Large Family Laundry Routine

 

Make Your Days Easier with a Good Laundry Routine

 

Over the years, I’ve tried different laundry routines and schedules.  Having a large family means we need a good laundry routine.  Laundry seems to pile up faster and faster these days.  Pretty soon we could be buried under it if we aren’t careful.  This routine seems to be the easiest I’ve come up with.  First the basics & necessities: I have one “bin” for each child in the family.  Each bin is for clean clothes only.  Once the clothes are clean, they get sorted into these bins, ready to be folded.  I have 4 hampers in the house.  One for the boys, one for the girls, one for the master bedroom and one for the baby.  (I wash baby clothes separately for the first several months).

My routine goes like this.  I’ve assigned each hamper a day of the week to wash its contents.  The oldest child whose clothes belong in that hamper are responsible for bringing it into the laundry room and loading the contents into the washer.  I pour the soap in and start up the load.  This is done first thing in the morning.  At noon we switch it out.  They are also responsible for getting their sheets off their bed.  I take the sheets off the littles’ beds and throw them in the washer.  We only have one load of clothes (and their bathroom towels which are mixed in) and one load of sheets for the day.

 

 

When the laundry is washed and dried, we put the sheets back on and fill their cubbies up with clean clothes.  The rest goes back in their drawers.  They each have a 5 day cubby hanging in their closet.  This way, their clothes are picked out in advance for them to wear.  The older kids are in charge of checking to make sure there are enough clothes in each cubby.  I assist with this and make sure that it is done correctly.

So the girls have one day, the boys have one day, the parents have one day and the baby has one day.  On the baby’s day I not only wash her sheets and clothes but also her diapers.  We do use cloth part-time currently.

This leaves me doing laundry 4 days out of the week.  The extra day (I do not like doing laundry on the weekend unless necessary) of the week is left for odds and ends – blankets from the living room, kitchen towels, etc.

On the day which is assigned to each room, I also make it a priority to vacuum that room and straighten up/wipe down the bathroom that is attached or next to that room.  This makes taking care of the house much more manageable and leaves me with much shorter tasks to take care of.

Please share your favorite laundry routine in the comments! Click here for a printable chart of laundry skills by age for your preschoolers – pre-teens.