In a large family, laundry is mega-sized. The typical organization advice to do laundry once or twice a week, or even to do one load of laundry a day is laughable (and slightly maddening) to the large family mom. That’s why I put together this mega post on large family laundry solutions with systems I’ve used and systems other large family bloggers have written about on their blogs.
Watch my Laundry Methods video on YouTube!
Check out the Large Family Laundry Solutions Podcast!
Are you overwhelmed by laundry?
Laundry Systems for Large Families
1. Teaching Your Kids to Do Their Own Laundry – This is the system we currently use. It keeps me from doing all the laundry by myself. In a large family, it isn’t ALL the kids doing their own laundry, but older children assigned to do certain “groups” of laundry. Read the post, it will make more sense. 😉
2. Room-by-Room Laundry System – This is how I managed the laundry when the washer and dryer were located in the hallway. It is a good system to have in play when you don’t have the luxury of a laundry room.
3. Shelf & Basket Laundry System – This was the system we used when there were a few less children in the house and the laundry room was in the basement.
4. Individual Laundry Bags – This system uses no sorting and a pop-up laundry bag for each child.
5. A Larger Shelf & Basket System – This large family mom still uses a shelf & basket system effectively. She also mentions how having large capacity machines save her time. I agree with this (you can read about our large family washer here).
6. Large Family, Small Laundry Room – Video tour of small laundry room organization.
7. Laundry Hacks for the Large family – including color-coded laundry baskets and a community sock drawer!
8. Laundry Tubs – Really great post that gives a lot of ideas, including the use of tubs to sort. I’d also encourage you to read about her “dot system”.
9. Using the Washer as Your Hamper – This post has a lot of neat ideas for your laundry room too!
10. Large Family Laundry Tips from Huffington Post – Great list of large family laundry hacks aggregated by Huff Post.
11. Large Family Laundry at the Laundry Mat – This post is focused on how to catch up with the laundry when it has grown beyond your control, but I know there are large families who have to use the laundry mat on a regular basis.
12. Laundry as a Timer – This mom of 4 does her laundry at night and cleans while she waits on the dryer. She got the idea from another mom who does the same thing at 5 in the morning.
13. Grand Laundry Station – Tour of one large family mom’s laundry room and system.
14. Laundry Tips from a Household of 12 – This post has some good suggestions for getting it all done, including finding a place to fold that works for you and teaching all ages and abilities to put away their own laundry.
15. Video Tour of Family Closet – Stephanie from Keeper of the Home transformed the master bedroom closet into a Family Closet.
16. Detailed Laundry Routine – Every day of the week has a specific purpose for the laundry.
17. 2 Washers, 2 Dryers & a Laundry Counter – What a blessing!
18. Daily Large Family Laundry Routine – our newest method!
Ellie M. says
I don’t have a large family, (I have 4 kids), but we have very dirty laundry. I have 3 boys, we live in the country, my kids actually play outside (we don’t have a tv) and my husband does dirt work (think excavators, skidsteers and even shovels!). I was so overwhelmed with laundry and had to go to the laundry mat because of some water issues we were having at home. I realized those machines work good and fast! I started doing some reading and found that you can buy laundry mat washers and dryers for your home! We ended up buying a SPEED QUEEN washer. It’s a top load washer and it’s not HE so you can set the load size yourself. The agitator turns about 220 degrees as opposed to your other washers which are only about 90 degrees. It also completes a dirty, stinky load in 27 min! It’s amazing! I can whip through laundry, rarely pre-treating stains, and get CLEAN clothes with out having to rewash! It would be an awesome washer for a large family. They also have a great warranty and service options since their washers are made to be fixed, not replaced! I just thought I’d share this since its helped me keep up on wash and I can imagine others out there are looking for a good long lasting washer that will avidly clean their clothes!
Ellie M. says
* actually clean their clothes…Not avidly! Sorry!
Kelly Retzer says
Amy, thank you so much for including number 14 (Large Family Laundry at the Laundry Mat)! Last month my washer decided to stop completing the final spin cycle and my dryer decided to start making an awful screeching sound that my DH says could lead to a fire. So my family of 12 has been using our local laundromat 2 (sometimes 3) times a week for the past several weeks!
Shecki @ Greatly Blessed says
Thanks for linking to my site! Although it’s mis-labeled, as we don’t have 12 kids. 🙂 At the time I wrote it, there were 12 people in the house, though. Close enough, I suppose. We currently have 7 kids still at home, and we’re hosting toddler twins for a few months.
Amy says
I’ll get that changed, Shecki! 🙂
Ami says
I second the speed queen washer. When my trusty old washer finally died I dreaded having to get an “HE” washer. I’ve been through 3 in 7 years and do. not. like. them. Was about to resort to hand washing when we found speed queen and thankfully a local store had it in stock. My favorite system is family closet, washing daily and limiting the amounts of clothes each person has ( which works best when you wash daily.) Also I use dawn dishsoap as my laundry soap. A scant teaspoon per full load in my top load washer that FILLS with water. Super easy and works great! And cheap. We will be moving off grid in about a year so I’m working on cutting back on laundry usage even more:-)
Juliana says
The large family small laundry room link doesn’t work 🙁
Thanks for posting this info!
Amy says
Looks like her blog has been taken down, but I linked to a video tour of another large family that has a small laundry room.