HOW I DISCOVERED MY LAUNDRY ROOM HAD A FLOOR

Yes I really do have six kids -- I do.  How can you afford them?  Isn't it hard?  I could never do it!  Yes you could.  It really is easy except for one thing  -- THE LAUNDRY!!!  It is the hardest thing about having a large family.  For the first thirteen years of motherhood I struggled with getting the laundry under control -- never once getting it done completely. 

I had a day assigned to do all the laundry.  I collected it all, separated it into whites, lights and darks mixing everyone,s clothes together.  I could get it all washed but had a struggle separating and folding it and getting it into the drawers before the little critters had pulled out everything and mixed the clean clothes with the dirty clothes.  The result was mountains of dirty and clean clothes in the bedrooms and in my laundry room.  I took consolation by cruising by the house of one of my good friends who had more children than me and shall remain nameless.  I was buoyed up with the knowledge that behind her garage door was a laundry mountain higher and wider than mine.

My life changed the day my good friend, Evelyn Jones, taught me her system of doing laundry.  She has six kids the same ages as mine.  The following are the main elements of the Evelyn Jones method:

• Every person has their own dirty clothes basket in their room.
• Each day two people have a day of the week designated as their laundry day.  No one else may use the laundry room on a day other than their own.
• The older siblings are paired up with the younger ones and help them.  (When he was three, Jeff started doing his own laundry with the help of his big brother Jim.)
• Each person does one light load and one dark load, from sorting to getting it into the drawer, including their own sheets.  This is actually all the loads needed for one person so once a week everyone's laundry is totally done.
• Mom and Dad have four days left to do their own laundry, towels, bedding, etc. 
• The laundry days must be strictly enforced.  If someone misses, oh well!  They might have to make do for a week until their day comes up the next week.

I know all you other  perfectionists and control freaks will have to do what I did  --  LET GO!!!  Remember, if the laundry mountain is growing, if you have to move the mountain off your couch if someone comes over, if the mountains are in the way of your achieving peace and happiness, IT IS NOT WORTH STRIVING FOR PERFECTLY LAUNDERED CLOTHES.  It will only take a few minutes of wear and tear before people won't be able to tell that your kids do their own laundry.  (Who is checking anyways?)  The small amount of extra water, energy and detergent is minuscule compared to head shrinker bills.

The day I implemented Evelyn's method I found my laundry room floor.  There was carpet in the bedrooms as well.  I was no longer hampered with anyone's hamper but my own.  There was no longer an ironing pile.  I did not have to try to figure out whose underwear and socks were whose.  When I walked by an unclaimed sock, I felt empowered to toss it into the trash.  I was FREE!

P.S.  I'll write about the sock hill later.