24/7 MOMS: "Organize It" - Simplify your laundry

Today our theme is "Simplify It" here at the "Organize It" party.

Did you ever dream that when you began your mommy career you might never see the bottom of your laundry basket again? That the piles of laundry to be washed, folded, put away would be a never ending task? Today we have professional organizer Paula Constabel to share some ideas with us on creating organization to our Laundry Duty.

Be sure to read our Real Mom tested tips by Susan Fox, enter today's Gift ( giveaway) and of course get your FREEbie party favor...are you having fun yet?

Organizing Ideas for Laundry Duty
By : Paula Constable from Stuff 2b Organized

The average person

spends six hours a week washing clothes, according to a survey of home owners conducted on behalf of Sears, Roebuck and Co. There are possible solutions to make your laundry less invasive in your daily life.

Start with the Laundry Area
Depending on the size of your space, there may be steps you can take right where you do your wash. Try to locate your machines side by side to save on steps.

Install a closet rod with a shelf or a rod between two cabinets to hang clothes. Keep your detergents, stain removers and fabric softeners right next to the machines, preferably in a cabinet or on a shelf. Keep a clean surface to fold clothes and have bins or baskets for sorting.

Your System
Only do what you can wash, dry, fold and put away in one day. You may prefer to do all your wash in one day; someone else might prefer to spread it out to a few days. Some prefer to do all their ironing for the week at once, others may prefer to do it daily. I prefer that my husband does the i

roning; he's much more efficient and therefore he's better qualified!

If your space allows it, save yourself the extra work and fold clothes right out of the dryer and into baskets for each member to put away.

If you have the closet space, try hanging more clothes rather than folding and storing items in drawers. Less folding means less time spent doing laundry. Have a hamper or basket in each bedroom that can easily be carried to the laundry room.

Help from Family Members

Involve family members as much as possible and get children involved from a young age. Yes, a toddler will take great pleasure in learning how to fold towels and putting away their own clothes. This may mean a little extra effort from you now, but in the long run you are teaching them the skills to do it on their own.

Assign each child a day to help with the laundry. Chances are being involved will help them understand that every item of clothing they try on does not automatically go into the dirty clothes.

Teach family members to assess the level of dirtiness of the clothing they remove. Socks and underwear automatically get tossed in the hamper. Jeans can be worn more than one time.

Other Time Saving Ideas
If you are doing a major clean and come across a ton of laundry (most often found

in Children's bedrooms), consider making a trip to the laundry mat. You could get multiple loads done at once. This is also a great idea for the return home from a trip. Rather than unpacking all those dirty clothes, take the suitcases right to the laundry mat.
Take a good look at the amount of clothing each family member owns. If you can go for 2-3 weeks without running out of clothing, you may have more than you really need.
Whatever system you try, stick to it for a few weeks and then make changes or adjustments if needed. Laundry is something many of us dislike; it is time consuming and never ending. But, I am grateful I don't have to boil the water, scrub my clothing on a washboard, or by a river bed, for that matter.

Paula Constable
Stuff 2b Organized™, LLC 920.728.1928
“I help families make their daily lives easier and less stressful through organization.”
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12 Fast and Easy fixes for creating a laundry zone

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Real MOM tested Laundry TIPS
By: Susan Fox

* Buy all white socks of the same brand. Mak es matching up and folding so much easier, saves money- if yo u lose one you still have a match.

* In our house each child has their own dirty clothes basket and I wash each child’s clothes separately once a week. I then fold and place clothes into their drawer in the 5 drawer cart that I have in the laundry room. Each child then puts away their clothes. This method has saved me a lot of time sorting and also saves me from doing 10 loads of laun dry only to find out that someone’s something didn’t get washed cuz’ it was at the bottom of the pile.

* I like to have all white towels. This way I can bleach them if I feel it is necessary for germ removal, especially following illnesses. But I also keep a stack of “cruddy” towels in the laundry room. These come in handy for trips to the swimming pool, lake or river. They are good to have on hand for mopping up floors on snowy and rainy days… they also work well for cleaning up other gross messes that kids inevitably make.

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AFFRESH and 24/7 MOMS are giving away TWO packages of AFFRESH to two moms. To enter for your chance to win, enter your name and emai l ad dress in the box below you will be signed up for today's AFFRESH giveaway as well as be added to the 24/7 MOMS E-list(if you are not already a 24/7 MOMS subscriber). Drawing to be held on February 1, 2009

MOM Laughs

Let's be real, have ever had on of those days where you think maybe I could just place my little one in the washer and then would they come our of the drier a little older and more independent, less needy, less clingy? with 5 kids I know I had those days when my kids were little..now I wonder if I put them in the washer will they come out of the drier as fully mature adults? It never hurts to dream.