Works For Me Wednesday

Last week, I had a huge response to the Works for Me Wednesday carnival, sponsored by Rocks in My Dryer , so I think I'll do them every week! For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me post images, so I don't have the cute little picture this week. :(

I think I may have FINALLY found a laundry routine that works for me! If you have kids, you know how exciting this is. I've tried various methods - doing it all on one day each week, starting a load every morning, sorting by colors in a 3-way hamper and doing them as they fill, etc. For some reason, none of these really worked well for me. When I do it once a week, it adds up to about 10 loads. I'm not a morning person, so the more I do in the mornings, the more stressed out I am. The 3-way hamper idea is cool, but I seemed to be the only one who could sort correctly.

There are a few things you should probably know about our family before I tell why my solution works for us. :) My kids (so far) are 6, 3, and 11 months. Two of them go to the bathroom unattended (which could be a whole post on its own), and Addison (the 11 month old) insists on feeding herself - with her hands. Jason gets dirty at work every day, so he changes when he gets home. Then he gets dirty playing outside with the kids, so he takes a shower and changes again. I try to have everyone use towels twice, but I've caught Peyton blowing his nose or wiping his rear with them on many occasions, and Jason thinks it's "gross" - whatever. Therefore, we go through tons of clothes and towels.

A couple of nights ago, I decided to start doing our laundry bachelor-style. In case you're not sure of the method, it basically means that you throw a load-ful of any dirty clothes in sight into the washer. Then you wash it on warm (or cold, if they happen to be all dark). That's it. I do this after the kids go to bed, and I switch it before I go to bed. At some point the next day, I "fluff" them in the dryer and then fold and put away. This is working so well for me - isn't that hilarious? I could have avoided such a headache this whole time if I had only done laundry like my husband.

A couple of notes: We do have a few white towels and shirts that I wash separately and bleach. Also, all of us almost always wear "wash and wear" cotton stuff. That's how I can get by with washing it all together. That's what is working for me right now. If you have a creative laundry idea, please share!