To Fold or Not to Fold?

[ShepherdsWife]

How do you handle laundry? I wash it just fine, but I despise folding. I finally gave up and don't bother folding my children's clothes. I mostly hang up DH and my clothes and fold a few. I am ALWAYS behind with clothes. They seem like the easiest thing to shove in a corner and forget when so much else has to be done. I can't stand a dirty kitchen, but clothes....well, yeah.
So, any ideas? I am thinking of somehow creating less laundry by getting rid of more things. However, with a toddler who goes through tons of clothes. A baby who is constantly soiling a garment, a husband who works in manure every day(must change clothes daily), myself, and cloth diapers, I'm just not seeing the light at the end.

[2sunshines]

My children fold my laundry for me.

They are also older than yours. My youngest is 6.

There is hope for the future tho. That's my only point in posting.

[marbles]

With a dryer, I used to stay on top of laundry by folding at night after the kids were in bed while I watched tv or a movie. Then with no dryer, folding was easy and I was always caught up, with the exception of a long stretch of rainy days.

[ValiantJoy07]

I don't fold the kids stuff. My Mother's Helper (she comes for 1.5-2.5 hours on Friday afternoons) might fold their stuff. I don't know. I make sure all the kids stuff is clean by the time she gets here and she and dd2 put it all away for me.

I do fold DH and my stuff and our linens. But it really isn't a big deal 5 or 6 shirts for DH 5 or 6 for me and a few pairs of pants between us. I don't fold underwear or sort socks I just throw them in our designated drawers for them.

Diapers- when I did them and I guess I'll be doing them again- I just laid flat in a stack (prefolds) on the changing table and left it at that.

Kids socks are all kept in the living room in a basket under the shoe cabinet- I never sort their socks and they rarely wear matching socks...I pull them out of the laundry as I empty the dryer and dump them in the basket.

My system is far form perfect, but I will say having that helper once a week take 30 mintues with my dd Seriously it is such a silly thing but it helps SO SO much.

Any chance you know a young homeschooling teen looking for $10-15 bucks a week?

[WanderingJuniper]

When their clothes were little I'd just fold them in half so they fit in the drawers without over flowing. As they grew I taught them to wash, dry, fold and put away their own laundry. Best. thing. ever. Seriously my 9 year old son did two loads of laundry today because he needed clothes for a trip. I'm not fussy about how they fold their clothes but only that they do fold because again they have small dressers so crumpling into a ball means their clothes don't fit in the storage space anymore.

[kiloyd]

I don't fold underwear or socks.

[sweetpeasmommy]

I fold dh's stuff IF I am not terribly behind. He once complained about how I folded so I quit bothering, like for years. My stuff and C's gets shoved into drawers if we are lucky. I fold socks twice a year maybe. I might get a bad grade in laundry, but everyone has clean clothes always.


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[Earthmummy07]

I fold as I take it in off the line or airer and it doesn't seem so big a deal that way. I don't fold underwear though

On the rare occasion I use the dryer, and have to sit down and intentionally fold things in one go, it irritates me. My mom always did it that way, and I tried it when I first got married, but nope She also irons and finds it weird that I don't, so if I gave up on folding she'd probably have kittens

[Aerynne]

Starting between 2 and 3, my kids start to learn to fold their own laundry. By the time they are three I say "I go fold your laundry and put it away" and they do (some with more arguing and feet-dragging than others ). Some of them do it more neatly than others (and that has nothing to do with age ).

I wash all my kids' clothes, my clothes and all the household laundry. I do not wash dh's laundry and haven't in years. He does his own. I wash laundry once a week. I get it started in the morning and it is generally four loads. It takes all day (but most of it isn't hands on) but then I don't have to deal with it in on the other days. I don't do sheets on regular laundry days, though. Those I do when I get around to it.

Everything always gets folded. Otherwise it wrinkles. I do hang up my shirts (even t-shirts) instead of folding them, though.

[mamacat]

Underwear can just go in baskets unfolded.I try to wash sheets and put right back on beds from dryer so no folding needed.We have a set of flannel and then summer sheets. I dont have young kids or nursing babies now so try to fold stuff as soon as come out of dryer and try not to take out of dryer until ready to fold.We dont have many cable choices but there are certain folding shows I watch while folding depending on time of day. Price is Right, Millionaire or sometimes Peoples Court.If last load washed has been in dryer awhile will give a quick tumble to dewrinkle.I usually wash towels and socks and underwear all together.If you buy same kind and color socks for the guys it helps.

[Leslie]

Originally Posted by Aerynne

Everything always gets folded. Otherwise it wrinkles.

I don't fold my kid's clothes after about age 4. I figure that by then, they're old enough to fold their own. If they don't mind looking wrinkled, that's up to them. By the time they care about looking wrinkled, they're definitely old enough to take care of their own clothing.

[Aerynne]

Originally Posted by Leslie

I don't fold my kid's clothes after about age 4. I figure that by then, they're old enough to fold their own. If they don't mind looking wrinkled, that's up to them. By the time they care about looking wrinkled, they're definitely old enough to take care of their own clothing.

I care because I want to teach my kids the value of caring for their things properly. Also people treat kids who look cared for better. I even treat my own kids better when they look well-groomed. But if you don't, others will- grocery store clerks if your child is just done, librarians, dance teachers, school teachers, waitresses, most people are kinder to kids who are groomed and dressed better. It's one of the tings you can do for free to look better. And I don't want my kids' first exposure to learning about the value of unwrinkled clothing to come from kids making fun of them. A neat appearance is an important key to landing a job, especially for a teenager who doesn't have many credentials to go by.

[ShepherdsWife]

Thanks ladies. I think I will cease folding socks now.
I am going to cut down on my massive amount of wash cloths and rags. I have so many because I never throw away any with holes or stains that we tend to have an overflow of them to fold and manage. The small stuff like that is what takes forever and a day.
I am also going to try to get my wash room a little more organized so I can fold in there and it stays OFF my bed and couch.
I do think DS is starting to be able to do his own laundry sort-of. I might just have to take the time for a couple weeks doing it slowly with him so he gets the hang of it and then I think he should be able to go for it. He rolls all the clothes into "burritos" when he is "helping", but I haven't taken the time to have him actually do his and put it away regularly. And....burritos are fine with me. I roll my towels up like that and it won't hurt his clothes either.

[mummy2boys]

I fold everything into two piles.....ironing and non-ironing. It gets folded as it comes off the line, socks are paired up immediately and sheets/towels etc folded too. That way when I get inside to put away its a matter of putting into 4 piles (1 for each of us) and then putting straight into drawers or to the ironing basket for later

[marbles]

Originally Posted by mummy2boys

I fold everything into two piles.....ironing and non-ironing. It gets folded as it comes off the line, socks are paired up immediately and sheets/towels etc folded too. That way when I get inside to put away its a matter of putting into 4 piles (1 for each of us) and then putting straight into drawers or to the ironing basket for later

I hang things in order: big towels, smaller towels, hand towels, washcloths, sheets. then adults clothes by person: pants, shirts, socks, underwear. Then kid clothes the same way.