Today is Monday, Today is Monday!

Well actually it is Tuesday, but I really intended to write this post yesterday so that counts, right?  Once upon a time, a long, long time ago I worked in a toddler room at a daycare (actually I worked in more than one toddler room in more than one daycare, but that is also beside the point).  Since a toddler teacher cannot possibly read stories all day, even though that is what her young charges would particularly like to do, tape stories (probably CD stories now, huh?) are priceless.  We had quite the collection, and one favorite was about food and days of the week (I can't remember if it is called Today is Monday or Monday Spaghetti or neither).  Anyways it basically started out with Today is (day of the week), Today is (day of the week), (day of the week) (food) and then went on to the next day and at the end re-said all of the foods/days that had already been done.  It was quite the catchy tune and it has been stuck in my head since I started thinking about this post.

Have I effectively confused you about the nature of this post yet?

If not, I'm about to- this post is about laundry.

No, don't run away yet- there is a connection in my madness, I promise!

It goes like this- Today is Monday, today is Monday.  Monday Laundry.  Today is Tuesday, today is Tuesday.  Tuesday Kitchen, Monday Laundry.  And so on....


Following now?   Monday is laundry day at our house.

Laundry is a chore in any family, but in a somewhat larger than average family (I can't consider us large yet) it is a huge chore.  With a super capacity washer I do somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-18 loads per week.  Every home we have lived in has had its own plusses and minuses when it comes to a good system for laundry and as our family has grown, so have my skills in caring for their clothing.

The last three places we have lived have all had very convenient places for keeping the laundry moving throughout the day, but lacked convenient places for other laundry tasks including things like sorting & folding.  My chores system has remained fairly consistent throughout my places, but laundry has always been a bit of a wild card that ran throughout the week without its own primary day.

So my laundry system (which is really just an excuse to show you pictures of my laundry room) works as follows:

Monday (laundry room day) - Wash, fold, & put away everything in the laundry room after lunch (usually 4-6 loads), Sweep laundry room, Clean off counters, Straighten kids clothing shelves

Tuesday- Fold & put away everything in the laundry room after breakfast, run 1-2 loads

Wednesday- Same as Tuesday plus change & wash sheets on beds (sometimes I do one bedroom, sometimes I do both).

Thursday- Fold & put away everything in the laundry room after breakfast, wash diapers

Friday- Tuesday plus finish diapers

Saturday & Sunday- Run 1-2 loads as needed

With the exception of Monday, I probably spend about 30 minutes per day on laundry related tasks.  Partially because our new laundry room is well laid out for everything.  Lots of floor space for sorting right in the laundry room on the floor and room for my sewing table.

Notice the all- important baby containment system &
the box of clothes (dinos & dolls) that are in need of repair.
Diaper pail is on the right.

A closet right there for putting away kids clothing.  

We also have a basement bathroom that the kids use for bathing and teeth brushing.

Each big kid has a basket for undies, a basket for socks, a spot for jammies and a shelf or 2 for clothes.
Extra shoes & clothes are on the ledge (Kylee only gets 3 outfits at a time)

Plenty of cabinets for storage and counter space for use as an ironing-drying-changing-folding table.

Craft supplies in the vertical bins on the right.
Extra cleaning supplies in the high cabinets.

Still to figure into my schedule better are actually putting the upstairs clothes away instead of just bringing them upstairs and leaving them in the basket and finding time to actually work through the box of clothing in need of repair before the kids outgrow the clothes!