laundry, schmaundry

With the amount of laundry I do on a weekly basis, I have been trying to fine tune my laundry routine for several months now. I have tried many different ways- once a week, once a day, whenever the basket is full, etc- nothing worked!

I was talking with a friend several months ago and she mentioned that she does laundry twice a week- on certain days. I liked that idea- and thought about how I could get 7 peoples laundry down to twice a week- and make it manageable. I finally figured it out!! At least this is what works for me.

I bought 2 laundry baskets and put them side by side next to the laundry room. One for the girls, one for the boys and then Aaron and I have one upstairs. There is also a smaller basket in the laundry room for towels, placemats, misc stuff. I do laundry once a week for each group of people: boys on Tuesdays , girls on Wednesdays and ours on Thursdays. I throw the random stuff in when the basket fills up or I have extra room in another load. What's amazing is that I have actually kept up with it! I think the main reason is, that if I skip a day, I get behind. I love this system, it's quick, easy and not overwhelming at all. Each day usually ends up being 2-3 loads. I wash it in the morning, fold it in the afternoon- which only takes 15 minutes or so- and put it away before bedtime. Wa-la! Done!

Along with our new laundry system, I decided to try making my own laundry soap. It was easy, fun, cheap and it worked great! Plus, I had a handsome little assistant, who is always willing to pull up a stool and help mommy.

Homemade Laundry Soap

3 bars Pink Zote Soap
4 pound box of Borax
4 pound box of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
4 pound box of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 small bucket of Oxygen Cleaner (like Oxyclean)

Grate the Zote soap. This part takes the longest! Mix all ingredients together, with Zote soap. You need a really big bowl or mix it in a garbage bag. Then pour it into a container and use a small scoop with your next laundry load!This homemade detergent has no odor. I love yummy smelling laundry- so I bought some Meyer's lavender laundry softener- and added it to my loads. It did just the trick and made the clothes smell so yummy and really, really soft.