This newfound love of mine, I mean, family laundry system, has gotten rid of the laundry pile problem once and for all! Are you ready for the greatest laundry hack I’ve ever found? Let me tell you all about it!
For some reference – we are a homeschooling family of five. Our kids are 6, 4 and 2. This system could be adjusted for older kids or bigger families for sure, but I want to share what has worked for us!
Before this family laundry system, it was a dirty clothes party
Mountain after mountain of laundry stared at me every day. Once I thought I was caught up, the cycle just started all over again. I felt like I couldn’t get in a good rhythm and always felt overwhelmed with the amount of laundry in our home.
I tried the one load of laundry a day method. It worked at times, but with little kids and unpredictable schedule changes it was hard to be consistent. I just felt defeated every time I forgot to start a load that day.
And then we found this life changing family laundry system. We haven’t been the same since. Now I know it sounds dramatic, because after all it is laundry. But when you’re a stay at home mom of little kids, things like a new laundry system will make you feel like you can conquer the world. #adulting
How the family laundry system works:
• Get a storage cube for clean clothes
The firs thing you’ll need to do is get a cube storage system. Our three girls share a room so we got one big cube storage (4 rows by 4 columns). Each child gets a row (4 cubes) and the top row is filled with shoes. We got the one above from IKEA, but there is a similar one like this on Amazon if that’s a better option for you. We put the oldest child’s cubes highest and then the middle child’s, etc.
• Organize the cubes
Each row has a cube for shirts, pants, sweaters and pajamas (this will change as the seasons change). Now are you ready for the best part? Drumroll please… WE DON’T FOLD any of their clothes anymore! Happy dance for days, y’all. Talk about a time saver. I don’t think I’m ever going back.
What’s nice about the size of these cubes is that the clothes really don’t wrinkle at all. There’s plenty of room for the amount of clothes that we have. Kids clothes are so small, so it’s not hard for them to see what’s in each cube when they’re picking out what to wear. I’m sure we will eventually have them fold their clothes, but for their ages now – it’s not on the radar.
• Time to train the kids
Whenever there is a change in our routine or something is added to the kids responsibilities, we have to train them. This will vary from child to child, but it took ours about two weeks to catch on.
We got a little pushback at first, because it is quite a lot to take on for such little people. But we walked them through it and helped when needed. We highly value giving our kids responsibility. If they are capable of doing something, we want to teach them and train them on how to do it.
• Create a schedule for your family laundry system
We asked the kids which day of the week they’d like to be their laundry day. That helped give them some autonomy over the whole process. Now it just fits into their morning routine on the day they chose. Younger kids usually love doing something that adults do, especially something that involves pouring detergent. We keep a stool in the laundry room to encourage independence.
We also got these kids laundry baskets that fit in their closet and hold about a week’s worth of dirty clothes. I had a really hard time finding small ones with a handle they could use, but these laundry hampers were perfect for them.
For my husband and I, I usually wash about twice a week. I just wait until the basket is full and throw it in the washing machine. I’ve never been one to separate colors or types of clothes (I know, rebel without a cause) so it’s usually a pretty quick process. I wash towels once a week.
We use Branch Basics oxygen boost for any clothes that need some extra help. Since I’ve started using it, there hasn’t been a stain I can’t get out! Here’s a link for $10 off your order if you want to try it out!
• Why I love this family laundry system
- It takes a huge load off of me. Sometimes I can feel so overwhelmed with a task, and I forget that my kids are more than capable of helping me. Now I no longer mean mug a laundry pile because it just doesn’t happen anymore (at least not yet)!
- The kids get involved. We talk to our kids as much as we can about being a family team. Every family member needs each other and we need to help each other. This laundry system encourages that team mentality. The load (no pun intended) should never be on one person. If kids are old enough to help – we believe they should!
- Kids always know where their clothes are. It’s not a mystery where my middle child’s favorite purple unicorn shirt is. It’s either in her dirty basket, her cube or the washer. Since she started doing her own laundry, she stopped asking me to find things for her (when it comes to clothes at least). That’s another load off of me, and a responsibility for them. Win win.
- Saves me HOURS each week. I used to dread sorting and folding. I would let the loads of laundry pile up just because I didn’t want to fold it. It took so much time. This allows me to be more present with my family and I’ve stopped feeling so behind.
That’s it!
I hope this family laundry system encourages you. I learned this from a mom of 13 kids (Real Mom Real Solutions on YouTube). If it worked for her family, I knew it could definitely work for mine! And it can work for yours too. This simple change makes such a difference! Good luck out there mama, don’t let that dreaded laundry pile defeat you!
If you’d like more ideas to make your mom life easier, check out this post: Three things to stop doing to make being a stay at home mom SO much easier!
Thanks for being here! – Jenny
If you’d like to learn more about how Hope-filled Homestead came to be, click here! Don’t hesitate to reach out, we would love to hear from you!
We started using this same system for our 4 kids after hearing about your experience. It is going so well and we are so happy with it! Thanks for sharing!
Yay! I’m so glad it’s working for you!