Your Laundry/Laundry Room System (Please!) - Page 2

[eilonwy]

All of our laundry gets washed together as a family. I started washing my own laundry when I was 7-8, hopefully BeanBean will be ready by then, too! At any rate: before we got our washer & dryer, I was taking as much stuff to the laundromat as I could once or twice a week. Now that we *have* a washer and dryer... well, we spent the first few days catching up and are only now getting around to separating laundry (except for diapers, which we always keep separate). All of our clothing is machine washable, I don't think that any of us owns anything which is even permanent press unless you count my bras (and I've only got one which falls into that category right now) and the kids' soakers (which I handwash anyway). We have two hampers and two baskets; one of the baskets is dedicated to diapers and the other is easy for me to carry, so I use it to carry loads downstairs. The hampers each hold 1.5-2 loads, so I need Mike to bring them downstairs right now (while I'm pregnant, carrying heavy things causes my sciatica to flare up something awful ).

At any rate, I try to keep like with like (darks together, towels together, etc.) but it doesn't always happen that way. I take laundry out of the dryer, put laundry into the washer & dryer and start them both, and then I fold the laundry on top of the dryer and put it into either the blue basket or, if it's empty, one of the hampers for Mike to carry upstairs later. Right now, there are two folded loads of laundry in the blue basket on top of the dryer, a nearly-dry load in the dryer and a nearly-washed load in the washer. I'll be sending Mike downstairs shortly to start another load of clothing, and when that's washed I'll start a load of diapers. Tomorrow, when I leave the house to go to my mom's house, I'll put the diapers in the dryer and start another load of laundry in the washer before I go.

It's much easier for me to do laundry every day or every other day than just once or twice a week, because that way I can work it into my schedule rather than scheduling my life around laundry. It's a much better system than the one I used in college and in my first apartment-- dont' do laundry until you run out of underwear. I can remember buying new underwear to stretch the time out between loads, and then having 15-20 loads of laundry to do... I have no idea how I had that much clothing, though.

[beansavi]

Man, thanks for all the input and ideas guys! It makes me feel less crazy that I am not the only one with these issues! We gave away tons of clothes and things are more in hand---I just put out the warning that we have cloth diapers soon!

Happy New Year!!!

[klondikesky]

Originally Posted by rgarlough

I can get 2 loads worth of clothes hung on what we have but its never completely dry before the next day which screws up our 'one load per day' routine

We only wash a load of anything when we have a FULL load. We have a huge capacity washer and dryer and we're pinching pennies by only doing full loads since the energy requirement for running them is pretty much the same if its full or a half load.

Point a fan at the drying racks, and they'll dry in a few hours. The fan doesn't have to be huge and will be cheaper to run than the dryer.
Also, if you have radiators, or other 'hot spots', set your drying racks near them to speed dry time.

[LEAW]

My system...

Almost everything is warm wash/cold rinse, goes in the dryer stuff. We have a few "special" things that need special care, but not many, and most of those are dry clean (suits or something) so I don't worry about that.

Baby has her own basket in her bedroom by the changing table, it's small (a medium load) and when it's full it gets washed. Diaper pail holds exactly one load too, so when it's full, dipes get washed (every 1-3 days depending on how our ECing is going).

The rest of the system was in place before dd was born, and works well for the most part.

I have a basket at the bottom of the stairs that we aim for with dirty stuff. Our stairs are backward so you go down and it's a wall in front of you, you have to walk around the stairs to the other side of the basement to get to the laundry. Under the stairs are a row of laundry baskets with these labels:
WHITES - JEANS/SWEATS - LIGHT COLORS - DARK COLORS - SHEETS/TOWELS - DELICATES and then one other basket that is for goodwill.

I go down in the morning and whatever is in the blue basket at the base of the stairs gets sorted into the baskets for washing/donating. They are your typical generic Target rectangle baskets and when full (level, not heaping) they make one load. The biggest basket goes in the wash (so the day after we change sheets means I wash sheets... ) and yesterday's stuff goes from the washer to the dryer, what is in the dryer goes on hangers and folded into the BIG basket. We have 2 big baskets because I don't put things away as fast as I'd like.

I have a hanging rack on wheels downstairs so that if I get to the dryer while it's still warm, I can hang w/o wrinkles. The ironing board is also down there, and an old kitchen table to fold on. We only have one bedroom closet in the house and it's in our room (where dd naps) so we store off season clothes and dressy stuff in the closet and put the things we wear in racks/containers downstairs.

Luckily the basement must be the right humidity because we've never had mildew or anything in the washer and I always leave things overnight in there. We have a renter who does laundry on Tuesdays and sometimes Fridays, so I try to get down there early or keep it empty the day before.

[beansavi]

Thanks, guys. I am always checking back here!

[BCmamaof6]

My laundry room isn't big enough to fold in...
I keep one laundry hamper in our bedroom. In the laundry room we have a 3-section laundry hamper.

I'm anal. I sort & wash according to color. Jeans get done in a separate load. As do towels. Diapers now get done once a week (she only wears them at night).
Anything wool, solk, etc. gets done on a separate handwash cycle. I wash all my wool diaper covers by hand.

I do laundry every day (usually 4-5 loads).
When a load is done I bring it upstairs to my room & dump it on the floor. If the kids are home they come & fold their laundry. If not- I fold it & put it into piles or baskets for them to put away later. (Only the 3yo is not expected to do her own laundry...although I ask her to help me sometimes)

In warmer months I usually hang stuff to dry. At this time of year it takes days to dry (indoors, of course...it's rained here for the last 20-something days straight!...so outside on a line wouldn't work too well)...so I do it all in the dryer...except dipes I only do a partial dry & then hang them on a clotheshorse.

HTH!

[BCmamaof6]

Oh! I forgot...I also have a pole (pressure mounted) above the machines (between the walls, if that makes sense). I have hooks (peg strips from Ikea) that run the length of one wall...I hang anything on them that doesn't/shouldn't need to go in the dryer...such as fancy underwear or polar fleece jackets. They are super handy. (They could also be used for jackets to be hang on as the laundry room has a door to the backyard & in theory I could allow the kids to enter thru that door...but I don't...I prefer they come thru the garage if they've been playing outside.

[beansavi]

I'm jealous. Right now any stuff that shouldn't go in the dryer hangs on our bike rack with other junk!

I'd really like to see homes built/remodeled to make the laundry room as fancy and spacious as a living room no one uses!

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by beansavi

I'm jealous. Right now any stuff that shouldn't go in the dryer hangs on our bike rack with other junk!

I'd really like to see homes built/remodeled to make the laundry room as fancy and spacious as a living room no one uses!

: I had a friend in middle school with very wealthy parents; her mom's laundry room was nearly as big as the downstairs den. It was in a finished basement, with a fold down ironing board attached to the wall, a table and a comfortable stool, and of course beautiful machines that actually worked... nice shelves for detergent, bleach, and other laundry necessities. I actually dream about it sometimes. There were windows around the top of the room and flourescent lighting so it was always bright, clean, and sunny.

My dream laundry room has a comfy armchair and a flatscreen TV...

[abandbunk]

I just wanted to mention that like another person posted don't like to just fold laundry in the laundry room, I have to be "doing" something else to, so usually I save my clean laundry and fold it all during a show I like (I have two one hour shows each week that I watch) OR I fold while "talking" online on message boards, you can even set your mouse to do that thing where it slowly scrolls down, so you don't even have to use your hands much at all, just start a slow scroll and fold! Luckily my computer is in my dining room which is very close to my laundry room so in between "postings" I can go reload the washer and switch stuff to the dryer etc. and still be "playing online". THis has worked VERY well for me, I feel like I am playing and working at the same time, oh and btw all of this happens after kiddos are in bed .


(p.s. I am however horrible at putting things away once they are folded or hung ) working on that!

[LEAW]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

My dream laundry room has a comfy armchair and a flatscreen TV...

sounds like the laundry room in my dorm in college. Lots of furniture, snack machines, and a BIG tv.

We live in a double that isn't meant to be a double, and when our renter moves (she's 85 and has lived her for 45 years) we're converting the house back to a single family home.

I dream of using her kitchen as an upstairs laundry room. The plumbing is already in, it has a window that looks out over our neighborhood, I just need to find a way to create a basin that attaches to the drain pipe in case the machine overflows/breaks so that it doesn't flood my upstairs!

[Godiva]

Wow, you all make me look like bad Suzy homemaker! Lol, my laundry routine? When both me and dh run out of clothes and I'm tempted to just throw a towel around dd's bum, that's when I gather my and dh's clothes and do a load then another load for dd's stuff. A few hours (or days ) after the dryer stops and I actually remember to take it out, MAYBE I'll fold our clothes and put them in the proper drawers, perhaps they will stay in that laundry basket... Dd's stuff is thrown into her crib (hey she doesn't use it anyways and it keeps the cat out of there). What's the point of putting them away when I'll just need to do all of her diapers and clothes again in a day or two. (I have to change her clothes just about every time I change her diaper since the diapers gap around her skinny little thighs). Ok, you may stone me now!

[eilonwy]

I totally want to thank the person who mentioned putting up a tension rod to hang laundry. I pirated one from elsewhere and set it up downstairs and it's so cool, I can pull laundry straight out of the dryer and hang it up... Mike says it makes things a bit more of a PITA for him, but it makes life so much easier for me if it's already hung when it comes upstairs.

[volcaniclava]

this is my biggest nightmare, 2 girls and lots of handme downs, and me not being able to get rid of anything. Then theres my husband, a woodworker who comes home covered...
so about every 3 months I lose control and wash and go through all the clothes at once over a few day period. Other than that i wish I could get a schedule down to do 1 load a day or do a few 2x's a week.

[mysticmomma]

Didn't have time to read all of the replies...

We have a three dohickey sorter thingy. I have one hamper at the top of the steps, and one in the basement. Each morning, I take the hamper upstairs and dump it downstairs into the sorter.... we have cloth/towels/clothes. Then that hamper gets left downstairs for the dryer, and the empty one comes upstairs for the day. I do at least two loads a day. At nap time, I switch the laundry, switch the hampers, and bring up the dry clothes to be folded and put away. THen right before bed, I do it again. I always have a load in the washer and dryer. (I only do bright/dark colors seperately for the first 2 washes, usually right when we buy them). I used to wash everything in cold and used cold water tide. Now that i know better, I wash everything in hot, and use vinegar with EO"s in my downy ball, a cup of baking soda, and if I Think it's a really dirty load, I'll put in 1/3 of a cup of whatever eco friendly detergent.

[rabbithorns]

Posted earlier, I think but was inspired to rethink laundry around here.

Trimmed "products" down to Ivory soap flakes and am switching from bleach to hydrogen peroxide in the rinse for whites.One bar of grated Ivory soap (which is exactly the same stuff as the old Ivory Snow) costs 30 cents and lasts me two weeks.

I still do loads by color - reds, greens and tans, blues and blacks, and whites. I never did but I like the way things come out and the washer we have now is so small inside it makes sense anyway. I do three or four loads per week.

We hang most of the stuff on racks inside. But I asked my husband to take two broomhandles and attach clothesline so we can hang it across our porch (like a clothesline hammock!) and dry at least all the white stuff outside. The sun is too strong for colors and just bleaches them out. And we have no shady area except in winter.

I love the laundry room "paradise" description. What a lovely place that must have been!

[EricaLeigh]

I used to live in a 3rd floor apt. with laundry in the basement! I'm in heaven now, since we bought our first house 6 months ago, to have the laundry upstairs off of our master bedroom. Just open the window & there is a really long clothsline. One of my favorite things about this house was the laundry set up! I also have a tension rod next to my washer. & a big shower curtain tension rod that I can hang wet clothes on hangers to dry. I try not to use the dryer much.

Question about the ivory soap flakes, do you add washing soda or anything?

[pumpkin]

We sort everything as it goes into the hamper.

The main hamper has 4 bins, whites, mediums, darks, and special attention.
Our house also has a laundry chute and that is where we drop towels, sheets, etc. I don't use the laundry chute for everything because I want things pre-sorted.

Special attention could be dry cleaning, hand wash items, something with a spot that needs to be treated, a new garment that is likely to bleed. Basically anything that requires more thought than grab everything and throw it in the washer. The specials category has really simplified the laundry routine.


By sorting in advance it is very obvious when it is time to do a load of laundry.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by EricaLeigh

I used to live in a 3rd floor apt. with laundry in the basement! I'm in heaven now, since we bought our first house 6 months ago, to have the laundry upstairs off of our master bedroom. Just open the window & there is a really long clothsline.

We only got a washer & dryer a few weeks ago, so having to go down three flights of stairs still seems to me to be quite a luxury-- it beats having to drive to a laundromat any day!

[ShannonCC]

Well, I'll chime in. Laundry is one of the few things I've had a handle on in this house for awhile now

I do laundry every day. I used to save it up and do it all at once but discovered I'd really much rather do a small bit (usually just 1 load) every day then spend a whole day on it. It's the folding and putting away I really dislike. We also don't have a dryer and that's what drove home to need to do one load a day. When I had a dryer I could knock off multiple loads in one day but with a line, that's not always possible now. In the middle of August, sure, but not on rainy days, overcast days, winter days, etc. I have a line in the basement but it usually takes a full day to dry one load.

The bedrooms are all upstairs. Right now there is one laundry hamper up there and all the laundry goes into it. Once a day I bring everything down to the basement and sort it into piles. This part isn't ultra organized though. Sometimes the piles are on the floor Everyone's clothing gets washed together but I sort them into black, white, colors and reds. We also do kitchen towels all on their own but thankfully no one is in diapers anymore so that's not an issue. I use cloth pads but after rinsing them, I just wash them with the colors.

I've found it's easy to just fold everything as I pull it off the line so I no longer dislike that part as much as I used to. Then everything goes upstairs in a basket where I usually put off putting it away for awhile, But it gets put away by the next day.

Sorting socks used to be my big problem. I *hated* that part until I started making sure that each kid had their own distinct socks. Everyone's socks are white, but they are different enough now that I can see at a glance which ones belong to who. Hanes is especially good with that. Their socks have different color lines on the toes for different sizes, plus the boy Hanes socks look slightly different from the girl Hanes.

The BEST my laundry every worked was when I had a color system. Every day of the week was assigned a color or item (kitchen towels had their own day as did bed sheets and bathroom towels). Kitchen towels got washed a few times a week, clothing got washed once a week for each color and bathroom towels, sheets and reds maybe once or twice a month when they came up in rotation.

I stopped the ultra organized stuff after my son was born and everything fell apart but I'm thinking of starting up again.