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amother
Sand
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 Mon, Mar 20 2023, 8:24 pm
| amother OP wrote: | I have tried a gazillion laundry methods and I'm still not on top of it. Disclaimer I have ADHD and all my children are neurodivergent. This is not an excuse, this is an explanation of how I need this hacked.
What I've learned that I need and my kids need is the fewest steps to get things done.
Ideally I'd like for each child to have their own hamper and for me to do one load a day and then put it away. This eliminates sorting and folding in a middle space (the laundry room). The problem is the kids leave their clothes all over, in the bathrooms, on the main floor etc and when we clean up, it makes most sense to put it in a singular hamper. I get so overwhelmed by all the steps. Half the clothes needing to be dried on the hanging rack so those need to be sorted again and put in the different rooms. I know this sounds pathetic but this is my struggle.
Can you help me streamline this without depending on children doing things a certain way or at a certain time? If I need to get my kids to do wtvr then that's just another thing to be on top of. |
Here's my laundry system, feel free to adapt:
Motzaei Shabbos: immediately after we clear the dining room table, I pretreat the tablecloths and throw them in the wash. I wash my dishes while that load is going, and sort out the laundry in the hampers. I then do a load of towels, followed by a load of Shabbos clothes/delicates from the whole week, and then white shirts (Shabbos, and DH only wears white shirts. Usually I load the white shirts before I go to bed and leave them to soak overnight. All hanging clothes get hung before I go to sleep.
Sunday: I transfer the white shirts to the dryer to dry slightly, then hang. I do a load of dark underwear/socks, a load of white underwear, and a load of pajamas. I fold those three loads, towels, and tablecloths and put away.
Monday: I put away all the hanging clothes that have dried. I wash the bathroom towels, one bathroom at a time. I usually do one load before I leave to work.
Tuesday: I strip all beds and wash them, then put back on beds. (When I have a cleaning lady, she helps me). At night, I sort out the hampers (we have one in each bathroom with a shower).
Wednesday: I collect all the clothes from around the house and do another hamper dump, sort them into my presorted piles, and wash and dry the underwear and pajamas (3 loads), fold and put away.
Thursday: I do a quick check in bedrooms and hampers for hanging clothes that aren't in my presorted pile, and wash and hang them (mostly regular clothes-pants, shirts, etc.)
Friday: I put away the hanging clothes and wash and dry the shmattes.
I keep a triple sorter in my laundry room and multiple laundry baskets.
I don't nudge my kids to put things in the hamper. I just collect as I clean up the house. This is probably something we should work on one day...
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amother
Sand
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Mon, Mar 20 2023, 8:27 pm
| amother Sand wrote: | Here's my laundry system, feel free to adapt:
Motzaei Shabbos: immediately after we clear the dining room table, I pretreat the tablecloths and throw them in the wash. I wash my dishes while that load is going, and sort out the laundry in the hampers. I then do a load of towels, followed by a load of Shabbos clothes/delicates from the whole week, and then white shirts (Shabbos, and DH only wears white shirts. Usually I load the white shirts before I go to bed and leave them to soak overnight. All hanging clothes get hung before I go to sleep.
Sunday: I transfer the white shirts to the dryer to dry slightly, then hang. I do a load of dark underwear/socks, a load of white underwear, and a load of pajamas. I fold those three loads, towels, and tablecloths and put away.
Monday: I put away all the hanging clothes that have dried. I wash the bathroom towels, one bathroom at a time. I usually do one load before I leave to work.
Tuesday: I strip all beds and wash them, then put back on beds. (When I have a cleaning lady, she helps me). At night, I sort out the hampers (we have one in each bathroom with a shower).
Wednesday: I collect all the clothes from around the house and do another hamper dump, sort them into my presorted piles, and wash and dry the underwear and pajamas (3 loads), fold and put away.
Thursday: I do a quick check in bedrooms and hampers for hanging clothes that aren't in my presorted pile, and wash and hang them (mostly regular clothes-pants, shirts, etc.)
Friday: I put away the hanging clothes and wash and dry the shmattes.
I keep a triple sorter in my laundry room and multiple laundry baskets.
I don't nudge my kids to put things in the hamper. I just collect as I clean up the house. This is probably something we should work on one day... |
ETA: I don't have adhd, but live with plenty of people who do have it!
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mushkamothers
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Mon, Mar 20 2023, 8:32 pm
Less clothing, for starters. It sounds counterintuitive but if you only have 5 shirts then you'll do laundry more often and have less to wash and fold and put away.
Stop hanging things. Only buy what can be washed in a mixed load (whites can be a separate load) and dried. I dry everything besides my own clothing, and the boys shabbos and uniform collared shirts- yes regular shabbos pants and sweaters get dried.
Don't fold, put things back in drawer dividers like the ikea skubb for example.
No advice re the kids and the hampers in each room which may be the biggest piece for you. But in general the book Organizing Solutions for people with adhd is great
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amother
Dustypink
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Mon, Mar 20 2023, 11:26 pm
| amother OP wrote: | This feels very harsh to me. I have ADHD, do you know how hard it is for me to be on top of routines and rules never mind on top of all my kids????? Being on top is literally the hardest thing ever for me. I have so much pain and shame around this and I am trying my best regardless.
Why are my kids getting undressed different places because I am ONE person and I cannot be on top of every kid every morning and night. While I'm taking care of one child another kid gets changed, while I quickly deal with a different kid, this kid takes her socks off etc. I can make 100 rules but unless I police them it doesn't happen. ADHD mom of Nurodivergent kids is a special kind of housekeeping gehenim.
I am no looking for perfection. I'm pointing out where I get stuck ie where I get backlogged and I'm trying to creatively figure out a different way. I don't have to have each kid have their own hamper, if theres another more efficient streamlined way. I am not stuck on one way (yay flexibility a plus I have from my ADHD), I'm open to any ideas that will keep laundry as simple as possible. |
I feel like I'm your twin. Every word describes me. And I have 3 kids (toddlers) you seem to have more.
Anyway I'll give some tips. Some others may have posted but I think can use more explanation.
First the book how to keep house while drowning was really helpful.
1- fold only what must be folded. Don't fold any kids underwear or pj's. Get little bins for each type of thing and just put away unfolded. If you have one color sock only for each kid then that doesn't have to be folded either. Just take out 2 they're all the same anyway. (if not then I highly recommend investing in a 12 or so pack per child). If it bothers a kid they can fold themselves.
2- hang as much as possible. This really depends on how much hanging space you have. I hang all shirts, sweaters, t-shirts, and obviously dresses.
All I'm left to fold is pants, tights, linen, towels and adult underwear (if and when I do). You can hang pants and tights (on a hanger with clips like this 3 Pack Stainless Steel Laundry Drying Rack Clothes Hanger with 10 Clips for Drying Socks,Drying Towels, Diapers, Bras, Baby Clothes,Underwear, Socks Gloves https://a.co/d/88pCC7C) too if you have the space.
3- hang clothing in the place it is stored as much as possible. My kids closet has plenty of space so I hang all wet clothing directly in the closet and leave the door open. DH shirts goes in walk in closet with open door. Same could be done in laundry room or wherever else works for you. This is the reason I like hanging as much as possible (vs Drying) this way I don't have to sort through the clothing after dryingg that I'm not folding anyway.
4- keep all kids clothing in one room. Have closet, drawers, or whatever needed in that place. Most preferable is if it could be in the laundry room, or at least somewhere close to the laundry room. It could even be one kids room. This eliminates having to distribute everything in different rooms.
About having to go clothes hunting around the house - no solution for that unfortunately. I totally get you. By the time kids are in pajamas I just want them in bed...
ETA: for the kids socks I have a mesh bag for each kid which I sort into before washing (you can try to have kids put it in there themselves, I couldn't...) This way once it's out of the dryer I just empty each bag directly into kid's bin. Mesh bag also eliminates socks stuck in washer gasket.
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