Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Laundry Monster


a few weeks back, i counted the amount of laundry i do in a week. this includes everything--clothes, towels, sheets, diapers, the works. the total was 12 loads...and i mean Full Loads. no wimpy "extra small cycle" here. we're talking Heavy Duty Extra Large Cycle.

now, granted, we do wash our own cloth diapers, but those only account for 2 of the loads per week. not that much. the rest is just normal, household laundry. i ask you, do we just have an insane amount of clothing? are we some kind of crazy laundry hedonists? how in the world do we make all this stuff? and how, pray tell, do i keep up with it??

so, i want to know about laundry. your system, your philosophy, your advice. thank goodness summer is coming...i can just throw the boys out back and hose them off. (just kidding.) (mostly.)

Photo credit: Flickr/Rigmarole

7 comments:

kim said...

I hear you! And I use disposable diapers. Pat and I have tried things recently to reduce our laundry....

1. wearing the same pair of pants as long as possible (we have a "clirty" pile on the tops of our dressers so the semi-dirty doesn't touch the clean). Since Pat has been working from home, he seems to produce a lot less laundry - no need to dress up for work.

2. using the same towel for the week

3. trying to recycle the kid's clothes if possible. Jacob is a lot better at keeping himself clean throughout the day. And I'm sure this will get better with time with the other two.

I think the fact that we have had to carry our wet laundry to the laundry room has also cut down on our consumption of laundry. It will be nice to be able to hang dry things again! I actually have been able to do this a few times during the last few months.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sweetie,
Your mom signing in.... :) I have signed up for The House Fairy :) program from one of the ladies who wrote Sidetracked Home Executives -you know, the book that I've used to help me stay on track with organizing the house. 'She' has a suggestion of only having 7 of every item of clothing for each person i.e. 7 pairs of pants, 7 sweaters, etc. I know - I'm still sorting through this suggestion because I love clothes (and love to buy them for the boys! :)) But, it might help.....
Love You!

christy said...

hi mom, thanks for the info! it seems like a logical sort of thing to say...to get less clothing means that you'd have less laundry to do. my fear is that it would be the same amount of laundry, just more often and with less of a buffer if i miss a day! i should sit down and figure out what it would look like to have 7 things....but i would double the socks for sure! (i wonder how old these children are that they are organizing for? :)

kim--the recycling of clothes is a good idea too, if i can get in the swing of things. chris and i already do that for our own clothes (it helps that i have only 2 pairs of pants that fit me right now....), but in the past the children just have gotten too dirty too fast....maybe they are ready. then again, most days i am covered in dirt, snot or slobber by the end of the day, so maybe not! :)

Christy said...

I prefer the "naked baby" route. But I don't guess it works in the winter-time. I often at least take off the boys' T-shirts for meals, because that seems to be the most dirty-ing part of the day. And in the summer, only a diaper is necessary - and even that is optional.

It probably won't lessen your laundry a ton, but there's my two cents.

Anonymous said...

thank you for your email, it was encouraging, :)

Anonymous said...

honestly, i don't wash the kids pants unless they are super dirty. shirts i take off for meals, or give them a great bib (which both kids will still wear). hubby takes his work clothes to dry cleaning, so i think that eliminates a LOT from my plate. We also wash towels 1 per week, sheets 1 per week.

i cannot imagine how much cloth diapers must increase your laundry. at least you wont always be in diapers!! :)

what age did you start folding laundry with your mom? I think I was about 6. So, just about the time diapers are done, your oldest can be folding with you! :)

Anonymous said...

We do 4 loads a week for the 4 of us. Primarily I wear my work pants a lot before washing them (this is why I take them off as soon as I walk in the house). I make Gabriella wear only 2 different PJs throughout the week and we wash towels only once a week. I do not enjoy laundry so anything to slow it down is welcome. just bought some wonderful shorts for the kids for the summer. They are kind of mesh-like and will be rinsable in the sink!

Judith