OK, so it's an obvious point that large families make a lot of laundry, right? If we saved up laundry for one day a week, we would always have a mountain of stink cluttering the downstairs. Nope, we do laundry every day. Two or three loads on average helps us keep caught up. Two of my girls are assigned laundry sorters - this works great! (at least, in theory...) In theory, nearing the end of the day, those two sorter sweeties will bounce on down the stairs, sweetly sort, and diligently distribute appropriate piles to designated bedrooms... Uh huh... in reality, we get distracted in the evenings, and sometimes the laundry piles up - no, not the dirty kind, though that does happen occasionally... the clean laundry gets piled up in the corner of my oldest daughter's room and doesn't. get. sorted. Andrew is out of underwear? How is that possible? There's a load in the dryer and one waiting to be run, where is all the clean laundry we've run of late? Oooohhhh... my dears, go take care of that laundry - right. now. please. Thank you.
So we hyper focus on laundry the day before my husband comes home, which means three or four loads (towels and any bedding that may need washing) - because his job takes him away for a few days at a time every time... He's applied for another position, and I really hope he gets it, because I miss being spoiled by his presence every day. Yes, it sure beats out 6 month or longer deployments - I don't miss those a bit! but, I do miss my husband being home more... But I'm rabbit trailing again, aren't I? Sorry... laundry... When he gets home, he has a duffel bag full of smelly laundry - uniforms, stinky running clothes, dirty socks and underwear ... I like to toss in his laundry within hours of his getting home so that it's done by the end of the day and we don't need to worry about it (or *ahem* smell it!) for another week. Three loads does it, because I run mine and our youngest one's laundry along with his. A dark load, a light load, and a load of towels.
Note or tip of interest... stinky laundry... to get the smell out, pour half a cup to a full cup of white vinegar in the wash cycle. I'm no fan of the vinegar smell, but it works wonders and it's cheap, too! :) Oh, and when the load is done running, you can't smell the vinegar anymore. Thank goodness!!! Works well on wet sheets when someone has had an accident, as we have discovered with 6 children potty trained and two more not yet started -one is too young and the other has absolutely no interest... yet. I'm holding out hope, though!
We learned long ago that potty training isn't something that parents can really and truly control. If the child is not yet ready or has decided that she doesn't WANT to, there just isn't much you can do but encourage and stay diligent and hopeful that someday... but they have all been potty trained by the age of four. Sometimes there is an occasional accident, but not usually... sometimes there is an exploding diaper in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning, but thank the Lord not usually! Still, the vinegar trick has saved us loads of money in the laundry room, and many bad smells in the kids' bedrooms!!
Anyway, laundry... am I going senile, or do I just rabbit trail a lot? Sorry...
We long ago stopped using paper towels and paper napkins in the kitchen, so that adds just enough each day to round out the loads for darks and lights - and we have cloth napkins (most home made, some store bought... but I need to make more, since some are showing wear and age...) we run a load then switch over, run another and switch again. Some day I'm going to have a clothes line that will hold a couple of loads and we'll save tons on our electric bill, too! However, in our sometimes sub-zero temps, that isn't always feasible even if I did have a clothes line... this year has been unseasonably warm, so a clothesline might be a good thing even yet. Someday soon, my husband has promised! :)
So, laundry isn't exciting, but it's part of life... and something I get asked about often by smaller families, so there it is :)
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