This is just a sample of what my 6 year old brought down today. See, we have this problem in our house...her name is Grandma Susie! When my husband and I got married he had lived with his mom for 29 years. For 27 of those it was just the two of them as his dad had been killed in an accident. Picture this people, 27 years of buying for ONE BOY! Then she all of the sudden gets TWO GIRLS! Little Girls! CUTE girls! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! She went nuts! Both girls were in the same size but she wanted them to have different things so they EACH got an excessive wardrobe!
My wonderful Mother-in-law kept telling me she was shopping at GW Limited....what was that? Turns out it is GOOD WILL! She was prettying it up! No WONDER she could afford so many things! As the years have passed I have convinced her to slow down a bit on the clothes. She is pretty good now about asking what the kids NEED. Of course, I still have all those clothes from when Rebekah and Bethany were little. Now that Jessica can wear them, I have drug them out. But oh my! The last time I went through Jessica's clothes (ONLY the clean ones) I folded 40 short sleeve t-shirt type shirts! Not including sweatshirts, long sleeve shirts or anything else!
Needless to say, laundry is a bit overwhelming for us. I have made GREAT strides with making my own laundry detergent. I use the common recipe out there that uses Borax. Yes, I know...I have heard that there is bad stuff in Borax but my feeling is that there are bad things in LOTS of stuff and I am saving my family tons of money, and using in moderation. We don't eat the clothes so I am willing to take the chance! Besides, I like using the sweet orange oil to scent it. Essential Oils
I am just beginning to use the vinegar and conditioner for fabric softener. I am not sure how it is working. I am still undecided and will post a recipe if I tweak it until I love it.
I got tired of the kids always complaining that I hadn't washed their clothes. Of course, the only thing I asked them to do was to bring them downstairs. They wouldn't bring them down to be washed but it was somehow my fault that they didn't have clean clothes. So my first step in controlling the laundry was to teach the kids to do their OWN laundry! This sounds great but doesn't seem to work. They still don't bring their laundry downstairs and wash it. Their laundry can't be contained in the baskets they have and I refuse to buy them more! I gave them each two tall laundry baskets. One is labeled dirty darks and the other is labeled dirty lights. When the baskets get full they are supposed to bring them down and wash that load. This should keep a handle on the laundry. Well, in theory it would work. I am still responsible for my clothes, my husbands' clothes, my son's clothes, my youngest daughter's clothes, all of the towels and wash cloths, etc.
I can't figure out how to convince the children that it does no good to put organizational helps in place if they aren't going to use them. I can't seem to figure out how to get our laundry under control. Does anyone have something out there that works for them? There are 6 of us in the house and I am the only one who consistently does laundry and I usually find clean clothes in the kids' laundry since they are too lazy to put any of it away.
HELP! Any advice is a great start!
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