Monday, March 8, 2010
I can't remember the last time I actually attempted to offer up useful information, but let's give it a try. This one is about one of my favorite parenting topics....laundry.

Years ago, I read a tip in on of those "you would be organized if only you..." books. I liked it and immediately implemented it. It works great.

However, while I was overseas, I lost both my mind and my ability to get a grip on my laundry pile by temporarily forgetting to use this tip. I'm back on the wagon again and am soooooo glad I am.

After all the ramp up, it is actually really easy.

Step 1:

Buy three (optional 4) hampers for each person in the household who can manage to follow through. Small children's clothes can just be added to the adult hampers.

Step 2:

Label each hamper with the following labels in Sharpie:

1. White, Off-Whites, Pastels, Light Greys, Khaki
2. Darks, Navy, Green, Brown, Denim
3. Reds, Purples, Oranges, and Bright Yellows
4. (OPTIONAL) Bedding and towels

Now my husband, always asks about those colors in the "grey" area of the color spectrum. That is why you can't just label them white, dark, and brights. You have to specify each grey area or it will not work.

Step 3:

Then, all you have to do is explain to everyone who is going to use the system that they take off their clothes and place them in the correct hamper according to the color.

Step 4:

From here, how you do the laundry is optional, but I like to attack a color a day. So I can announce to everyone, "bring down your darks hamper and I will wash it today." Makes sorting easy going in to the washer and out of the dryer. And you will finally find you have enough hampers to handle all the clothes.

Hope this is helpful!

4 comments:

Anna said...

Do you REALLY do this? That's like an assload of hampers, do you have any room left for books, toys or wine? I prefer to just dump everything together. Just don't buy any real whites and you'll be all set. Oh, and I also need to know what book this is so I can avoid it.

Helen said...

Yes, I do this and it really works. Keep the hampers in the closet. I'll try not to let me feelings be hurt too much by your harsh words.

TypeAmom said...

I do a version of this. We have 4 different milk crates (don't ask) with luggage tags (don't ask) explaining what goes in each one in our master closet. All laundry gets collected there. Either by pre-sorting or just dropping it in front. One milk crate is one load.

Sheri said...

I do something close to this. I have cold whites (i.e. hand washables) warm whites, cold darks and warm darks. We read the labels on the clothes and sort them accordingly. I have my hubby trained to do this. The kids I just have bring up their hamper and then sort their clothes in 4 piles on the floor. It works for us.

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