I’m just going to come right out and admit it–I absolutely abhor putting laundry away. I don’t mind washing laundry or folding it for that matter. Just please do not ask me to put it away. 
In an effort to ease this problem, as well as getting the kids to help around the house more, I decided to give them each their own laundry baskets. This way I could wash and fold them and they were perfectly able to carry them to their rooms and put the clothes away themselves. The only problem was I didn’t want a laundry room full of big and bulky laundry baskets.
I found the perfect solution: Plastic Dish Pans.
As I’m pulling the laundry out of the dryer, I fold it and place it in the corresponding basket. When the kids return home from school, they take their baskets to their room and put their own clothes away. They are then to return the empty basket to me, so I can refill it.
I personalized the kids laundry baskets so I knew exactly who didn’t bring their baskets back to me. There is no denying it when their names are right on the front! I just used puffy paint and free-handed their names on the front, but there are so many other options you could do. You could paint their names and designs on wooden plaques and tie them on with a coordinating ribbon. Or you could even use Decoupage., which I’ve always wanted to play around with, just never have.
How do you handle kids laundry?
This post is linked to:
- Works For Me Wednesday
- DIY Day over at A Soft Place.
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Great idea and I am totally with you- hate putting clothes away!
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Great idea :0)
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In our house Mommy washes and folds the laundry and each person puts away their own clothes. Even the four year old does this with minimal assistance. That way I don’t put their clothes away. =)
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This last year, I started making my sons do their own laundry. My oldest has a 4 day school week, so he does his on Friday, while the other three do theirs on Saturday. At first, they were not enthusiastic about getting it done and I often ended up finishing the work late Saturday night. When I told them that they couldn’t play until it was done (including putting it away), though, things changed. Now they scramble to get theirs to the laundry room first.
When they were little, and I was still washing their clothes, I had them put them away. I’d put their clothes together in outfits all over their beds and they’d simply come along with hangers and put them away. That worked pretty well.
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I started making my boys put their own clothes away as well. It has gone really good. But I really like the dishpan idea! I usually hand them a folded pile and hope for the best.
I will have to look for a couple of these. Thanks!
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I LOVE this idea. I have a 3 1/2 year old and almost 5 year old. I think they may even be able to handle the size of these pans. Thank you!! I, like you, don’t mind doing the laundry but hate putting it away.
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GettingFreedom Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
@Lou–Yes, they are the perfect size for little ones. My children are 4, 8 and 9, and my 4 year old is just as able to carry them as the older kids.
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What a clever idea to use dishpans, I love it!
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great idea I jut give my kids there clothes and they put them up. If I find out they have not been put up. a privelage is taken great idea
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Love this idea. I think it would still work for big kid clothes. The stack would be higher than the dish pan, but it would still be contained and designated for that child.
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Great idea! My kids’ clean clothes are in laundry baskets (not folded, mind you) in the crib in their room (to keep little hands out). One of these days I’ll get around to folding them and putting them away… then again, Little Man figured out how to open the dresser yesterday and emptied the contents onto the floor… so maybe they’ll just stay in the crib!
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Great idea! I’m sure it works well if you have slightly older children.
And the dishpan is a great size – it can’t get too full!
Love it-
-Lauren
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I love that idea. I’m always seeing great ideas for kids, I don’t think I’ll remember them by the time I actually have kids.
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Good idea. I hate putting the clothes away too. I don’t mind laundry, even the folding isn’t too bad…it’s the putting it away!
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What a cute idea!
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That is such a great idea! I’m going to talk about getting kids to help with cleaning around the house soon and I may need to reference your post if that’s ok with you!
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Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
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Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.
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agreed, dislike laundry put away! It seems like laundry folding happens when someone is sleeping or napping, so there the folded laundry sits–too oft until someone comes along and unfolds everything!!!
My SIL uses milk crates for her kids clothing, and had a shelf built into her laundry room to house them. She once said that she never lets the laundry leave that room unless it’s in the crate, or it ends up stuck in couch cushions or on the floor somewhere :p
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