Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Works For Me Wednesday- Laundry Hamper Help

I'd like to say I'm a domestic diva, but all that know me know that is not true. I like to keep things simple and I love to get help in any way I can. Laundry is like Mt. Everest to me. I stand at the bottom of this gigantic mountain and wonder how I'm ever going to conquer it. So when my two oldest were about five and three I got an idea to help me sort through the mess. I bought three hampers (these are the original three and yes they look a little beat up, what do ya expect?) for their room and put color coded labels on each one.

Whenever we'd take off our clothes I'd help them decide which hamper each article of clothing belonged in. Pretty soon, my three year old had this amazing ability to sort her own clothes and would love to tell us which piece of clothing went where and why. When the hamper was full they would bring it to me and tell me we needed to do the wash. And yes, with all girls in this family you can imagine that the pastel hamper filled up quite often.
My two oldest are 8 and 6 now but we are using the system and they are excited to teach their 15 month old sister the ropes.
For me this works great and makes life for this not so domestic diva a little easier! For more WFMW tips head over to Rocks in My Dryer!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

How timely, as just the other day I decided it was time to teach my 11 yrs old DS how to use the washer and dryer! He actually enjoyed himself. (probably because I didn't make him fold!)

MaddieLynn said...

Oops, that wasn't Smockity Frocks, that was me! It was on Mymomconnie's account.

Life in the Crazy Lane said...

What a good idea! I'll have to use that when my cherubs get a little bigger (right now, I'm just trying to get them to put clothes in the hamper, and not into the nearby trash can!).

Anonymous said...

I applaud you! I tried an approach similar to yours, with colour-coded hampers with nice big handles. I tried see-through laundry bags, duffel bags, sorting by colour or by kid or by room. It took months and even years for each system to fail. Now, all dirty clothes get thrown on the first landing and stay there until I scream at a particular kid to get all the clothes downstairs. It isn't pretty and it isn't civilized, but it works. Hey, I should use this next week for WFMW!! I'm at #301 this week!