The care and keeping of a large family - laundry

Laundry is another subject I often get questions about. People always assume we're buried in it, and well, in the mornings, we are. I'll be honest and say that I haven't yet figured out a great way of managing the mountain of laundry that springs up each night when people get ready for bed. It ends up out in the hall of our second floor until it's gathered up the next morning. I just cross my fingers that visitors won't want to come upstairs after 9:00 each night. ;o)

In the morning, we haul it all down, sort it and start it. I have only one washer and one dryer, envious of the Duggars' laundry room as I may be. I usually do about 4 loads a day, with more on Mondays (sheets and towels), but the key is that I do this EVERY DAY (except Sunday). I usually have all my laundry done and folded by noon, and it gets put into each person's cubby whereupon they are supposed to put it away after school. Some kids are better about it than others, but even though it doesn't all make it into closets and drawers each day, it's at least clean, folded, and organized. If I had the space, I'd do what the Duggars do and have a family closet so everything could be put away in one room, but I'll settle for a curtain that pulls in front of the cubbies and hides the piles when I need it to. You'll rarely find laundry on my laundry room floor after 1:00, thankyouverymuch. ;o)