Large Family Laundry Tips

Something that every family has in common is laundry! No matter how big or how small your family is, laundry is something you have to tackle and stay on  top of. Over the years with our growing family our laundry routine has evolved and changed.

When you have very little ones it’s pretty much a task taken on solely by mom. As the children get a bit older this is an area that has the potential to train others so it can be a family affair. Here are a few tips and tricks that can help any family tackle their loads of laundry.

1. Train your children early.  As stated earlier, training your children as they grow to do certain tasks such as separating laundry, helping to gather the laundry, learning how to turn the machine on, how much soap to use, what temperature etc.  To eventually handing over the task of doing their own laundry.
2. Pre-treat.   Keeping certain supplies on hand and ready helps with spills, stains, and accidents.  Have a bottle or stain stick near by so things can be treated earlier before the stains settle and dry into the clothing.
3. Divide up days.    If your children are a bit older, assign them a day where they help with laundry.  If they are small they can follow you around and watch how you do laundry.  If they are older assign them with a day they are in charge of putting a load on.   This is a great way to teach them responsibility.
4. Fold immediately.   I don’t know about you, but it so easy to put on a load of laundry, but folding is another story.  Folding soon after they are dry helps with wrinkles and it also helps for them from piling up for days.  There are going to be times when you have to let a load sit there till you can fold them but for the most part make a habit of folding them quickly.
5. Limit clothing/towels.  Getting the kids in the habit of using just one towel a week (when just using it to dry off with) and using one pair of jammies for the week (unless they have an accident), will dramatically cut down on some of your loads.  Pick the same day of the week and have the kids switch out for new jammies & towel.   You’ll be surprised how many loads this will save on.
6. Use vinegar.   Using vinegar on your rinse load, this will help soften your clothes and it also neutralizes odors and kills germs.   Vinegar is very inexpensive and it’s a hidden little laundry tip.
7. Be consistent.   For any size family, it’s best to be consistent with your laundry days.  Find the days that work best for doing laundry and stick with it.  For some family (like ours)  it’s something that needs to be done every day, for others it may only need to happen Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.  Either way pick your days and be consistent with it.  This helps things not to get backed up.

Another bonus tip for laundry {it saves money too}, is making your own laundry soap.  For literally pennies a load, it’s very quick and easy and it cleans clothes very well.

Older kids can help make it, and this no-grate powdered laundry soap recipe saves even more time!

Laundry is always going to be around, keeping up with it and sticking to a schedule will help any family stay on top of this chore.