Laundry.  It has to be one of the worst parts about being a mom.  I hate laundry. Did you ever wonder how one small child can produce so many dirty clothes?  Now that my boys are toddlers it seems as if they are going through even more clothes.  We start off the day wearing one outfit, then move to another outfit later on.  I want to wear my football shirt this morning changes to I can’t live without my Elmo sweatshirt in the afternoon.  Sometimes when they get up in the morning they are wearing different pajamas because they decided to change some time in the middle of the night.

OK, you get it – I hate laundry.  But I did hear a really good tip that has helped me with keeping the laundry under control.  I heard it from someone at the hair salon a few weeks ago and it really works.  She suggested that you get rid of hampers, or if you use a hamper you clean it out every day and bring the laundry for the entire family to one central location.  Get three laundry baskets and sort the clothes by lights, darks and whites.  I actually do four because I wash towels and sheets separately.  You sort the clothes out at the end of ever day and then whatever basket is full you do that load of laundry that day.  Some days you might have two loads, some days you might not have a full load and don’t do any laundry at all.

What this does is save me time and energy.  If I run downstairs after the boys go to sleep I can throw a load of clothes in quickly.  If I forget to put them in the dryer that night before I go to bed, I go and throw them in the dryer first thing in the morning.  I try to time the dryer cycle to end while we are having breakfast.  The boys are in their booster chairs and I fold clothes while they eat.  Once they finish breakfast they help me to put their clothes away.

I know this might sound silly or stupid, but it really does work.  You don’t have to struggle carrying heavy hampers down the steps to your laundry, or sort through piles of dirty clothes to get your loads together.  Plus this method puts an end to those days when it seems as if your washer and dryer are running constantly.  I don’t think it cuts down on the number of loads of laundry you do – I think it just makes it easier on the person responsible for doing the laundry.