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Monday, October 22, 2012

98

Our Little Laundry Helpers

As I was doing a little laundry yesterday, I thought it would be worth sharing a little trick that has been working well for us.


Back in early summer, I picked up three plastic tubs from the seasonal section of Target.  They are lightweight and the perfect size for my little guys to carry around the abode.  The addition of quick vinyl labels assigned a bin to each boy.

We are always looking at ways to improve and tweak our laundry process to make it easiest for everyone.  Our kids have always been responsible for putting away their own laundry, however, in the past, they were also responsible for sorting it and putting it on their hangers, then putting it away.

For my youngest two, this sometimes went OK, and other days, it was a bit of a battle.  By the time the laundry was sorted down, they were bored with the process, distracted, and typically jumping on their beds three minutes later.  That is when we started sorting things down for the kids, straight out of the dryer and into each of their bins.


This was already a huge help for us and the kids, and the laundry process definitely got better.  But, we also noticed how time consuming it still was for them to battle putting all their clothes on their hangers, my youngest definitely was not a fan.   And now that school is in full swing and we are trying to maximize our time in the evenings, the hubs and I thought we would help them out and streamline the process a little bit more.

With a stack of their hangers on the dryer...


As we pull the laundry out of the dryer, it goes right on a hanger and right into each kid's bin.


My oldest son doesn't hang his clothes, so we just use the top of the washer to fold them quick.  Anything that doesn't get hung, such as socks, undies, pajamas, etc..., are just tossed right into the bins with their hanging clothes, and they sort those down on their own.  Once all the laundry is sorted by kid, the bins of clean clothes are distributed to each boy's bedroom and they can put their clothes away each day after school.  When they get their clothes put away, they gather any empty hangers, toss them in their empty bins and carry them back to the laundry room.

I knew it was successful the first time my kids got their laundry done in less than a minute and came out with giant grins giggling, "that was soooo easy Mom, thanks!"

For me, sorting all of our laundry straight out of the dryer doesn't add much extra time, so I don't mind doing it.  Could I also take a few extra seconds to just hang up their items and put things away for them?  Sure.  But we are believers that the kids should take responsibility for putting away their items, including laundry, so although I have made it a bit simpler for them, we still ask they take that ownership of putting it all away.

Other things we have found helpful:

  • We keep a single small hamper at the end of our hall in-between the kid's bedrooms, that they share {vs. one in each bedroom}.  They take turns bringing it to the laundry room every day or two.
  • We purchase socks that have different markings on them, based on size.  My oldest son has grey heals and my younger boys do not.  This makes it simple to sort down which socks belong to which boy.  
  • We recently added a garment bag to the side of the kid's hamper so they can toss their socks inside, then, the bag can just get tossed in the wash and socks don't go missing {thanks for the suggestion readers, this was because of you and it rocks our socks off!}.


Anyone else have similar methods?  Or are you doing something completely different that is also working wonders?


98 comments:

  1. These are such wonderful tips! Your laundry room is absolutely amazing. :) Megan

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  2. Thanks for sharing! Laundry is such a struggle for me to keep up with and it's because I don't have a good process. Going to try some of your great ideas!

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  3. So love your ideas! Can't wait to incorporate them into our daily routine.

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  4. We don't have much space in our laundry room and so baskets don't work well for us.

    I hung a rod and a shelf in our laundry room. Each child has a different color hanger and a section of the shelf.

    I hang/fold right our of the dryer. Once a week the kids come in and get everything on their color hangers as well as their folded clothes and put them away.

    It's pretty quick and painless for all of us.

    I'm so envious of your space!

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    1. Wow, love that idea! Such a great system and I love how you made the best use of the space you have available! :)

      xo,
      Jen

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  5. I love those bins. I can never find them when I need them though. Just grabbed three black bins in the Halloween section last week though. They fit great in expedit too.

    Anyway, on to laundry. My girls each have a bin and once a week they bring their own bins down. I wash a load for each of them (no sorting) then put the clean clothes back in their bin and call them over to bring it up and put it away. Girls are 6 and 4 so I have to help the little one sort the clean clothes still, but she puts them in the right drawers.

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    1. That is another fab idea! Love it! Thanks so much for sharing!

      xo!
      Jen

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  6. We sort into a hamper per person but I still end up putting away by myself most of the time. Mine aren't quite as pretty as yours. Maybe one day. :)

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  7. My boys are responsible for folding and putting away their clothes. I have found they keep their dressers a tad tidier because of it.

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  8. Laundry is always a struggle in our family of 6. So, thank you for the great tips on how to 'easify' laundry :-)

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  9. I need to use a sock basket as well, we have about 12 single socks, argh!

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  10. Great tips, love that you hang and fold right out of the dryer. I agree in getting the kids to pitch in!

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  11. Awesome idea! My son is 8 & is pretty great with getting his laundry either downstairs or into our basket on laundry days. What I love is that he always put his own stuff away once I put in on his desk! So easy!
    I am in awe of your laundry room though - it's fab! Someday mine will be just as pretty & organized:)

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  12. Like Lisa, we each have our own hamper, and everybody's laundry gets done in separate loads. No sorting required.

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  13. You know you've finally found the perfect solution when you get the job done AND a "thanks, Mom." Good job, Mom! And thanks for sharing a greatidea.

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  14. oh how this gives me hope! when did you start? my oldest is 3.5...

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    1. I started out with a dresser in the boy's bedroom and always had picture labels on the drawers. Even if it meant them just tossing their clothes in the correct drawer, I had them helping. :) I started between three and four with my boys.

      xo!
      Jen

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  15. My kids are quite old enough yet, but I am filing away these tips for the future years!

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  16. Any ideas for organizing a laundry area in a garage. We don't have a room for it and there isn't space for folding or much else in there since it doubles as storage and my husbands work space to fix everything.

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  17. Laundry...ugh!! I shutter to think what the future holds when my boys get older (they are 4, 6, & 8 now). What works best for us is each of my kids have their own color laundry basket (yep, the plastic ones...I got mine at Target around back to school time so the colors were endless!) Each one is kept in their closets and when it gets full, they bring it down to the laundry room. When that load is finished it gets folded right back into the basket it came from! They put their clothes away and start filling it up again...it's never-ending, right??

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    1. Totally never-ending! I try to do it daily, and if I miss a day or two, oh boy, it adds up! :)

      xo!
      Jen

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    2. We do the same for my 2- different coloured bins in their closet. Every week they bring out their bin. They take turns sorting- their responsibility charts rotate monthly (easier to track who is responsible- I only have to know which month it is rather than the day)
      I sort socks, unders, jammies directly from dryer into each of their bins. We also dry on the clothesline but tumble in the dryer for 4-5 minutes to shake out wrinkles.
      Shirts and pants, I just drape over the back of chairs (my laundry closet is in kitchen), one for my daughter's and one for my son's.
      They then fold their own and put it in the bin to return the lot to their room to put-away. They are required to fetch the required no. of hangers for items that hang before they come tend to their clothes.
      Works a charm for us and I only fold mine & my husbands (I stay at home, so this is something I do for him). But the kids are on track to being self-sufficient.

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  18. Love this idea, I plan to use it.

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  19. I love your system! My kids are still little - 5, 3, and 1, so I do more of the process. One thing that works for this age is I fold all of their laundry out on our 6'+ island in the kitchen (right next to the laundry room) and then they "race" to see who can find their stack and put away their clothes the fastest as I fold them. Not as organized as your process, but it gets done very quickly!

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  20. O LOVE the idea of a garment bag for socks!!!!! my sons are so horrible at losing socks! I am going to try this!!!

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    1. Yes, you readers are simply genius! It was a fab tip!

      xo,
      Jen

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  21. You said "straight out of the washer"...did you mean dryer?

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    1. I sure did, all three times, lol. Thanks for catching that for me! :)

      xo,
      Jen

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    2. LOL...I was just confused for a minute. At first I thought maybe you hung your clothes to dry, until you said your oldest didn't hang so you folded them.

      Either way, you are great!! I hae a small laundry room. And right now, I can't trust my 5 kids to not just put it all in one drawer, so I hand it to them drawer by drawer. It takes a lot longer, but I just started making them put it away this summer, so baby steps. I am picky about how the insides of the drawers and closets look!!

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  22. aw i love it! clean freaks in training ;)

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  23. Can I just dub these Thing 1 and Thing 2 [and 3!!!] -- haha I love it! I've gotten in the absolutely awful habit of slinging the to-be-hung shirts over the ledge of the loft and occasionally "forgetting" about them for a day or two. Baskets need to happen here. Stat! Keep the inspiration coming gorgeous! <3

    xoxo

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  24. We do the same thing except I don't put the stuff on hangers because my girls are 18 & 15, but we've done it for years now. It is a great system!!

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  25. I have one of those big wire basket systems in my laundry closet. I bought it when we moved in here 8 yrs ago, ordering it Organize-It.com, I think. These wire baskets are big! I have 4 of them. It is for all the dirty clothes - whites, darks, towels, colors. The main things. I have only one set of sheets for each, so they are washed and thrown back on. Everyone puts their dirty clothes in the right bins. I usually fold them. I just have white square laundry baskets. But everyone is responsible for putting their own away. My middle is now learning how to wash clothes too.

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  26. I love the tip about organizing the socks! So efficient!

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  27. Jen,

    We have a 3yr old and a 2yr old, so I'm still doing ALL of the laundry!
    I started the hangers trick at the beginning of the summer, and I LOVE it!

    I bring the hangers to the laundry room, and as I remove the clothes from the dryer, I put them into 'outfits' by using a clothes pin to clip the bottoms and tops together. This was super easy with shorts, but because we're heading into colder weather, this won't work with the bulkier pants. So I just put the pants on the 'pants' part of the hanger and put the shirt over it(so the pants are basically hidden by the shirt.
    I hang them up in the closet this way.

    So I don't have to figure out outfits but once every 2 weeks! (plus I have boys, and they don't care what they wear, so they don't argue with me over outfit choices-also, I've never given them the impression that they have a vote..! lol)

    When I get the pj's out of the dryer, I go ahead and match underwear/pullup with them, and stack 7 pj combos on a shelf in their closet, and I put the other 7 in the weekday cubby/organizer for the upcoming week.

    I only wash every OTHER week, so I have 14 sleep outfits and 14 regular outfits(bought on sale and from my neighborhood Facebook garage sale....)

    This makes my life easier because I just grab the clothes and go!

    I even have a hook on the inside of the closet door to hang the next day's outfit.

    It sounds like they have a lot of clothes, but some of the sleep outfits are pjs and some are old tshirts and sleep bottoms.....the regular daily clothes are easy because my kids only go to mother's day out twice a week and church once a week, so that's 3 nicer outfits per week...the rest of the outfits are easy to gather from clearance racks and garage sales. (I don't mind buying 1 to 2 yrs in advance if I can get items for $2 or less!).....

    Thanks for your hardwork! I LOVE your blog!

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    1. Now that is ORGANIZED! I am so impressed! :) Great job mama!

      xo,
      Jen

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  28. Thanks for that great idea Jen, I'm all about teaching kids to look after themselves too. I also have 3 children and I work 4 days per week so its a busy household. Every little bit helps.

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  29. I am also a big believer in the kids taking ownership and responsibility for their own things. Thanks to this attitude, we have mature and responsible children that are able to help out others when needed and I have no fears that they will do well when the time comes for them to move out.

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  30. Here in Australia we line-dry our clothes year-round, only using the dryer in wet weather or to finish things off on cold days. So our clothes are much more creased having not been in the dryer. So they mostly need ironing. And that's where our system fails. When life is busy the ironing piles up. Even at 12 and 14 my girls resist hanging clothes, somehow the floor is so much more appealing -aargh!
    Our rule is that when you turn 13 you have to do your own ironing. My challenge is to make sure that happens at a time to suit everyone, and often enough that we don't get big piles.
    I like your system, would use it if I had boys and used a dryer ;-)

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    1. I'm in Australia too, and line dry everything, and still barely iron. I only iron button up shirts and some of my nicer clothes - T-shirts and shorts mostly lose their wrinkles on wearing (or if they don't I just don't care!)

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  31. wonderful system. Our daughter uses colored baskets for our five grandchildren. :-) Thank you for sharing xo

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  32. Ha I need to start this for just my husband and me... we are always overrun with laundry and he never puts it away!!!
    ❤Teri
    A Cupcake for the Teacher

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  33. Jen, I love that I have gotten so much laundry inspiration from you, and now, the socks idea. Thank you Jen and thank you readers!

    Question, what is the reason your older boy folds into a dresser and your younger boys hang into a closet? Is it just simply that the older boy has the dresser and the younger boys have a closet? Do you find that one way works better than the other? Does age or personality come into play with how well it works? My 8 year old boy is recently handling his own laundry every Monday, and let's just say our system is in need of tweaking unless I continue to constantly hover! Sounds like you had the foresight to start this early with your boys! Thanks!
    Anita Y. in southern California

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    1. Hi Anita!

      We were always a dresser family, until I removed bunk beds from our boys shared room and had less room for a dresser and had to transfer their system to the closet. So, now we have used both systems and have made both a dresser and a closet work for us. It all comes down to personal preference, but we really just try and use what we have the best ways we can. :)

      xo!
      Jen

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  34. Jen: i have learned so much from your blog! this is fantastic :-)

    Since i don't have the organizing gene, i was just wondering what type of hamper do you use? my kids are the same age as yours so i'm wondering what is easy enough for them to carry to the laundry room. And, how do you attach the sock bag?
    love it!

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    1. Thanks!

      I use a small wooden toy bin on casters. I typically tucks in their closet when we want it "out of sight" but for the most part, we just leave it in the hall so the kids have easy access to it. I use a couple of simple S hooks from IKEA to attach the garment bag.

      xo!
      Jen

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  35. liking those bins., just bought a new house and am trying to revamp our laundry system

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  36. Fantastic ideas. It's so important to have kids involved in keeping their space neat- for their independence, for good manners (visiting), for good habits (lifelong) and most importantly our sanity! Really lovely post.

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  37. Oh, I can't believe it. I actually had this exact idea, or epiphany as I like to call it (!), a couple of months ago while hanging out my washing but just haven't found the right baskets yet. I had even planned to label them with my new Silhouette too. Great work. Nikki W. x

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  38. Do socks really get good and clean if they are crammed in a bag when washed? Is there a capacity limit? I would be afraid they wouldn't get washed well enough.

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  39. I so enjoy reading all your ideas. It is like the calm part of my day! LOL. I too started this about 5 years ago when we moved into a new home. I built my laundry room with cubbies next to the washer and dryer. I bought black baskets with liners and then lined the bottom with felt so they don't scratch up the shelves. Each of my 3 boys has a basket. They also have a hamper built into their bathroom -oldest has own bathroom, 2 youngest share. They bring down their hamper and sort their clothes(by color and towels) into my 4 built-in hampers in my laundry room! Yes - I designed my laundry room and that was the thing that always bugged me was dirty clothes on the floor! (My laundry room doubles as my mud room also). I do the laundry and then put in baskets and they take to their rooms and put away. It really works well. I know I was a little late to the game as my boys were 8, 9 and 11 when I started this. Moving to a new house let me start new routines which was great!

    Thanks again for more great ideas!!

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    1. Would love to see a picture of your laundry room.

      Love all these ideas.

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  40. You cannot be serious. I just "created" this exact same method and I was taking pictures this coming weekend to send you!!! Of course you'd beat me to the punch. Well, at least I'm encouraged that I'm on an organized track. I do all the laundry (with a 7 month and a 22 month old) and this process has enabled me to actually get the laundry back in their little closets between naps. When I've got the photos, may I send them along anyway? You rock!

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    1. Of course you can! Great minds always think alike sweet friend! And no worries, it happens to me all the time. Just when I am about to hit publish, I see three other posts on the same subject already out in blog land. Oh well, it's bound to happen when we all constantly inspire one another! :)

      xo,
      Jen

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  41. That is a fantastic system you have in place!

    I only have one daughter so it's much easier for me; she has her own laundry bin in her room for dirty washing, which I add to ours when it's time to do a wash. Then when it comes out of the tumble dryer I fold it all up and pile it on top of her dresser and she will put away (she's nine).

    I think it helped that I had her help me when we sorted through and organised her new dresser and wardrobe!!

    Must pick up a bag for her socks though, that's a genius idea!!!! (Small feet = lots of odd socks!)

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  42. An ex's mum used to sew a small bit of coloured cotton to the toe of socks or elsewhere on clothing. Everyone had their own colour. With 2 boys of similar age (late teens when I knew them,) plus her husband it was a way of knowing what belonged to who. I think she did this when they were younger too. I'd imagine it would take ages to sew on initially but it might work for someone.

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  43. I have three little girls, 7, 4 and 1. The one year old doesn't help with laundry, obviously, she just creates a lot of it!

    Last year I bought 3 upright hampers. The girls know how to sort their dirty laundry in: darks, tans/pinks/reds, and whites. I used to feel like it took me forever to sort colors when it came time to do laundry. Now I just up-end the hampers and go. I do everybody's laundry at once; I don't separate out by person or bedroom.

    Putting it away is more complicated because it does have to be all sorted out but one day I hope to have hangers in the laundry room and a cleared-off counter for folding.

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  44. Why didn't I think of bag for socks? Thanks for this idea!

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  45. Great tip for socks!! I think this is a great way to get the kids involved in housework!! Thanks!
    xx

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  46. Thanks for sharing. I feel like I am constantly tweaking my laundry system too.

    Just this weekend I put up and extra shelf and two baskets for my husband's work clothes. He's a chef, so it's chef pants, a t-shirt, socks, and boxer briefs every single weekday. I was bringing his clothes up to the bedroom and putting them away for him -- and then every single morning, he'd get his clothes out, go downstairs, leave them them on the washing machine while he showered, and then get dressed in the laundry/mudroom. Madness right???

    Now that I realize this is his preferred routine, I have one large basket for his chef pants, and one large basket for t-shirts, socks, and underwear... on a shelf right above our washer and dryer. It's neat and tidy, the clothes are out of sight, and I've now saved myself many trips up and down the stairs.

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    1. Genius! Sometimes it takes realizing a routine to come up with the best solution. Love it!

      xo,
      Jen

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  47. It was funny to read this because this summer I purchased three matching smaller sized laundry baskets (one for each of my three kiddos) so that the kids' things could be sorted at the folding stage. Mainly this was because of my husband who loves to just fold and pile everything into one huge basket leaving me to resort while put the stuff away... I might try your hanger trick because my guys are 8 and 6 and those hangers are still a difficult task... thanks.

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  48. love the ideas! and can you share where you got the rug? it is beautiful!!

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    1. Hi Julie!

      The rug is from Urban Outfitters: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=18491175&color=000&itemdescription=true&navAction=jump&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=A_FURN_RUGS&cm_mmc=Performics-_-Affiliates-_-Skimlinks-_-Urban%20Outfitters%20Shop%20Apartment&clicTo%20what%20Ukid=0004c5b415cf678d0a2a2fd111f35ce2. You can find links to all the sources for items in our home under the Home Tour tab. :)

      xo,
      Jen

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  49. I have those tubs, too! I may just have to make them more useful and do something similar. I was also thinking they would work well to put cleaning supplies under our large sink. So there's more organization under there, which is usually just sloppy at our house. xo, http://1lady3males.wordpress.com/

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  50. We have those same tubs, too! I may have to do the same thing with them. I was also thinking to label and use one under our large kitchen sink where we keep all cleaning supplies. It's sloppy under there and it's not fun when I need something under there daily! xo, http://1lady3males.wordpress.com/

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    1. That is a great idea! The bins are so great and versatile! :)

      xo,
      Jen

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  51. Socks are easy here with just one kid, but my sister has a great system for her four. She uses a fabric marker to put on dots at the toe, one dot for the oldest, two dots for the next, and so on. The best part is if a sock (or t-shirt or whatever) is in good enough shape to be handed down, she just adds the additional dot and now it has a new owner. I need to tell her about your bag idea, that would make her so happy!

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  52. This is brilliant. Especially, when you have many kids. I've got 4 and it#s so much work, but, for sure, I love thme and our life together =)

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  53. Hey Jen, just wondering (and maybe I missed it somewhere in my fast reading) do they have the laundry bins in their rooms or do the bins pretty much stay in the laundry area? Or do you just do a family laundry basket to transport to the washer and the bins are meant for sorting after? Sorry, I'm probably thinking about this way too hard.

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    1. That meant to ask, do the bins stay in their rooms after the sorting(ie. overnight/everyday) or reside in the laundry area?

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    2. No worries Mindy! :) After the boys are done putting away their clothing, they put any new empty hangers back into the bins and haul the empty bin back to the laundry room, where they stay until the next load is done. Hope that helps!

      xo,
      Jen

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    3. That helps a lot! I think this will work well for us. With 4 kids(3 are boys) I don't see any reason to keep bins in their rooms--don't know if they'd ever make their way to our laundry area. I'm going to make a trip to the dollar store to see if I can find some bins.

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  54. awesome ideas Jen!! With four boys, anything that makes life run a little more smoothly helps :)

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  55. Brilliant once again! You truly are an inspiration to keep my 3 boy home organized! Keep up the great work!!!

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  56. I LOVE this idea!!! I don't know if my laundry room is big enough...but definitely worth a try! I love that this would make my children responsible for their clothing! LOVE the hamper in the hallway idea and the sock bag idea (unfortunately or I guess I should say, fortunately, all 3 of my kids are into wearing mismatched socks so I don't have to waste time matching all the socks (but I still try to do the majority because it drives me crazy!!)

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    1. To keep things simple we only buy white socks. Hanes makes it easy to tell sizes apart. If two children wear the same size the second child gets Fruit of the Loom socks so they look different. (: But hey, my children don't actually WEAR socks...they just decorate my home with them. (:

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  57. My little one is only eight months old, but I'm filing this away for when he is a bit older. This is such a creative solution to teaching your children to be independent and care for themselves while also reducing the amount of work you have to do. Seriously love this!

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  58. I am in the process of clearing out a small room in our house for a laundry / housekeeping room, so I loved this post!

    I also love the idea of a separate bin for each family member, and see this working well when my little one is old enough to help out. But I don't see any mention of ironing / pressing the clothes before they get put away. Do none of you press your clothes? I am the kind of girl that needs even the dish towels ironing, so would be interested in how you deal with this. My ironing pile is the measure of how in control of the housework I am, so I would love to get around it somehow!

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  59. This is brilliant!!!! And I love the idea of a garment bag for the socks...I LOATHE searching for sock pairs!

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  60. Ok, since I found your Blog, and I've been reading it everyday! I like the idea of the socks in the bag!
    I have a 900 Sq.Ft. Cottage, so there is no "Laundry room" I do laundry in the dungeon basement. Now, I am old! So before, I would do laundry and after bringing up baskets, I was too tired to put the clothes away. ( my girlies were 3 & newborn) so we would live out of laundry baskets. Yes, clothes were wrinkled! Anyway, I got tired of living out of baskets, so I made a family closet. All our clothes are now in the basement. I wash clothes and my , now 7 & 3 year olds put their clothes away themselves. I love having to not carry laundry baskets up two flights of stairs! But I am going to get my girlies "sock bags"! That way I can cut down on sorting socks!
    Thank-you Jen for all you do!
    ~Blessings to you and your Family~
    Rhonda

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  61. Each of my kids have designated days for their laundry and it's on their chore chart. They have to make sure the clothes are inside out and bring the laundry down to the laundry room. I do the laundry, fold them and put them back in the basket. They have to put them away. On top of the folded clothes I lay out all the clothes that go on hangers in order (dresses, tights, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts, etc.) and they have to put them on hangers and hang in order. Each drawer they know (pajamas, jeans, skirts, etc.) Makes it easier for them to pick out their clothes especially for church or gym days where they have to wear jeans or a sweatoutfit and not a skirt.

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  62. Where did you get the vinyl letters for the totes?

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    1. Hi Robin!

      I cut the letters with my Silhouette Craft Cutting machine. However, you may find similar options on Etsy.

      xo!
      Jen

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  63. Random, but where did you find those hangers for your boys clothes?

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    1. Hello! I found them at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They are the Real Simple line. I really love them, but a few have broken when my younger kiddo tries pulling his shirts off without taking the hanger down from the rod first {they are velvet no slip hangers}. Otherwise, they are fab!

      xo!

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  64. Since you have 3 boys, you might find this tip useful -- courtesy of MY mom :)

    Take the socks and undies for your oldest boy and use a sharpie or laundry marker to put one single dot on the toe or waistband. Works best to do this when they are brand new.

    For P2, add two dots, and P3, add 3. (are your younger two twins? you might not need a 3-dot stage).

    Now, when you hand down any of these, just add a dot.

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  65. With 6 kids still at home ( 3 young adults have moved out yay lol) I find laundry takes up time every day here. By implementing a routine similar to yours I should be able to free up time for fun stuff with Mum ( only parent) so its a win win situation, Thanks!!!

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  66. I have 6 kids ages 7 to 18 and laundry is a nightmare. I LOVE this idea. Thank you so much!

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  67. A mom of three girls suggested my kids roll their clothes, instead of fold (which wasn't working out). Works like a charm!

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  68. These are great tips! We have a closet for a laundry room, so I usually do all of my folding & hanging up on our queen size bed :) It makes a great laundry work space!!!

    You mentioned garment bags... I have a ton of them and really didn't start using them until my baby was born (19 months ago)! I put socks, items with velcro, delicates, etc. in them regularly.

    But one trick I've done lately is to help the "help" (aka my husband) know what DOES NOT go in the drier - anything that absolutely must be hung to dry goes in a garment bag! So he knows to check the bags before moving things from the washer to drier.

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  69. Also, is the idea one sock bag for the children or do they each get their own sock bag? Do parents each get their own sock bag or do parents share?

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    1. We just use one bag clipped to the side of the hamper for all socks. But it really could be done however works best for your family. If you prefer to separate them before the wash, maybe color code the laundry sacks for each person? xoxo!

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  70. Love the garment bag idea. But I must say it is my husband who seems to have missing pairs to his socks.

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  71. We raised 4 kids, and I have a super easy way for you to identify whose clothes are whose. I put a single black sharpie dot on each item for the oldest child, in the collar or waistband tag, under the toe of socks, etc. 2nd child gets 2 dots, 3rd child 3 dots. When an item gets passed down, just add a dot! EVERYONE in the household can now sort laundry without ever making a mistake. A bonus was that the kids' friend's Mom's learned that the clothes left by our kids at their homes belonged to us, so when our kids forgot an item at someone else's home, we got it back! ☺

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    1. That is a genius tip! Thank you so much for sharing!

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