Managing the laundry of a large family household is an everyday task, but creating a room-by-room system makes Mt. Washmore manageable!
Laundry has been a big deal in my life for a very long time! Depending on the home we’ve lived in and the ages of my children, we have had many different systems that worked to varying degrees.
A few of our laundry systems over the years:
- Shelf & Basket System (worked really well when all the kids were little)
- Room-by-Room (mom in charge – could have been better)
- Laundry Tubs (worked for the lady in the post – flopped big time for us)
- All laundry, every day (It worked, but it wasn’t worth writing about.)
Also see: Large Family Laundry Systems (huge list of ideas!)
Currently, our laundry room is on the main level with all of our bedrooms upstairs. We decided to purchase XL hampers with mesh bags for each bedroom.
Mom & Dad have a brown hamper, the Boys have a grey hamper, and the Girls have a blue hamper. These hampers have plenty of room for all the laundry each room creates! And here’s where I admit we have NEVER had hampers. NEVER. *gasp* And here’s where I also admit, I should have done this YEARS ago! *sigh*
Originally, I had hoped we could get by with each room only washing once a week, but it quickly became apparent that was NOT going to work.
We also needed to have a couple of days of towels and/or sheet washing, so the schedule I came up with (and the one we’ve been running with ever since) is as follows:
Monday – Girls (18 year old in charge)
Tuesday – Boys (13 year old in charge)
Wednesday – Mom & Dad (Mom in charge)
Thursday – Towels and/or sheets + matching socks (14 year old in charge)
Friday – Girls
Saturday – Boys
Sunday – Towels and/or sheets + matching socks & Mom & Dad
Basically, the oldest in each room is in charge of the laundry for that room (yes, I am the oldest in our room). They gather it in the laundry bag, take it downstairs, wash, dry, fold, and put away. (more on the putting away in a moment…) Then, return the bag to the hamper, and the cycle starts all over again.
I do have to remind the kids that it is their day, and I do have to follow up with where they are in the laundry cycle, but even adults struggle to remember to finish their laundry!
This system typically equals only 1 load of laundry each day, except Sundays when I do a load following my daughter’s towels/sheets load.
As for the putting away of the laundry, this is unique to us because of our closet organization. But, I want to share it because let’s face it – we all like looking into other people’s closets!
Read the entire post here >> Large Family Closet Organization
The little girls’ clothes are in my room, but when they change at night, we put their laundry in the girls’ hamper. So my oldest daughter washes, dries, and folds all the girls’ laundry, but she brings the little girls’ laundry to my room and I put it away.
(Curious about the little door in the photo? It’s our Narnia room! Watch our New House Tour to see more!)
In the boys’ room, my 10-year-old son helps the 13-year-old put away the laundry into their different baskets. Check out my post on Large Family Closet Organization to see more photos and explanation of our closet system.
As for the towels and sheets days, here’s how that works…
The 14-year-old gathers towels from all of the bathrooms and puts out new ones. I decide which beds need to be changed. By the way – if there is an overnight accident, it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is – the sheets are getting done so they don’t sit. (Just FYI in case you were wondering.)A
You might have noticed the “sock matching” listed on the two days for towels and sheets. We keep all of the mismatched socks (which are considerably less since we went to this method) in a tub near the washer and dryer. If a matching set of socks doesn’t make it out of the dryer, the extra sock goes in the tub. On Towel Day, my 14-year-old goes through that tub and matches as many socks as she can and takes them to their rightful owners to put away. I often have to help with discerning who the rightful owner is, but that’s a pittance to pay for actually having matching socks!
So far, this has been one of the best laundry methods we have ever had! It is so much more efficient than any other method we have had over the years.
Read: Teach Your Kids to Do Their Own Laundry
Now, if you only have little ones, this method could still work for you! It will just have to be YOU who does the laundry this way day after day. Try it and let me know if it works for you!
Check out my Large Family Washing Machine >>
(someday I’ll get a review of my dryer up too!)
Reggie says
Huh. We just have wash day. As in, we wash, dry, fold and put away everything all on the same day. I did have to go to two days a week once we hit seven people, but otherwise, it’s always worked just fine. We too use more than one hamper and just collect from them on wash days. Personally, it really seems like laundry gets way overthought to me, but maybe that’s just me. Glad you discovered hampers, Amy!?
Amy says
Boy, that is fantastic! I cannot imagine only having one day a week! Well, I can because it used to happen, but that was a long, long time ago! I think laundry is one of those things people just naturally hate…thus making it a pain to do. Sometimes you just have to do the work – there’s no other way around it.
Tonia says
We have 8 kids! We do about 4 loads a day, six days a week. We are loggers and so my men folk are filthy. My daughter does most of the laundry. She does one load a week of my laundry, on load a week of hers, two loads a week of the boys, 3 loads a week of work clothes, probably six loads a week of towels, one load a week of dish towels, and 3 loads a week of sheets. I am a germaphobe and so no reusing towels and I am constantly getting our new dish towels and hand towels in the bathroom. We all pitch in and help with the folding and putting away. I feel like laundry is out of control here at our house but it is what it is!! Thanks for sharing your family’s secrets!!
Amy says
I imagine you do have some pretty dirty guys! The work your menfolk do definitely changes how much laundry there is to be done. We do reuse towels – especially for the little people. I figure they better be clean when they come out of that bath! We do go through a lot of kitchen towels and bathroom handtowels, though!
Shelly says
I’m curious if clothes get sorted by color/style. Our clothes get sorted into different hampers/load of laundry- towels (all white so they can be bleached when needed), Dad’s work uniforms, jeans, blacks (we have enough for a load each week thanks to dance classes), darks (sometimes further divided into reds and blues), medium/light colors, socks/underwear, dish towels and rags.
We’re a family of 5 (3 teen daughters) and most days wash 1-2 loads of laundry. The girls fold and put away their own clothes and each have extra loads they help me with.
I feel like I may way over complicate laundry but our system works for us. 😉
Amy says
I haven’t sorted laundry by color in years. My husband’s military uniform and workout clothes are separate, and towels and bedding are separate, but everything else goes in together. So far, I haven’t had any major catastrophes because of it. 🙂 And you are right – if it works and you feel comfortable with it then run with it!
Gracie says
Quick question! You had mentioned that with your new laundry routine that it’s usually means one load per day. Does that mean that you go ahead and wash whites, colors and darks together? I’m always agonizing over how important it is to separate stuff. Thanks for sharing the routine. We have six kids right now: 10 to 8 months.
Thanks!
Amy says
Yes! I wash EVERYTHING together! The only thing I don’t like to have in there is towels because of the fuzz.
Clarissa says
Thanks for sharing your laundry system, Amy! Laundry at my house has been a bear for years. When my oldest three got old enough to learn how to do laundry (6 and up) they got their own day to finish their laundry. They are in charge of washing their sheets and towels too. Each child has their own colored towel. I have six kids, plus one on the way. So, there’s still the younger three and mine and my husband’s laundry. For that laundry, I start loads on the off days, then my second oldest sorts the younger kids’ laundry one day and puts it away another. He does this for his evening chore. My husband and I put away our laundry on the weekends. We have laundry hampers for each child and an overflow in the laundry room that catches all the washcloths and hand towels. Someone folds and puts away the washcloths and towels sometime during the week for their “video game chore”. We also have plastic laundry baskets to unload clean laundry into until it gets put away so laundry doesn’t get backed up. Having a front load washer is such a blessing, and allows for us to allow younger kids to do laundry, and for us to wash and dry laundry much quicker. Which is super important when there are accidents or we get backed up when there is sickness and such.
Amy says
I love that folding is a “video game chore”! Great idea!