Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Works for Me Organizing System!

Laundry around here is a MONSTER.  

M-O-N-S-T-E-R

...and I only have 6 kids. How do larger families do it?  I came up with a partial solution and picked the girls since they go through clothes like I'd never seen.  How can 2 little girls fill up their basket, large one, in just a couple of days?  My kids don't have little baskets.  I know they change their clothes several times a day and then just throw them in the hamper.  Well, I don't do that sniff thing anymore since I almost fainted one time from a foul smell I was unprepared for.  

Anyway, I took a whole evening and set up a laundry system just for them in the garage with my washing machine.  It took 3-4 hours to go up and down in the attic and find exactly where I need to drill to hang up a clothes rod.  It needed to go into a post  and not drywall.  I had to do an army crawl it the attic with Kyle holding a light.  All while trying to stay on the boards and not fall through the ceiling.  Finally, I got it and this is what it looks like. The clothes aren't too heavy for the rod, it was already bent.  Sooo, now I just take the clothes right out of the dryer and immediately hang it up or fold it.  The baskets above also keep our towels and blankets.  


I didn't realize we had so many blankets because the kids would play with all of them and get them dirty from being dragged around.  Well, I could never find any because they were stuck in baskets everywhere and taking up hamper space.  Now they are folded and put up high on the shelf. 

Since doing this system, the girls have to come to me first to change their clothes and I retrieve them.  My laundry pile has gone down greatly.  Next we'll be putting in a system for the boys.  Charles and I will keep our clothes in our own closets.

Have you done anything lately, whether it's for cooking, cleaning, organizing, that has worked for you?  Please submit direct link to the post below!  I would love to see other ideas!




2 comments:

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

I LOVE IT! I can imagine the "foul smell" was prolly bad enough to warrant a post all its own... when the children grow a bit bigger, you will need a larger laundry room or rolling hanging racks. :)

Kassie said...

Oh my goodness. You 'only' have 6 kids? You put me to shame! I have one 20 month old and a baby on the way, and our clothes are a DISASTER! I'm working very hard to get a good system and keep the chaos under control..thanks for the great idea.