Ever since I saw a special on the Duggars (that's the family on the Discovery channel with 17 kids), and how they do laundry, I've been coveting their family closet. They have one room where they store all of the clothes. No more trekking through the house dropping off clean clothes. They installed closet rods, lined up the dressers, and put everyone's socks in dishpans on top.

Every time I refolded the same stinkin' stylish outfits that my daughter tried on and then discarded, I envied their family closet.

Every time I found a pair of socks still folded but stuck to dirty underwear so they had to be rewashed, I dreamed of having a family closet.

When the kids pulled a cheap dresser's drawer out - again - or rifled through the entire stack of clothes to find a particular shirt, I wished for a family closet with open shelves.

Finally, we have a laundry are that is not in the living room, garage, or hobbit hole behind the hot water heater. I have my family closet! The room isn't big - it's a leftover bit of hallway, and it holds my washer, dryer, and big freezer. There is roughly three feet between the wall and the appliances.

And it is even more awesome than I ever dreamed.

I put the clothes away
literally inches from the dryer. I am better - but not perfect - at keeping up with the laundry. Since the kids clothes are in the laundry room, when they change their outfits, even if they drop it on the floor - they drop it on the laundry room floor. It's awesome. Oh, I said that already!

We've got seven kids, and I bought three sets of these at Target for $12.99 each. I think they are normally $14.99 though. That makes a total of 18 cubes. I use four each for the three older kids (one for jammies/underthings, one for shirts, one for shorts/pants, the bottom on is socks and undies, and dresses for the girl) The two preschoolers have a stack of three (they are short); I throw their jammies in with the undies. Miss C is not quite two, and her clothes I stack on the top of the older kids organizers. They have to be out of her reach. She's a prima donna. Baby X has a drawer for clothes near his diaper changing things, it's more convenient that way.They are 14 inches wide, which accomodates two stacks of clothes side by side. I make a stack of short sleeve shirts and a stack of long sleeve shirts, in one cubby; shorts next to long pants; jammies next to undershirts/slips. Socks and undies go in plastic bins on the bottom.


When the dryer is done, I open the door, pull a piece of clothing out, fold it, and put it away! There is a space to hang clothes above the cubbies, and I've taken to hanging clothes straight from the washer as well - save on electricity, and I can make sure all the stains are out and delicates are cared for. No more Mount FoldMe (well, okay, I've got a basket of socks to be matched...) and no more surprise grease stains!

Works for Me! Check out Rocks in My Dryer for more ideas.

Just a Note: You may notice that my boys have Superman pajamas. I do not recommend any type of caped superhero jammies if you are going to make them sleep on bunk beds. Consider yourself warned.

Labels: homemaking, Works For Me Wednesday