Simple tricks to get little ones to help you with laundry.

Laundry is not my favorite activity. 
I just had to find a way to pawn it off on my kids. 
No, I am only joking. (sort of)

Here is how I taught my 8 year old to do laundry.  Really, if I would have thought of this sooner I could have taught her sooner.  Stay tuned below to see some laundry tips from me.

I used a Sharpie marker to show the line where she should fill the laundry soap up to.

I used the same Sharpie to mark a star on the washer where she would put it for regular loads.









She is able to turn the water on this way.  She is not aloud to wash from the Whites/Specials bin or from Daddy’s Work Clothes bin.  I can’t tell you how much having her simply switch the laundry helps me out each day.

I have came up with a few tips that will get your little ones helping with the laundry. 

Let’s start with the wearing of the clothes.

• I make them wear their pajamas two nights in a row. (unless of course some catastrophic event causes otherwise)
• I do not over buy clothes.  My children have about 7 everyday outfits each.  The more clothes your family has the more the laundry can pile up.
• I do not let them change clothes unless required – like to dirty to go somewhere or to clean to do something.
• We have dirty clothes hampers throughout the house.  One in each bathroom (except the guest) and one in each of the kids rooms. 

Okay how I wash the clothes.

• I do a batch or two a day.  I do not have my older kids wash just their own clothes.  They are all required to help switch the laundry when it needs it. 
• I set a morning alarm to start the laundry. I set an alarm in the afternoon to switch it over.  I set a final alarm in the early evening to do the final switch to the dryer.  If the alarm goes off and I am not home, I text someone who is to switch it. 
• I taught even my 8 year old how to do the laundry. (My older kids too!)
• We have simple laundry sorters.  Darks, Lights, Towels and Sheets, Daddy’s Work Clothes, and Whites/ Special
• If something needs special washing you are required to put it in the Whites/Special bin yourself. 
• Every day I assign someone to be in charge of laundry. They have to collect the dirty clothes, sort them and start the first batch. As well as switching out subsequent batches. I am the only one who can do the whites/specials. We do a rotation for laundry and dishes jobs.

The hardest part.  How we take care of laundry.

• I have a “clean clothes area” in my bedroom.  That is where the designated laundry person must take the clothes to after they are dry.
• Every 2 or sometimes 3 days we all get together in my room and someone sorts the clothes into piles of who’s they are. Someone folds towels. Someone helps Tyler (3 years old) with his clothes. Everyone is responsible for taking care of their own clothes.
• Doing it this way only takes about 10 minutes every night and we all just work quickly and usually listen to some music while working.

Do you have any more laundry tips?