Anyone with a large family knows missing a day of laundry can result in an overflowing laundry room.
Large families have large laundry piles, and it’s an endless battle keeping up with the mountains of clothes you’re certain belongs to your family and the family next door. It’s never any fun to deal with laundry, and these hacks certainly won’t make it any more fun. However, these laundry tips for large families will make it a lot easier, and that’s something busy moms and dads can appreciate until disposable clothing becomes a thing.
Avoid Ruined Clothing with Marker Notes
When the kids are mad because you threw their new shirt in the dryer and it shrunk, you kind of want to tell them to do their own laundry so it’s done right. Instead of picking a fight with the kids, leave a washable marker on top of the washing machine. If anyone wants special treatment for a specific item, they can just write it on the lid of the washer so everyone can see it. When it’s been handled, erase it.
Forget Traditional Sorting
Who bothers with whites and darks and sorting anymore? Few people since so many pieces of laundry equipment and detergents don’t require you do this anymore. One way to get laundry done faster in a large household is to give everyone their own hamper and encourage them to bring it to the laundry room when it’s all full. Wash items by the hamper rather than sorting so everyone’s stuff is washed together. When you take it out of the dryer, you can take it straight to the owner’s bedroom and deposit it there for them to handle. If your kids are still young, at least it’s all their stuff in one pile, which eliminates all the sorting and storing.
Put the Kids to Work
Provided they aren’t toddlers or babies, your kids can do their own laundry in a sense. Even your five-year-old is big enough to put his or her own laundry away, so let this be the new thing in your household. You’re still washing the laundry, but they’re putting it away saving you time on the folding and hanging process. It’s quick laundry tips like this that make the entire situation more bearable for parents with large families. Your kids are old enough to help.
Wash Like Items
It’s already been recommended you stop sorting laundry by anything other than the room it belongs in, but this rule doesn’t apply to blankets and towels and other like items. Cleaning microfiber cloths, towels, bath mats, rugs, and bedding should be handled without added laundry to prevent each one from ruining clothes.
Bath mats and rugs, for example, might have a rubber bottom that might make clothes smell a little like burnt rubber when it comes out of the dryer. Some blankets have very soft fabric that gets all over towels and leaves you a mess when you use a towel. Do take the time to separate these things so you don’t end up washing the same load over again to repair any messes.
Do a Load a Day
The best way to handle laundry with a big family is to wash at least one load every day. Let it be the filled up baskets from the night before. Throw it into the wash when you wake up, the dryer before you leave, and then put it away when you have a chance. Laundry is far less intimidating when you don’t allow it to overflow with abandon each day. Large families know missing even on day of laundry is one of the most horrifying experiences come the following morning.
Multi-Task
While laundry is drying or washing, take a few moments to do some other things around the house. If it takes 30 minutes for the washing machine to handle a load, spend that 30 minutes each evening prepping lunches for the kids to take to school in the morning, choosing school clothes for everyone, or cleaning up after dinner. Taking the time to multitask makes laundry a little easier, and it helps with the rest of the house.
Some moms like to do this at night. They throw laundry in the wash while they make dinner, put it in the dryer while they clean up and give baths, and send the clean laundry with the kids as they head off to their rooms to get ready for bed. It makes life much simpler.
Large families are the best, but you have to figure out what works for you when it comes to keeping up with the house. Homework, meals, extracurriculars, and just getting everyone dressed and out the door in the mornings takes up so much time. There’s no time to waste worrying about the laundry.
Author BIO
Riya is an inspired writer. She is very delighted to work with aspiring small business owners. Riya enjoys decorating her home, crafting, trying new recipes. She is also a runner who likes to enjoy the morning breeze. You can find her on Twitter.