Saturday, October 11, 2008

Dirty Laundry

Okay, here’s how I do laundry:

1. Cram as much as I can into the 30-year-old washing machine.*

2. Don’t sort colors.

3. Put in some detergent, maybe some baking soda or vinegar, too, if it’s a tough load.

4. Set the machine for a cold, large load.

5. Start the machine.

6. When it’s done, check for stains that didn’t come out and cram the rest in the dryer.

7. Later, ask the boys about 8 times to go down and get the laundry.

8. Let clean laundry sit in basket for a day to get nice and wrinkly. Only put it away when there is new dirty laundry to be washed.

9. To put it away, sort into piles … have the boys throw their pile on a dresser for later putting away; have Callie put the girls’ pile on the bed until I can get to it.

My friend Ellen has the System. She has 5 kids and does laundry daily. Her kids are totally trained to bring down dirty laundry, and they each have a milk crate in the basement so she can sort their individual laundry into each crate. They pick up their crate later, put their stuff away and return their crate. WOW. That is going to be me when I grow up.

See how I’m World’s Best Wife? My poor husband only has white underclothing when he takes it out of the package. And I’m not even sure where the iron is located at this moment.

*Diapers are a completely different story