Changing up the Laundry Routine

By this time I had been working on the house for about a month.  Pretty much everyday I had put one load of laundry in the washer for 3 weeks of that month.  Of course this was a huge improvement over the randomness that was my laundry system before I got sick.  I was starting to feel better, and I knew very well that one load a day does NOT work with a family of 6.  At least not with my picky washing habits.

I'll quickly line out my washing habits.  Not because I'm recommending you copy them, but because this is all about honesty.  If something says 'wash seperately' I will ALWAYS do that-exception to the rule is if the item has already been ruined by children playing in the mud and it is now a play item.  If something cost a lot of money (for example our few Matilda Jane outfits), I will was them all by themselves.  When washing things separately, I will wash the darks, the lights, the pinks, the yellows, the greens....you get the picture.  I'm pretty picky about the stuff I wash mixing together.  Why? I have no clue, but I just can't mix them.

So, with my picky washing habits and my only doing one load a day, things were backing up fast.  I had been altering between one cold load and one warm load, so at least the majority of our clothes were getting washed, but they weren't getting through the laundry near as fast as they should.  I HAD to up my load count to two a day.  

Upping my load count meant that I also had to figure out where in my routine the laundry should go.  I liked to finish up my laundry folding at the end of my daily cleaning, but if I didn't start the first load until halfway through, there was no chance of that happening.  

For me, starting a load of laundry is actual a very mindless task.  That's probably one of the few reasons I don't really mind washing the clothes.  So, I decided to start my first load before I ate breakfast, while my bagel toasted.  

I would put the first load of separates in before breakfast.  At my previous laundry starting time (right after I finished the dining room), I would hang up the separates to dry and start the next load.  After I started the second load, I would gather all the clean clothes and fold them or hang them in closets.

When I was all done with my work for the day, I would just move the load from the washer into the drier.  This way, it didn't mater what time I remembered the clothes in the washer, just as long as I moved them before I went to bed that night.

I have been using this system since for over 2 months now, and it is working great!

Please note that my load of separates is always very small-15 items or less.  If it were larger it would not be feasible to do this routine.  

On a slightly different note, at this point my laundry room was back to a manageable status, so I began bringing the dirty clothes from the master to the laundry room every day.  This has since eliminated the need for a clothes hamper in my room!  

I'm sure my system could still use some improvement (I have hopes), but this is a very realistic plan for where I am right now.  


Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless,
Lisa

Cleaning the House After an Illness: Catching Up on Laundry

After just 6 days, my master bedroom was finally presentable again.  I was so happy.  My laundry room on the other hand, was overwhelming me.  It was time to do something about it.

First, however, I had to be sure I didn't lose any of my success in the bedroom.  Every day I start out the same way:

I make the bed.

I get dressed (with shoes).

I check all the surfaces and floors for clothes (dirty and clean), trash, toys, and other things that do not belong there.  I put them in the rooms where they belong.  

I don't get crazy, I JUST pickup.  I don't vacuum, dust, or declutter.

And after 5 minutes or so, I moved on to the laundry.  

I had been doing okay at running a load everyday, but I hadn't been folding anything.  It was certainly backing up.  

That day, I decided to run a load that needed to be hung to dry instead of dried in the drier, so I got that started.  Then, I decided to spend 20 minutes folding clothes.  

The laundry room itself was quite cluttered, so there was nowhere to fold clothes.  I took a basket into the bedroom and folded them on the bed.  I was able to fold about 3 baskets worth of clothes before my 20 minutes was up.  

When I was finished, I called each of my children to come and get their clothing to put away.  

At that point, I decided to add folding one basket of clothing to my daily routine.  If I alternated and did one day of drying in the drier and one day of hanging to dry, I could get caught back up.  My indoor drying space is very small, so the loads that could be done on those days were small.

I would start my load right when I got up each day, before I made my breakfast.  By the time I was done with my morning computer time, the load would be finished.  I wouldn't put it in the drier or hang it up, however, until I was finished with my picking up for the day.  One load washed, dried, and a basket folded was something I could commit to each day.  

I will be honest that if the laundry wasn't also the entry way to the house, I may not have made it a priority.  But, since it is, it got top billing :).

Other then the laundry, my plan was to clean up my house in order.  Next to the master bedroom is the master bath, so that was my next area to tackle.  I'll explain that one next.

God Bless,

Lisa

If you'd like to read my house recovery from the beginning, start here.

How to Keep the Laundry Room Presentable While in Use

We are a family of 6.  4 kids, one farmer, one housewife, a barn cat, and a few spiders I wish I could get rid of.  We are BUSY.  I like cute kids and cute kid's clothing.  I tend to overbuy the kid's cute kid clothing.  This leads to a lot of laundry.

We live in a farmhouse.  Said farmhouse has a front door.  Front door doesn't even have a door knob on the outside.  No one uses the front door.  They use the BACK door.  Back door is also the door to the laundry room.  

So, now you see my challenge:  Very busy, slightly overran, laundry room is the entry way to our home!!!

Nothing says, "welcome, come on in," like a pile of sorted laundry!  Or "so glad you came over" like a random set of undies laying on the doormat.  And, YES, I have been there done that!!

My challenge was to figure out a true laundry 'system' that could be carried out daily while still looking presentable-well as presentable as a laundry room can be.  I also wanted the system to be one the kids could do-without help-if need be.

Today I'm participating in a small 'how to' blog hop, and it took me awhile to think of something I could share!  But, I had someone ask about my laundry system lately so I thought maybe this would be good.  

Now, I won't go as far as to say this is Martha Stewart presentable, or that it doesn't have room for improvement, but this is what works for us.

Here is what my laundry room looked like the morning I took photos.  So, this is a typical first thing in the morning kinda look. 

*PLEASE excuse the plastic.  I have one more coat of paint until the laundry room cabinets are painted and so I've still got all the supplies in there!*

The baskets on the floor are clean clothes waiting to be folded.  There is also a load in the drier ready to come out and be folded.

The baskets on the side are dirty clothes.  The two pair of pants are drying-the drying rack ran out of room.

First step:  Fold all the clothes.  I know some fold throughout the day, but that just doesn't work for me.  I spend an hour or so folding once a day and then I immediately put all the folded away.  

Step two:  I take all the hanging clothes off the rack and lay them on the appropriate basket.  The clothes there in front of the basket need hangers that are up in the rooms they are going to.

Steps three and four:  Take all the clean clothes to rooms and bring back any dirty clothes.

Step five:  Sort the dirty clothes.  

The baskets are labeled.  Bottom row is for clothes to be washed on warm.

Middle row for clothes to be washed on cold.

Top is for towels.

I sort what is in the blue basket first and then the laundry I picked up from that day.  This way, if I just opened the next season's storage bin, or brought home clothes from a yard sale, there is a way to keep them moving through the laundry line :).

The end result.  You probably notice some clothing there in front of the drier.  Those are all things that are ready to be sold.  I take the things once a week and get them listed so they are always moving out the door!

Ready for the next day's laundry work!!

As I mentioned, this is part of a blog hop.  Some of my fellow blog friends and I got together and are all writing a 'how to' post.  I don't even know what everyone is posting about, so I'm excited to go read about new ideas.  I hope you will check them out, too!  Head over to Amy's Blog for the blog hop linky.  

Thank you for stopping by!

God Bless,

Lisa

Giving Everything a Place: Bathroom/Laundry

I am on a mission to give everything in my home a home of its own. This week's focus was my guest bath, which is also our laundry room...which is also about 4 steps from the front door. I have only one room in my house that I would rather guests not see when they visit {well other then the storage room, that's a given right?} is the laundry room. So, placing the laundry room in the guest bathroom would not be my idea. *SIGH* It is what it is...and I do thank God that I dont have to go to the laundromat!!

I realized that I really only organized the inside of the cabinets, the room itself was pretty clutter free. It does need some decorative touches-but that's for another mission.

As I went through each cabinet, I thought about how I currently use them and what I should keep in them. When we moved in, each cabinet was pretty much already full, so I emptied the remainder of what was in them. Then, I changed the heights of some of the shelves. What had been best for the last owners were not the best for me, but I just threw my things in when we got here and didnt really think about how I needed them.

Laundry Cabinet Before & After:




Um yes you do see labels. I dont think labels will be best in all of my rooms, but in this one I felt they were needed. Most of these cabinets had become 'catch all,' because they hold a lot of regular use, regular rotated items that just get tossed into a close cabinet when used. Since I am getting used to the fact that there is actually a place where each thing goes {and so is my ehem husband} I wanted these guides to remind me when I put things away to not just put them 'somewhere.'

And on the subject of labels. I didnt go buy a label maker {though I DID change my Facebook status that day to reflect my desire to own one}. I used purple printer paper, a marker, and packing tape. Works just as well!

Under the sink before & after




I added toilet paper! Nice touch eh?

The cleaning supplies before & after:




I have since added a roll of paper towels to go with the Windex. I hated that I was always going to the kitchen to get paper towels and getting distracted when I got there.

And the toiletries cabinet before & after:





I buy a lot of toiletries ahead of time due to my couponing. It helps to have them all in one spot so that you know what you have too much of and what you dont have enough of. I had so much toothpaste at one time that I was actually giving it away to family. But, I didnt have it all in one spot and ended up having to buy toothpaste at full price because we didnt have any.

I have found that these basket/bins are useful in every part of my house. Walmart recently clearanced them out for 50 cents a bin, I bought nearly every one. I would buy 5.00 worth each time I went to the store until they were gone! You will be seeing them in a lot of my posts, as they are the perfect size and shape for most of my cupboards.

My next spot is the clutter catcher right next to our TV. God Bless!