If you have kids and laundry room on a different floor...

[rooster222]

What is your system? I can't seem to get my laundry organized. I have a large laundry room and was wanting to keep separately sorted baskets in there. The problem is it keeps getting piled up somewhere else. Can anyone share with specifics where you keep baskets, where you sort, if you have a laundry schedule, etc..,

Thanks!

[texassmith]

Each kid has a laundry basket in their closet, and we have one in DH's closet that we both use. I don't have a specific schedule; I just do laundry when it needs to be done. I bring all the laundry from all 3 baskets downstairs to the laundry room (I can usually cram it all into the basket that stays in DH's closet since it's a bit larger than the other two). The laundry room stays a mess for a few hours while the loads are cycling; I take all the clean clothes upstairs and sort/fold on our bed, then distribute to the correct bedrooms.

[TBM]

When we had that setup, we put a laundry sorter in the hall between the bedrooms, and everyone was responsible for putting put their clothes in. When one section was full, the person who put in the last item took the load downstairs, loaded and started the washer. That person had to let others know so that someone else could take over moving it to the dryer and removing the load from the dryer.

My kids were tweens when we moved into that house, so old enough to take on that responsibility. It wound up being the best organized thing in our house, and a routine developed with them putting in the laundry in the morning befre they went to school and I took care of the rest so that when they got home they put away their clothes/towels/whatever from that load.

[devonpow]

The kids are on the 3 rd floor and laundry is on the 2nd. I keep a hamper in the kids bathroom and they both use it. I fold in the master bedroom usually ( the washer dryer are stackables in a closet), divide their stacks of folded clothes and either put them away immediately or leave the stacks on the stairs to their floor to put away later

[devonpow]

No schedule - I do laundry at least every other day, though . I do the kids clothes all together and DH and my clothes together - only separating whites. Folding is where I organize everything

[Deleted]

Each kid has a basket. When it's full I sort the whites (which I only have enough of every other week or so) and wash the rest of the load. Then I dump it back in the basket and put it away in their room.

Pretty easy and I'm not dragging stuff all over the house or constantly sorting. I also do a lot less laundry that way and it's a snap to put away because it all goes in the same place. Otherwise I'd have to traipse to 3 rooms to put it all away which negates any time savings by washing them all together.

We have so many barn clothes and diapers that can't be washed with other stuff that each category in a load for us is better than colors. So I do barn clothes, diapers, whites/sheets, kid1 clothes, kid2 clothes, bath towels, my stuff and Hs stuff usually ends up together.

I do a load a day. Sometimes 2. It's just a constant with a farm, 2 kids and exchange student. It's manageable. No set day on which load...just whichever basket is full. I can go like 1.5 weeks on the kid stuff unless there's something I decide they need to wear.

[lavender444]

Jul 24, 2014 14:36:15 GMT -5 texassmith said:

Each kid has a laundry basket in their closet, and we have one in DH's closet that we both use. I don't have a specific schedule; I just do laundry when it needs to be done. I bring all the laundry from all 3 baskets downstairs to the laundry room (I can usually cram it all into the basket that stays in DH's closet since it's a bit larger than the other two). The laundry room stays a mess for a few hours while the loads are cycling; I take all the clean clothes upstairs and sort/fold on our bed, then distribute to the correct bedrooms.

This is pretty much what I do, too.  But I fold each kids laundry in their own rooms, so it's easier for them to help me put stuff away. 


I also don't sort out the laundry into white/lights/darks. It all just gets washed together. The only things I separate is DH's nicer work undershirts, so I can bleach them and not have them get dingy by washing with socks. I also do linens separately. 

[mrsreynolds4]

In theory: Everybody has a basket in their room and does their own laundry as their basket fills. I also do DS4's laundry and DH does the towels.

In reality: DS1&2 (16 & 14yo) will wash their stuff as needed, usually at the last minute. I will smell a shirt DS3 (11yo) is wearing and forbid him from leaving the house until he showers and does a load. DH *always* does his stuff Sunday nights. I do mine and DS4's as needed, and end up not putting it away until the next day sometimes.

I actually made a schedule this week with assigned laundry days because I'm sick of it.

[cjeanette]

I have a hamper in the upstairs hallway for them to dump their dirty clothes. Which they do a solid 75% of the time. H and I have a basket in our closet that I use 100% and H 25%.

So when a basket is full I fun it down to clean. We have four baskets that live across the top of the machines. As things come out they get sorted by person. So I can take my basket or DD's up and put away. I run through rooms for dirty as I am on my way back down.

H and DS I get their clothes in the basket and let them know when it is full to put away and bring the basket back.

I also have a dirty basket in the laundry room so I will often have them toss dirty items and then streak across the house to go upstairs. Just the kids. Not H. I like my neighbors.

[thatgirl2478]

Jul 24, 2014 14:36:15 GMT -5 texassmith said:

Each kid has a laundry basket in their closet, and we have one in DH's closet that we both use. I don't have a specific schedule; I just do laundry when it needs to be done. I bring all the laundry from all 3 baskets downstairs to the laundry room (I can usually cram it all into the basket that stays in DH's closet since it's a bit larger than the other two). The laundry room stays a mess for a few hours while the loads are cycling; I take all the clean clothes upstairs and sort/fold on our bed, then distribute to the correct bedrooms.

Pretty much this - but I tend to do laundry on Thurs/Fri just because that's how it's worked out so far.  Plus, I sort & fold downstairs into laundry baskets that then go back upstairs to be distributed. 


Growing up we had a central laundry chute that led straight to the laundry area.  We'd sort & fold there, and then each kid got their own laundry basket to take to their room.

[Marmee]

We have a laundry basket upstairs for all bedrooms, one in the kids bathroom (basement). I don't sort except delicates. I do it all at once...dump each clean load in a huge pile in the living room (main floor where the laundry room is located) & then fold it all at once. This is a few hours 1 day a week...well really the only time it takes is the 1hr to fold. I have a mega capacity washer/dryer now & I can get 2-3 baskets in a load. So it's only like 3 loads a week for 6 people unless I do linens (1 more load).  My kids put away their own clothes.

[ktzmoh]

Haha we have no system. We just collect clothes in the hamper and do piles of laundry all at once in Sundays.

[auntie]

I have a hamper in my room and the hallway.

I empty them most days and toss them down into the basement. When I have the time and enough of a given type of clothing I run a load.

I do almost all the laundry, though DH generally hauls dried folded and hung clothes and folds towels.

[dragonfly08]

When we had a 1st floor laundry room, I kept two baskets in the MBR closet, one for colors the other for whites. The kids put their stuff in the right basket, and when one got full I hauled it downstairs and ran a load of laundry (typically that's every other day for colors, and DH does the whites, since they're mostly his, 1-2 times/week).

[electricmayhem]

When I had DS (first baby), I set up his room with his own laundry basket, and then DH and I had a basket in our own room.  However, I quickly realized that keeping two separate piles wasn't working for me.  Our bedrooms all exit onto a shared landing, and since no one is ever up there except us, I put the laundry basket out there, right outside my bedroom door.  I can stand in the doorway of the nursery or our third bedroom and shoot dirty clothes into it no problem.  Now that we have DD as well, all four of us use this basket on the landing.

When it gets full, I take it to the laundry room on the main floor and put another empty basket on the landing.  During the school year (I am a teacher), unless we have some dire problem, I only do laundry on the weekend, usually Saturdays--I start by running through all of the rooms upstairs (all three bedrooms and the bathrooms) and get every single thing that needs to be washed into the landing basket--clothes, towels, sheets, etc.  Then I bring that down and start running the machines.  I wash everything I brought downstairs, so yes, this usually means I'm doing a minimum of four loads in one day, sometimes five or six.  As things come out of the dryer I make one basket of folded stuff for the kids, and the other basket has all of mine / DH's stuff, plus the towels and sheets, and then get everything back upstairs and put away before Sunday is over.  If, for some reason I don't have time to finish everything that's dirty on the weekend, I keep two large standing baskets in the laundry room (that I sort by color) that I can put the leftover dirty stuff into, so the next time I start a load that stuff will already be where I need it.

What has really helped this process was streamlining a lot of our wardrobes so we didn't each have 12 pairs of jeans and 22 shirts, if you know what I mean!