Taming The Laundry Monster=A House of Order

Spring Break- Spring Cleaning. As of this day, every clothing item in my girls' rooms is pressed, mended, folded, and wearable-meaning every thing fits.
We had a huge "try-on" party this morning. A Spring Closet and Drawer Purge was the result.
During this process, I was reminded of some invaluable tips in organizing and maintaining order in children's drawers, closets and rooms.

Raising Five children, my conclusion is...
It all starts with organizing your laundry space and the handling of clothes and shoes before they ever reach a child's room.
Laundry is the one household chore that never goes away, it multiplies and divides itself as we sleep, or so it seems.
A Laundry area must be organized and managed in an efficient way or it will add to the drudgery of the dreded Laundry Task. Have a place for hangers, tried and true laundry supplies, and of all things.... decorate your laundry room or area. It is the last place we think of to cheer up and make a pleasant place to visit, yet we spend a lot of time going there. Make it an enjoyable and efficient area!
All this said, here is the meat.. the absolute musts when managing the clothing for a family:

• Color Code or Initial socks and underwear immediately upon opening the packages. Each child can have a certain color dot or initial marked on the tag of underwear and on the toe of each sock. This pays dividends when it comes time to fold clothes- easy matching for you, or better yet, a child, housekeeper, or helper.


• Color coding or initialing also comes in handy with my two daughters who I dress "matchy-matchy-matchy" most of the time. They are close in size. A quick glance at the label inside and it is easy to know which item belongs to who. I could do a commercial for the million uses of Sharpie Pens in every day household life!


• This concept is also carried on to the shoes. I initial inside the sole where a child can easily see their initial or color. Don't do this on the bottom of the shoe where a child has to pick up the shoe to check. It is also easy for you to know who has left their shoes out when it is clean up time.
  
• Each child has their own color hanger, generally the hanger color coordinates with their room.
• In bathrooms, hooks not towel racks are the best for keeping towels put away in children's bathrooms.
• Each child can be assigned a specific color towel- when my boys were young, I had their towels monogramed.
  
• Hang as many clothes as you can, however, if for those clothes you fold--- here is a complete drawer organizing saver: Roll shirts- do not fold and stack one on top of the other(see below)

This photo is from Megan's shirt drawer. When she reaches in for a shirt, she does not have to search for a shirt on the bottom of the pile and in the process, pull out every shirt on top and leave them, yes, on the floor.
This method has been a huge sanity and time saver. Trust me... it works (even for husbands' drawers) Whether you use drawers, shelves, bins, or baskets, rolling shirts vs folding and stacking creates order and eliminates messes.
I always group colors, and styles. (A little art lesson and they don't even know it)
I group school uniforms, play clothes, church clothes, etc. Have a system and make it work for you and your child.
One word of caution- your train of thought when you organize a drawer or closet needs to be discussed and explained to a child. They may have invaluable input as to how they think when they are dressing. Explain where everything goes, why it goes there, and how it is expected to stay. This communication step is frequently overlooked. We spend hours organizing children's rooms and play rooms and then forget to explain why every thing is where it is.

TWELVE YEAR OLD LAUNDRY
In our family, turning 12 means you are your own laundry agent. This has worked with 3 grown and gone children who have always thanked me when they left home. Most recently, my youngest son explained how many guys in the dorm did not know that washing towels with jeans was totally wrongoooo.
Without a few parameters, children doing their own laundry can become it's own Laundry Monster
to Tame. Here are the tried and true parameters:

• Each child has ONE assigned day to wash, dry, fold, and put away their laundry. The only exception is stinky sweaty sports clothing cannot wait a week and I will make the exception for them to throw in the super stinky stuff. Sometimes I will throw it in myself.
• Remove your sheets on Mondays and Mom will wash them and put them in your room for you to re-make your bed. Even when I have a housekeeper, they are required to make their own beds.
• Each child has two towels that get washed at least twice per week- by me.
• Each child has their own hamper.
• Leaving your clothes (clean or dirty) in the laundry room on a day other than your assigned day may result in mom confiscating your clothes until your next assigned day. Better have a good reason....

Organizing my laundry space, clothing, and shoes makes for orderly drawers and closets. It doesn't make me love doing laundry, however, it takes some of the dred and drudgery out of a necessary daily task.

As far as Family Laundry, I am convinced it is better to wash, fold and put away 1 load than to have 4-5 loads of laundry in various stages all over my house.

I am a firm believer in taming the Laundry Monster before it bites you! Oh.... and.... that Spring Closet and Drawer Purge from this morning... stay tuned to ebay... lots and lots of new and like new girls clothes ready to hit the auction. Ill let you know when.

We are off to the Beach tomorrow... we worked hard enough today!