and put away!! DONE for another week. Normally laundry day is Monday or Friday. Sometimes both and sometimes neither depending on what's going on and how much there is. Oh and I don't iron anything. Nothing. I don't even own an iron. I hang up anything I don't want wrinkled as it comes out of the dryer. There is very little I hang. I'm allergic to some fabrics and these are often the wrinkly kinds so it works. Anyway back to folding. So I have 4 large full laundry baskets or totes in a pile stacked 2 high. I clear off the table and wipe it. The I pull out my armless chair. It has to be armless to fit the basket. Then I grab a basket and start to fold the big stuff. J, L and E have another basket. They take out all the socks and put them in the whites basket. They also take out jackets, bibs and washcloths. Bibs go on R's chair, jackets go in the entrance in the box, and J folds the washcloths and puts them away. I fold the rest like a mad woman as E and R and L bring me 'fold able' stuff. J and L put clothes the right way out as I fold. R loves to fold laundry and packs this here and that there until I barely know whats going on. She is good help though if you can get her to focus. When everything is folded we sort socks and the boys put them in pairs and I or J fold them together. L or E put the laundry baskets back and R puts Papa's socks in his trunk just to keep her out of the socks we are trying to fold. I put my different piles in the same place every time I fold laundry so it's almost automatic when I fold. Papa's has by far the lest amount of laundry so his pile is farthest away from me at the back of the table. Mine laundry goes beside his but closer in but also at the back of the table. J's goes in front of Papa's on the side of the table I'm standing on, then L's and E's and finally R's. Socks and underwear go in the middle of the table along with small towels. Big towels go on Papa's chair and so do his over shirts. Extra blankets and things go on top of the towels or on another chair.

Putting away. L or J runs to their bedroom and opens the 3 drawers under E's bed and then the rush is ON!! J, L and E run back and forth putting laundry away and R puts more of Papa's laundry away. Handy that he likes trunks so much. She just has to chuck it in :) I put towels and my laundry away before helping the kids with the last of their stuff and helping to close the drawers. All of L's clothes go in the drawers and some of J's. E and J share the old change table shelves with J's shirts and PJ's. Everyone has a small box or basket to put underwear/socks and in R's case PJ's in. And laundry is done again for another week.