The laundry monster lives in my house. Some days, he might go visiting yours and leave his “I was here” evidence, but mostly, my house is his home, sweet, home.
And why not? It’s a cozy, not too big or too little space with 4 accomplices on hand! 3 kids and a husband. Well, then there’s me too, so make that 5.
Along comes a post by my good friend Christine at The Aums titled “How To Get Kids To Help With Laundry…Seriously” – which included a link to “Creating A Clothing Station For Your Child/ren.” OF COURSE, I HAD TO READ IT! You should too. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Welcome back. Are you going to try it?
I DID. So get ready for some before and after shots. It won’t be pretty in the beginning, but the end result is pure awesomeness!
Here is Laundry Monster’s favorite place to chill out. The girls’ room. (Click to enlarge. If you dare.)
Scared? So was I. But fueled by Christine’s post, I was determined to get it conquered. And by gums, my 7 year old AND toddler WILL help me do it!
Step 1. Buy Sterilite storage drawers and label them. Cursive labels for the big girl, and printing with drawing for the toddler.
Step 2. Dump EVERYTHING in the study-turned-laundry room and start sorting! (Cupcake is such a trooper. Can you find her amidst the mess?)
Step 3. Commence distribution of clothes into proper drawers! Whoohoo! Watch them go! (Click each image to get the full effect of each awesomeness.)
Step 4. ALL DONE!!! Sit back, be happy, and pose for pictures!
Step 5. BONUS! Label extra drawers for other stuff too and put them away! *joy*
If you were wondering, it took us about 3 hours to do the whole thing. But I must say that the girls ACTUALLY had a lot of fun putting their clothes away. BerryBites, the toddler, was so proud that she could “READ” the labels for her drawers. I was able to do a mini-lesson in reading with her by using the drawings as reading cues. And Cupcake loved the cursive. (She’s a little obsessed with cursive right now.)
I was really proud of them for helping and not giving up until we were done. They couldn’t wait to show it to their father when he got home later that night.
AND I even got kudos from him too because he said that getting the girls dressed for bedtime was now sooooo easy! Anytime little wifey makes life easier for the husband is always a 100% win!
By the way, the baby was happily and blissfully taking his morning nap, in another room, through all of this. I was so lucky!
So…are you going to do it? Have I shown enough evidence to convince you that IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET KIDS TO PUT AWAY THEIR OWN LAUNDRY? C’mon! What are you waiting for?
Just do it! (Shhh…don’t tell Nike I said that.)
Linked to the brand-spankin’ new…
Twitter: HomeWithTheKids
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My kids put their laundry away too, especially my two oldest who also can fold it and even run the washer and dryer. My youngest likes to help carry the laundry to the various rooms, although it usually ends up unfolded by the time she’s done with it. Getting a little help with the laundry is so wonderful.
Stephanie recently posted..6 Ways to Manage Your Work at Home Day
That is awesome you have help with the laundry. Sometimes I get my 7 year old to transfer the washed laundry to the dryer. Even the toddler helps sometimes. But I just love it when they help with ANY chore in the house. Don’t you?
You did a great job!!! I’m so happy that you conquered the clean laundry monster….if only the dirty laundry monster was as easy. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Christine@TheAums recently posted..How To Get Kids To Help With Laundry…Seriously.
Thank you for helping to make it possible. You game me the idea! My family thanks you!
Twitter: CynthiaMeents
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Beautiful job! I wish I’d thought of that about 25 years ago! Maybe it’s not too late to try it on my husband. Your girls are just darling!
I love these cute looking girls and also the boxes that you have arranged for the laundry. I try to do the laundry on the same day but what you have given here is an excellent idea to arrange the laundry in a much proper way!
Tammy Guise recently posted..Wheatgrass Benefits
What an accomplishment. I have a laundry monster living here too but as the kids get older they take over more responsibility putting their stuff away.
Susi recently posted..Time to fill in some blanks
I am waiting til my first gets old enough to help me even more! Crossing my fingers!
What a great idea! You know I wash clothes every week and still I have a lot of clothes there.. I guess my kids are big enough to help me and it can even be a great bonding for us..
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If you do try it, please let us know about it so we can share your success story too! Good luck!
That is fabulous!!!! I’m most impressed with your organizational skills. Now when my boys are mature enough I’m going to give that a whirl. They are currently 16 and 12 and haven’t yet mastered the art of picking thier laundry up off the steps and putting it away without serious threat of bodily harm.
I think you ought to try it now and the results might surprise you! My girls are 7 and 2.5 and I didn’t think they could do it. You can do it for sure!
Twitter: jennwrites
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This is so perfect for me–I’m all over spring cleaning this weekend. I’m so totally stealing your bin ideas:) Awesome congrats are in order for you!
Jennifer Worrell recently posted..Ten Things For Which I Should Totally Win an Award
Twitter: euregirlsandboy
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Um, that’s totally awesome! But I don’t know if I’m convinced I could get my lazy girls to do it. Maybe I’ll try.
Katie E recently posted..A Crying Day
I hope you do try. They might surprise you. I felt the same way before I started, but I figured, what the hey, what’s there to lose? Good luck!
Twitter: triingathlete
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Your girls look like they would always want to be helpful! (In those pictures, anyway
) Looks like it worked beautifully!
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Thanks. And lucky for me, so far so good . They are keeping to the system! Woohoo!