Laundry... the never ending cycle!

It's laundry day over here so I thought that I would share my laundry routine with you all. Laundry was truly my worst chore, it just seemed never ending and was always hanging over me, I just dreaded it and this was before we had kids! It was always left until we ran out of clothes then I would try and conquer the overwhelming mountain while all other chores were put on hold and mounted up around me.

Breaking that cycle was hard but I've found what works for me and perhaps this will work for you. I would love to hear what works in your household. I try and keep the loads per week to a minimum, I find this keeps our costs as low as possible. Long term I see myself continuing with this routine, even once my children are old enough that they could be doing their own laundry.

I'm a firm believer in teaching our children and setting them up for long term life success as much as possible so perhaps I will delegate a load each or something like that but for now this works for us and they're learning as they follow along so I'm fine with that! STEP 1: HAVE A LAUNDRY HAMPER IN EACH BEDROOM

Start as soon as your children are old enough to move on their own. Have them put their own laundry straight in the hamper as soon as they take their clothing off so it becomes a healthy habit. I find it's far easier to form good habits from the start than it is to break bad ones.

My little ones are 19 months and 3.5 years, for the most part they now do this without even being asked. This means their rooms are not overrun with dirty laundry and I don't find myself struggling to decipher between clean and dirty so it's a win win! We started around 11 months.

My husband and I also follow this routine :) STEP 2: ASSIGN A LAUNDRY DAY

I picked Monday, for the most part we are home with little planned for Mondays. The kids tend to act up more on Mondays. Daddy is back to work after the weekend so they are back to sharing my attention while I fit in work and do the house work and they really have to re-find their groove again so laundry is a good fit for us!

They know as soon as I say "It's Monday morning" that its time to grab the towels from the bathrooms and to take their laundry hampers to the top of the stairs (my 3 year old is beginning to take his downstairs to the laundry room so this will be the next progression in their independence I am sure!).

We then get all the laundry corralled by the washer and dryer ready to sort.

STEP 3: INVEST IN LAUNDRY BASKETS- 1 BASKET FOR EACH CATEGORY/ 1 BASKET PER PERSON WHEN PUTTING LAUNDRY AWAY

I use my laundry baskets for so many tasks (as anyone who has followed me for a while will know!), I was hesitant at first to get 4 but I have now got 8 and have no regrets, they are just so handy and I LOVE them! They all stack inside each other when they are not in use so it's just like storing one as far as space goes! Sort your laundry into the baskets- for everything except hubby's work clothes I wash them on the delicate setting. Why? ... It takes causes less wear and tear on the clothes so its a cost saving there, I can do less loads of laundry over all, I don't have to check the washing instructions on every item which saves time, the delicate setting is shorter and therefore cheaper and quicker and the items come out just as clean.

I sort ours as follows and my little people are catching on fast how the sorting works so they help out:

1. Hubby's work clothes- he is a heavy equipment technician and although he wears coveralls which do protect his clothing for the most part but there is still some oil, grease and the smell of diesel seems to penetrate everything so I don't want passed through the other clothes!

2. Coloured- Anything dark or bright. Jeans, Bright shirts, underwear, socks etc.

3. Whites- White and pale coloured items which would be dyed if colours in the coloured wash ran

4. Towels- I wash these separately as I do not use fabric softner on towels. If you have a mix of white and coloured towels you may have to do 2 towels loads.

STEP 4- DO THE LAUNDRY

1. Put the detergent and conditioner (if using), in the machine I also add a scoop of oxy clean as I find it keeps my laundry crisp and removes any stains.

2. Put one load of laundry in the washing machine and run the cycle.

3. As soon as the cycle is complete pull out any items which cannot be tumble dried and hang these then switch the remaining laundry to the dryer and put the next load in the washing machine.

4. As soon as the dryer cycle is complete fold the items in to baskets- I do one basket per person plus one for towels and ironing.

5. Repeat this until all the laundry is clean and folded.

STEP 5- DO THE IRONING

1. I find when I iron clothing on the same day it was washed it's easier to get the creases out so it makes ironing quicker, it's also a much quicker task and not nearly as daunting when it's only one weeks worth rather than a backed up mountain!

STEP 6- PUT THE LAUNDRY AWAY

This is another stage I get my little people involved with and as they grow and are more able I intend to pass more responsibility on to them until they can fully do it themselves.

For now I do their hanging stuff (shirts, sweaters, pants, shorts) and they do the drawers (pjs, socks, underwear, vests, swim stuff etc.). My 3 year old is beginning to help put items onto the hangers so I can see him taking over putting all his clothes away soon (today he actually decided he was doing all his shorts and pants and got them all on the hangers with little help from me!) then we'll slowly progress until he comes and collects his basket of clean laundry from the laundry room and takes it back upstairs.

The biggest thing I find with my little ones is be realistic in your expectations of them and set them up for success, they aren't going to pay attention to everything being perfectly flat in their drawers, etc. We have to be ok with this, encourage them and thank them for taking responsibility, everything else will come in time.

STEP 7- ENJOY, YOU'RE DONE LAUNDRY FOR THE WEEK!!!

This is what I love most about the routine I follow, you are done laundry for the week!!! Woohoo... YES, IT'S DONE!!! There's no scramble to sort the clothes for the load each day, there's no hunting down items every day, there's no panic "I'm out of socks" or "I'm out of underwear", IT'S DONE!!!!

And it's time for me to relax and have a cup of tea to celebrate I'm done for the week!!