#write31days – Organize the Kids Clothes

Yay me!  I organized the kids clothes right before they started school, so I didn’t really have anything to do here.  So, instead of writing about how I did nothing, I’m going to do a round up of some of my favorite tips for taming the laundry monster.

Tame The Laundry Monster

1.  Accept the fact that the laundry will NEVER be done. No matter how many loads you run throughout the week, unless you choose to join a nudist camp, you are still wearing clothes and creating MORE laundry.  Erase that idea of being “done” with the laundry and get on a cycle that works for you.  I like to do the majority of the laundry on Sundays.  I create a giant pile of clean clothes on my bedroom couch throughout the day and in the evening I sit down and watch Love or List It and fold it, then put it away.  I hear you rolling your eyes at me, no, I don’t get all of the laundry done on Sunday.  I usually have to do a couple of loads during the week, but what I do on Sunday is enough to survive the week.  And, yes, everything is a tad wrinkled after sitting in a pile on my couch all day.  Which brings me to tip #2.

2.  To release wrinkles in a lot of our clothes, I toss them in the dryer for a few minutes with an ice cube.  I read this on Pinterest forever ago  and tried it and it works for me.  I’ll put in, for instance, an entire wrinkly outfit with 1-2 ice cubes and the come out wrinkle free.  I’ve done it with my work clothes and I’ve done it with the kids clothes, even my husbands button downs and it does a good job.  It’s not like you just got it starched from the cleaners, but it’s definitely wrinkle free.

Outfits

3.  Plan your kids clothes for the school week ahead of time.  I do this on Sunday night while I’m folding and putting stuff away, so it doesn’t really add any additional time to the laundry routine, it’s just grouping the clothes into outfits instead of separating them by shirts, pants, etc.  I even include underwear and it is such a huge help in the morning.  Someday I will do this for myself, too, but I am definitely not there yet.

Travelling with young kids made easy:  Put an entire outfit (including undies and hair accessories) in a ziploc bag.  One bag per day.  When you get to the hotel, put the bags in a drawer and they can pick one per day.  Huge time saver!

4.  I picked this tip up from Pinterest, via All Things Simple.  When you are traveling, pack your kids clothes as outfits and store them in zip lock bags.  I did this when we took the kids to Disney and it was great for the kids to be able to grab the baggie for the day and get themselves dressed. Plus, the extra ziploc baggies came in handy for lots of little things.

Don’t worry about sending me thank you notes.  The joy of knowing I have solved all of your laundry problems is enough!

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