MANAGING LAUNDRY IN OUR LARGE FAMILY
is part of the Write 31 2017 Challenge.
Read 31 Days of Life in a Large Homeschooling Family for more posts.
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Laundry in our large family is well, a lot. 🙂
Back then…
When we had less and smaller people, laundry was done once a day. Yes, even the baby’s clothes were thrown into the washing machine with everyone else’s. And, at our previous 2-bedroom apartment, our wet clothes could dry in 2 hours flat. That was because the apartment faced the East-West direction.
Clothes would be hung out in the kitchen area after lunch and could be taken down before dinner. So as long as I stuck to throwing a load of laundry into the machine daily, laundry was easily managed. And I only had to iron my husband’s work clothes once a week. Easy!
New place, new system
But as our family expanded and we moved to our current place, the laundry system had to be changed. The current flat has a so-called “service balcony” which is not really one. It did not have much ventilation and the clothes would take a full day to dry. If it were towels, it would take a day and a half! Too long!
So, I decided to make use of the window grilles in our flat to hang up our wet laundry. Yes, it is unsightly but with the strong winds and sun, the clothes were again back to being dried in two to three hours. Meaning the house would look unsightly for just a short while.
So, I would wash a load in the evening, hang them up at night and let the cool winds air dry the clothes. In the morning, the clothes would get sunned by the morning sun and be fresh smelling by the time I took them down after breakfast.
Now…
However, as the children grew bigger physically, their clothes also grew bigger!!! And so we had to wash one more load of laundry in the evenings. Because their bigger clothes took up a lot more space on the window grilles, it now takes a wee bit longer for all the clothes to be dried.
Helpers
But generally, I have no issues with laundry. As long as we stick to washing one load in the morning. Then another load in the evening. Obviously I had to do all this by myself when the children were younger. But now, one child has been assigned to this task.
Another child is responsible for sorting out the clean laundry.
But everyone is responsible for folding and putting away their own clothes.
Declutter
Each child has a narrow cupboard space and 2 drawers for all their clothes. When they run out of space, they have to declutter. Or I will declutter for them. Something they hate when they are older.
Ironing
Ironing is done twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, by me. I like ironing. And I like to use that time to catch up on Youtube videos or podcasts.
Vacations
What about vacations you ask? When we go on holidays, the washing machine which had a long rest when we were away would be called upon to do heavy duty work the next two days. I like to clear out the dirty clothes within two days of our return. I do not allow dirty clothes to be left around. That only leads to super smelly clothes.
Honestly, laundry is the least of my worries in managing our large family. It is cooking that gives me a lot more stress.
What about you?
How do you handle your laundry?
Do you have trouble with it?
I once knew a woman who would just go and buy new clothes when she couldn’t keep up with her laundry! Crazy huh?
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