If your kids do their own laundry help!

[hillview]

I need to get my kids to do their own laundry. How do you make this happen. Try know how to do laundry so I just need a system. Do they each have a hamper and basket? Assigned days? Help?

[StantonHyde]

Their hampers are in their rooms. DS will usually run his own loads and i have told him he has to add his sister's in there if it isn't full. We wash clothes once a week or so. It's usually about one load per person. 3/4 of us wash our own laundry. Getting DD on track to wash hers.

They fold and put away their own laundry every weekend. They have been TAUGHT how to fold clothes. DS does not choose to use this skill. He shoves stuff in drawers. So far, it doesn't bother him to wear wrinkled stuff. Ok. When it does, he will fold his clothes. I do not iron any of their clothes or DH's clothes. I only iron mine at the time I wear it.

It also helps that each kiddo attends a school where they wear a uniform so that does cut down somewhat on the amount of clothing.

There is no separating by colors or types of clothes--everything goes in on cold. The only difference in DD's dress shirts for school, I bleach those.

[niccig]

Their hampers are in their rooms. DS will usually run his own loads and i have told him he has to add his sister's in there if it isn't full. We wash clothes once a week or so. It's usually about one load per person. 3/4 of us wash our own laundry. Getting DD on track to wash hers.

They fold and put away their own laundry every weekend. They have been TAUGHT how to fold clothes. DS does not choose to use this skill. He shoves stuff in drawers. So far, it doesn't bother him to wear wrinkled stuff. Ok. When it does, he will fold his clothes. I do not iron any of their clothes or DH's clothes. I only iron mine at the time I wear it.

It also helps that each kiddo attends a school where they wear a uniform so that does cut down somewhat on the amount of clothing.

There is no separating by colors or types of clothes--everything goes in on cold. The only difference in DD's dress shirts for school, I bleach those.

Same here. DS has been taught how to use the washing machine and dryer. Nothing gets folded, that's his problem. He often doesn't have a full load, so DH will throw his clothes in with ours and do it and DH folds it. I figure, if DH is OK with doing DS's laundry, I'm not getting involved.

[JBaxter]

Mine have a hamper in their rooms and in the bathroom I asked for them on laundry day to be brought out to the laundry room/ kitchen hallway They do not do their own laundry because its easier for me to do laundry / sort .

[baymom]

They do not do their own laundry because its easier for me to do laundry / sort .

Mine don't do theirs either, for the same reason. It's their job to put clothes into the hamper in the laundry room. If it's not in there, it won't get washed. But, I like to sort by white/colors/delicates and none of us has enough in any category to create a full load. The kids do load from the washer to the dryer and then fold/hang and put away their own clothes. This has helped a lot with their old habit of putting EVERYTHING in the hamper just because they didn't want to fold and put it away.

[DualvansMommy]

dh & I keep two hampers in our bedroom; one hamper is for whites and towels, and the other hamper is for dark colors. I keep a hamper each in DS1 and ds2 rooms and just begun training DS1 to help me with laundry. I find by doing ONE load a day really helps to keep the flow going. DS1 helps me to sort clothes, pre treat and soap in machine and transfer it from machine to dryer.

[California]

My oldest had been doing his laundry for a few years. He has his own basket with his name on it (with a sharpie, nothing fancy!) No separate hamper. He fills the basket with dirty clothes during the week, does a load on the weekend, and puts it all straight back in the basket to take to his room and put away. DS also washes his own sheets. DD1 is just getting started on this and she'll need two baskets.

As PP have mentioned, part of this meant that I had to step back and accept how DS folds his laundry. He's good about his shirts but for some reason he doesn't care about his shorts. It's been great seeing his growing responsibility, and of course DH and I appreciate having less laundry to do.

[mom_hanna]

Mine both were taught how to do laundry at age 9. I don't do their laundry anymore, so if they want clean clothes, they have to do it. Dd is finally at the point where she cares about her appearance, and ds hates wearing dirty clothes, so it gets done! Whether or not they fold is completely up to them. So far, it doesn't happen. They both have baskets in their rooms. I do sheets and towels all together, so they don't do those.

[KpbS]

They have a hamper in the hall (it's a wooden one with a lid so nothing is on display/out). Everything goes into the hamper unless it is damp and I empty the hamper and ours and run the loads. They remove from the dryer and drying rack then sort and fold the clothes. Everyone puts their own away, but sometimes one person delivers the folded stacks to the bedrooms.

[smilequeen]

Only my oldest does his own laundry right now. Each child does have his own hamper in his room though. He just does it as he needs to, but I might consider encouraging them to do it together or take turns. I know my son does his laundry pretty frequently because he has favorite shirts he always wants clean. Too frequently even, the loads are pretty small...I'm just glad I can take it off MY list :) I do still help with the ironing of his school clothes (khaki shorts and polo shirts)...those UA golf shorts need exactly the right setting on the iron or you can ruin them.

[squimp]

Super easy. My DD has a basket in her room and when it is full or when she needs an item, she does laundry. She has been doing it for several years.

[lalasmama]

DD started doing her own laundry when she was around 9-10 yo. Her dirty laundry goes in her laundry basket every night. Her assigned laundry days are Wednesday and Saturdays (Wednesdays so she can wear favorite clothes twice in a week if desired, and Saturday because DH and I do our laundry/towels/bedding on Sunday, and don't want to fight with her laundry when we're trying to do our bigger stuff). When she was younger, she had laundry day just Saturday, but now has larger clothes but not as many clothes, so she really needs 2 wash days.

Our washer weighs the load to use the appropriate amount of water, so we don't worry about her having a 1/2 load. (Yes, I understand electricity usage and such, but it's not really something I choose to worry about. Laundry getting done is my chosen battle, not energy usage at this point.) She washes everything on cold, on a normal cycle.

We still have some issues... When you turn our washer on, it defaults to the last cycle type used, so she's done a "towel wash" (sanitizing temps, 2 hour cycle), or my "shoe cycle" (warm water, low spin) without realizing it, because she just doesn't remember to look, and because I didn't think to "reset" it when I finished my special loads. We're working on her paying better attention, and using the washer more effectively regarding the settings available (there's like 16!).

We don't make her separate lights and darks, though she knows DH and I do. Well, more accurately, there's the "velcro" load (hubby's shorts and pants have velcro pockets, so they get washed together with the darks), and the "Mom's Nice Clothes" load (aka "$25 leggings will NOT be washed with velcro!" load, along with the lights).

[KrisM]

DS1 does his own most of the time. There are weeks that are quite busy and then he brings his basket down and asks me to do it. He puts it away still, but I run the machines during the day for him.

Each kid has a basket in their room used as a hamper. They bring it downstairs once a week. DS1 then does his laundry. I do the others still. I did put a mark on the machine for where the dials should be - water temp, load level, etc, when we started. Now he's got it down.

All the kids put away their laundry most times. I do it for them at times just because.

DS2 is 9 and is amazing at putting his away. Everything is hung or folded nicely. When we pack for trips, his is the neatest pile as well with everything folded well. DS1 and DD do not do a great job of folding, but do get most things hung up, so it works.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I really don't mind throwing stuff in and I find it more efficient to just do big, full loads. I want the laundry brought to the laundry area (luckily we have a laundry chute as our machines are in the basement). I even sort and fold. But everyone is responsible for putting their own laundry away. For me, that's the part I hate and want help with.
ETA- we don't sort clothes. All clothes gets washed cold, normal and dried on low.

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[Pear]

Running clothes through the machine is the easy part. I actually prefer to just do that myself so I don't have to worry about coordination.

Personally I would make sure they are getting clothes into the hamper and then focus on having them fold and put away

[essnce629]

My kids get a new chore every year and when DS1 turned 14 last month it was to do his own laundry.

He has a hanging hamper in his closet and he is supposed to wash anytime over the weekend. A week of clothes is a full load for him. He doesn't own any white clothes so no sorting is needed and everything is washed together. We have a clothing rod with hangers in our laundry room so he hangs his shirts up directly from the dryer. He has his own laundry basket that his pajamas, underwear, socks, and shorts go into. He knows how to fold his shorts and is supposed to so they're not a wrinkled mess, but so far he doesn't always fold them. Not my problem. His biggest issue so far has been remembering to put his dirty clothes in the hamper in his closet instead of the hamper in the laundry room that DS2 and I use. I just throw his clothes out and onto the floor outside his bedroom door! [emoji23] I'm loving the less laundry I have now. I went from washing our clothes every other day to once a week! I don't wash DH's clothes either.

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