>>Can you write about laundry system? I do laundry only once a week and I have been contemplating increasing that since the amount seems to be more than I can handle in one day! It was more convenient for a long time because asking the kids to put away their clean clothes once a week, was a lot better than twice (or three) times a week<<
I’m happy to share my laundry system though it’s so simple that’s it doesn’t seem like a system!
There was a time I used to do laundry once a week, but it became overwhelming. It was so much laundry that one day a week was devoted to just that. I switched to doing laundry daily – I usually do about 2 – 3 loads a day and it fits in between doing other things so I don’t think about it much.
After it comes out of the washer, I hang it outside, then take it down once it’s dry and make piles of clean laundry according to bedrooms. So the girls get a pile that they sort through and put away, the older boys have a pile (Yirmiyahu has a drawer in their room so his clothes go in their pile), the younger boys have a pile and dh and I have a pile. I put away the laundry for dh and myself as well as for the younger boys. It takes about five minutes daily to put away each pile.
Since the laundry doesn’t have a chance to build up, once it’s clean it doesn’t take long to put it away. I find doing laundry gratifying and it’s relaxing to hang it to dry (except when it’s super rainy but now that I have three racks that can be moved indoors, the rain isn’t an issue!).
Another bonus is that by washing clothes more frequently, I don’t need as many clothes so that means less money spent on clothing and less clutter in the closets. It also means less laundry since at least in my house, younger children have a way of dumping their clean clothes on the floor, which then gets put in the dirty laundry hamper when they clean their room. 🙂 They can’t dump as much when there are fewer clothes!
I rarely iron clothes – I shake out clothes and hang them so the wrinkles fall out, and for things like dress shirts that might need more care, I let the people who care about that level of perfection do the ironing themselves.
So there you have it, my super easy and low pressure laundry system!
Avivah
Interesting! I don’t have a large family, but am interested in your drying racks. I dry most of my clothes in the dryer, but have quite a few that do need to drip dry. It rains so much here in the Pacific NW, that I do have a small drying rack. I’m thinking I need to get another one or upgrade to a larger one.
What are yours like? Thanks!
It looks like this:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Baby-Home-Clothes-Drying-Rack_100814706.html
You can fit a nice amount on each rack – for me, one rack holds a full 7 kg of laundry.
I agree and have a very similar system! You’ve convinced me to buy another rack. I am limited by waiting for my one rack to dry before hanging out the next (though here in Beit Shemesh – ‘house of sun’ – is often not too long!)
I have to admit that most of our racks were found, not bought! My kids are great at noticing things that people leave out to give away, and have brought home four so far since we moved to Israel. That means that they aren’t in fantastic condition but for the price I don’t mind. 🙂 I did buy one new rack this year to maximize the space, since the recycled models don’t have as much usable room due to a missing rung or something like that.