Airing My Dirty Laundry

This is the sweat shop I have in my basement. It's where I employ, and I use that term loosely, underage slave labor. Hey, how else do you think I have the time to do crafts and make those crazy recipe cards?

It wasn't always like this. I've been doing my family's laundry, alone, for quite a long time. I've been gradually passing the buck, one mental breakdown at a time.

The picture above is the girlies sorting their own underwear. I had to resort to this because I'm going blind. Yep, I think it's time for bifocals. I used to be able to read fine print like you wouldn't believe. Now, I have to use a magnifying glass to read the expiration dates on the Box Tops. It's so sad. 

I'm so sneaky when I give my girls new chores. We went out and bought them all new underwear because, oopsie, their drawers were getting a little tight in the bootie. If they'd stop growing it wouldn't be an issue, but no one in this house listens to me.

So, they needed new knickers anyway and, score one for me, now they're made with the tags printed right on them instead of the ridiculous little tags that curl up and fade with repeated washings. This streamlines the laundry sorting process in a big way.

As I was saying, the girlies are excited about their new under drawers so I told them they were going to start helping me fold the laundry too. This next part kills me, it's so excellent. They love sorting laundry. Yep, they think it's the neatest thing and, get this, they thanked me for showing them how to sort and fold their skivvies and socks. How lucky am I?

I so detest sorting and folding laundry. I've recently started using these wash bags to keep the girls' socks separate from ours. Just take a minute to do the math. I have a modest sized family of four, take those four people and multiply by 2 since each of us came with the standard-equipped limbs, well except that one day, and you get 8. Then multiply by 7 days in a week and you have 56 socks each week! 

Imagine what it's like in Girl Genius's house with nine girls. Double check my math and correct me if I'm wrong, but I come up with 154 socks! I'll bet she's never even stopped to consider that either. How can she? She's too busy doing her laundry in rainbow loads. Hey, with that many kids, she can.

So, here are those bags. I picked these up at Wal Mart, but I bet you could get them cheaper at the Dollar Store. I wrote each girl's initial on their bags with a Magic Marker, but I don't even think that was necessary. All it takes is peeking inside to determine who the laundry belongs to, then tossing it to them. 

One of the chores that I have the girls do three times a week, is to bring their dirty clothes downstairs to the laundry room and sort it into like-colors in a divided laundry cart. They do pretty well with this, and only occasionally do I have to fish the stray pair of underwear out of a pants leg. This brown tote is where Zoe keeps her dirty laundry between sorting. Stinkerbell has a pink one. Because she's so girlie.

When I fold clothes, I put the girls' laundry in matched outfits into these little net totes. I found these at the Dollar Store and I love them.

Then I make them carry them upstairs to their rooms and put it all away. BWAH HA, HA, HA! Snort.