Never Ending Laundry

As the number of children, and therefore laundry, began to multiply in our house, I have tried to live by the motto, "A load a day, keeps the laundry at bay."  But a missed day or two, never bothered me, it was all manageable, more or less.

That was until several months ago when I decided I was tired of buying pull-ups for Lexi (she's four!); it was time for her to sleep in underwear at night.  I would do everything humanly possible to help her stay dry at night and suffer the consequences if she didn't.

The consequences were a never ending pile of laundry!

Every night I would layer one plastic sheet over her bottom sheet followed by another sheet so that I could just whip the layers off when she wet the bed in the middle of the night.  By morning, I would have a pile of laundry to last me for a week (not to mention the piles of laundry generated by four girls who must have been quick change artists in another life).  It was horrific.  But, I was determined never to buy a pull-up again.  I had to find a way to manage the laundry beast.

And so began what I like to call "the laundry queue."  

Each night I get a load ready to go into the washer the next morning.  If there's a TON of laundry, I get two loads ready.  I have space, so I put them right in front of the washing machine - in a line (hence, "the laundry queue"),  but they can be in a basket, in a pile on the floor, or even in a mental line in your brain.


First thing in the morning, I run out there and get it going.  (The kids can so this, too, obviously).   If something more pressing has come up during the night - vomit, pee, etc - that load can jump to the front of the line.  That's also why I don't put the waiting load in the washer.


When it's finished, switch it to the dryer (obviously) and toss in the waiting load.  When both loads have finished drying, we fold them as soon as possible and put them away.  I try to get all the steps done in one day.

See, so simple!  (Just kidding - I know that's what we all try to do!)

I think the key to the laundry queue's success is that I know what's going in next and I have it ready - for that day and the next.

It's just like menu planning - if I don't make a menu for the week, we won't eat.  I need a plan in order to get dinner on the table. It's the same with laundry.  John needs clean uniforms for work, the girls need clean underwear, and the bathroom needs clean towels. 

As I was working nonstop on Lexi's wet sheets every morning, I realized that if I don't have a system for controlling the laundry, it will control me.  And I, for one, am tired of waiting up until midnight to switch a load of laundry to the dryer because John had no clean clothes for work!

Here's an example of how I plan it out:
John's has enough work clothes to get through three days, so they are first in line Sunday or Wednesday so that they are finished by Sunday night and Wednesday night.

We change the sheets on Friday and Saturday which creates a ton of laundry, so I try to make sure there's nothing in the queue for those days by tossing in an extra load earlier the week, so we don't create a backlog of laundry later.
 
I also have a cutoff time for the last load of the day.  I try not to start a load after 3 PM.   That way, I'm not waiting up for laundry to finish washing so I can put it in the dryer; and I'm not wasting my family time working on taming the laundry, either.  (Unforeseen disasters of life are not included in this policy, of course!)

I will leave a load in the dryer to be folded the next day.  And, if I have a huge pile to be folded and put away, I try not to wash any more loads until I get the clean stuff finished.   (If you have stayed on top of the essentials, like work clothes and underwear, it's okay to put off a load in order to catch up with the folding and putting away.)

I know it sounds crazy to plan your laundry, but it really does work!  Since I have started planning my loads of laundry like this, I have at least two days a week in which there is absolutely no laundry to be done.  It's so wonderful!