My laundry schedule

I have mentioned before that I'm a little anal about my laundry. How it gets done, when it gets done...all of it. Yeah...I'm a little OCD about it.

But...someone did a Google Search for "laundry schedule for family of 5" -- and they came to my page....AND they asked for me to break it down. So, my dear friend Lisa....I'm not abnormal!!

Growing up, my mother did laundry on Saturdays. It was an all day-long, tedious task. My job was simple. Put the laundry in the bin. She would then sort into lights, darks, denims, towels, linens.

I have, what is considered by most, a large family (2 adults, 1 step child and 3 of my own kids)...and admittedly, all but myself and my middle son are a bit diva-ish about their clothing. Layers, a couple of changes a day...you get the idea. When I tried to stick with the schedule I had growing up, I found I was spending the entire day doing laundry, and if I happened to put it off --- well, we were swimming in a sea of filthy clothes.

So, I developed a schedule. This took much time and tweaking, but I've finally found the thing that works for my family.

Here's how it goes:

Monday -- Blue clothing, middle son's bed sheets (2 separate loads)
Tuesday -- Black clothing, Toddlers bed sheets (2 separate loads)
Wednesday -- White clothing, my bed sheets (2 separate loads)
Thursday -- Yellow/greens/browns, step son's sheets (he's no longer here...but whatever)
Friday -- Pink/Red clothing, daughters sheets (2 separate loads)
Saturday -- Denim
Sunday -- Towels

To be brutally honest, I don't wash the bed sheets every week. It's ideal, but I just don't. I suffer from terminal lazyitis. ;o)

There is also a schedule to how I do this --- now I wish that I could make this into a routine, but life, kids, work --- it all tends to get in the way. But, I find that if I have the laundry sorted into the laundry basket at night, when I wake up in the morning, I can just toss it into the washing machine and get on with my day. I usually toss it into the dryer at lunch time, it's dry by nap time, when I can fold it uninterrupted. However, there are days that I don't put it in the wash until much later....then I put off folding becuase I'm tired, then I'm stuck with wrinkly clothes, then I have to *gag* Iron! *shudder*

So...I hope that this can give you some guidance as to how to deal with a large family with tons of laundry. Rather than spending an entire day folding and washing and over and over and over....spend just an hour a day...laid out this way, it looks like more work, but it really isn't! We have clean clothes all the time, and never have to dig in the hamper for clothes to put on.