Homeschool Memoirs - How Many Loads?

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We’ve been catching up and throwing out a lot of the clutter in our home this past week, and thankfully it looks as if we’ve done so! However, one thing we won’t ever really get rid of, especially in a large family, is laundry. Everyone has it, but just how much?

THEME

This question was posted at a Large Family Homeschooling fourm, and I thought it would be fun as one of the memoirs.

Question: Watching the Duggars, and other mega families [our family of 11 is small in comparison!] I was astounded at how many loads of washing. Do all large families do 7 loads a day and more, as I was thinking it sounds a little OTT?

So share all about your laundry. It’s on very rare occasion that it’s suitable to air dirty laundry. lol

Clean and Fresh

I have 5 kids. One of them is in cloth diapers. Another is in dance class 3 nights a week and gymnastics. I do a lot of laundry. The diapers are done daily, but the rest I try to save for Saturdays.

I actually get some sort of sick satisfaction out of sorting the clothes into piles and throwing them in the washer. Strange, I know. Maybe it's because no one else ever hangs out in the laundry room, which makes it a kind of mom sanctuary. ;) If only there was a hot tub in there next to the washer and dryer....

I don't mind folding the clothes either. There is something relaxing about it, especially with the hum of the dryer in the background.

As much as I enjoy the beginnings of the laundry cycle, I abhor the end. They have to be put away.

The clothes sometimes end up sitting in the baskets until I start doing laundry again the next week. The kids pull a pair of underwear or a beloved shirt out of the piles during the week (of course messing up the neat piles!). But who can blame them? When they come out wearing a skirt and tank top (when it's negative 20 out) then I know that it's time to refill their dresser drawers. :)

My problem could easily be solved if I just made the kids put their own clothes away. They are plenty old enough to do the task (the older three are 9, almost 7, and almost 5).

For some reason though, it bugs me when they aren't put away neatly (which they rarely do). Like I have time to worry about what the insides of their drawers look like, right? I just need to let go and pass the task on to them. Laundry day would be much more enjoyable for me.

Oh, and how did I forget to mention the *S* word? Dare I say it? SOCKS! I can't be the only one that has a huge basket full of unmatched socks in their laundry room.

You know the deal. You need to leave the house, but have no socks in your drawer - because who really likes to match socks? So you dig through the basket, searching for 2 that are close to matching so that you can leave. Of course, it's that times 6 because the kids' socks are in there also. I about need a shovel to look through there (it's an extra-tall basket).

Eventually it gets really annoying and has to be dealt with. I put in a long movie - maybe Pride and Prejudice or Wives and Daughters and I do nothing but match. For hours.

And what is at the bottom of the basket? About 20 lonely socks that have no partner. The sockmonster has claimed his victims. They will never be seen again. Occasionally, one will fall out of a fitted sheet in a year, but by then its mate has met its fate in the trash can.

I wish I had all of the answers and I was super-duper organized. But, I'm not.

Sorry, but you won't be learning any laundry organizing tips from me today :)