Tackling Laundry Tip 5: What You Give is What You Get

I’m not sure how it happens but my big kids must peel off their clothes like you’d peel a wrapper off a candy bar.  Every time I fold laundry I end up with boatloads of jeans, t-shirts, and socks that are flipped inside out.  In my nicer-mom days I would take the time to flip them all right-side out while I was folding.  Now that I have 7 people to fold laundry for I have to be a little more savvy.  I save myself time by returning their clothes to their baskets exactly as they came.

Clothes fold just as neatly inside out as they do right-side out so why waste flipping them around?  Why not let your big kids (and husbands) do that work for themselves?  Trust me, once they know that clothes don’t magically appear perfectly in their drawers they’ll pay a little more attention to how they take them off.

I follow the same principle when it comes to socks.  I don’t flip them or match them.  I just toss them into their baskets and let them figure it out.  Every six months or so we dump out their sock drawers and pitch anything that’s missing a match.  It’s a simple system that saves me time and effort.  That makes it a keeper in my book.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

Here are the links to the rest of the series…

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 1: Set a Schedule and Stick To It

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 2: Get the Right Equipment

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 3: Incentivize to Minimize

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 4: Hang Out Outside the Closet

Here’s the link to Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 3

Laundry Tackling Tip 4: Hang Out Outside the Closet

I used to dread hanging clothes.  It seemed to take forever and I didn’t like being cooped up in the closet.  As I mentioned before I like to watch Hulu on my laptop while I do laundry.  A few months ago it occurred to me that I could do most of the work outside the closet if I simply brought the hangers to the clothes rather than the other way around.

Now while I sort ‘Parent’ clothes I make a stack of shirts that need to be hung.  Then, I go to the closet, grab a bunch of empty hangers and bring them to the bed.  I slide the hangers into the shirts one at a time and stack them into ‘his’ and ‘hers’ piles.  When I’m through making piles I grab the entire stack of hangers and hook it on the closet rod.  Thankfully, Hulu’s commercial breaks are about 15 seconds which is about how much time it takes me to get from the bed to the closet and back.  Isn’t that handy?  Thank you Hulu for being so considerate of my laundry needs – now I never miss a moment of Modern Family or Lost.

Here’s one more cool laundry link for you.  Meredith over at the lovely site Penelope Loves Lists recommends ignoring your laundry all together as an organization strategy.  Check out her interesting approach here.   Just thought I’d pass it on.

Here are the links to the rest of the series…

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 1: Set a Schedule and Stick To It

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 2: Get the Right Equipment

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 3: Incentivize to Minimize

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 5: What You Give is What You Get

When it comes to caring for their clothes my kids are pretty lazy.  I’ve explained time and time again that jeans and pajamas can be worn a few times before being washed but it never seemed to sink in.  Each time I’d fold the laundry I’d find tons of jeans and pjs – most of which didn’t need to be washed.  To make matters worse when my kids cleaned their rooms they would often drop perfectly clean clothes into the hamper just to avoid putting them away.  Grrr!

To curb this problem I created an simple incentive system.  After I fold the kid laundry I make a quick count of jeans and pjs (I sort each kids pile into three piles according to their drawers – shirts, pants, and pjs – everything else gets tossed in their basket).  The kids with the lowest number of jeans and the lowest number of pjs get a 50 cent bonus added to their big board bank.  Any clothes I find that have not been worn that week cause a 50 cent deduction.  Within 2 weeks of trying this new system I found my kid laundry piles had gone down by almost half.  Regardless of what motivations you choose for your family, this simple solution is a great one to have in your laundry arsenal.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

I rarely hang kid clothes because I really like my drawer system.  If you’re a hanger-style Mom you should check out this cool trick from Apartment Therapy showing you how to hang 10 shirts in 10 seconds.

Here are the links to the rest of the series…

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 1: Set a Schedule and Stick To It

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 2: Get the Right Equipment

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 4: Hang Out Outside the Closet

Tackling Laundry Mini-Tip 5: What You Give is What You Get

For example, I just did an overhaul of my cluttered garage shelves.  If I were on an organizing show they would probably make me go through a very deliberate (and time consuming) process such as…take everything off the shelves, purge the excess, divide up the remaining stuff into clear categories, make spiffy new labels for the shelves, measure the shelves to determine where everything should go, and then finally place all the items in their assigned locations.  Well, my little guy only naps for an hour at a time so, unlike the makeover shows, I needed a fix that would be faster and more flexible.  My solution?  Use a dry erase marker to create temporary labels.

I still went through the basic steps.  I scanned the shelves and moved or pitched anything that didn’t seem to fit in (like the cordless drill stashed on the bottom shelf or the bike pump I found behind the pasta).  Then I used my dry erase marker to make quick category labels on the shelves.  Once I started moving things around, I realized that my paper towels were a little too tall to fit on the low shelf I originally planned for them so I erased that label and reassigned them to a higher one.  I did the same thing with my 25lb flour sacks.  They were too big to fit with the other food storage items so I added them to the empty side of the cleaning supplies shelf and then wrote a quick label beneath them.  You could call it a trial and error (aka lazy) form of organizing, but I find it be much faster.  All in all, the entire project took me about 25 minutes and that includes the time it took me to take the random stuff (like the drill and the bike pump) back to their correct spots in the house.

You might ask, “Now that you’ve got your system all worked out, did you go spend hours creating beautiful, weather-proof, permanent labels?  Isn’t that what organized people do?”  To which I would answer, “Are you kidding?  I had 35 more minutes of kid nap time to kill so I spent it doing important stuff like checking my email and browsing blogs.”  The simple fact is, the garage shelves aren’t a high priority and their contents change frequently so it seems kind of silly to create permanent labels.  Rather, I left up the dry erase labels as a solid, temporary fix.  They’re clear enough for my family to follow and low-maintenance enough for me to rearrange and adjust as I see fit.

I often do the same thing with my organizing bins.  For example, I’ve got most of my kid’s old clothes in these blue rubbermaid bins (I’ve got over 20 of them).  I have a nice plastic-coated label on the front which is great because they look really neat and organized when they’re stacked in my basement.  However, functionally, having a label on only one side of the box isn’t terribly helpful.  After all, sometimes the boxes need to be stacked sideways, sometimes they don’t get put away correctly so the label faces the back, and sometimes I’ve got several out at a time and I don’t want to constantly flip them around to figure out what’s inside.

To solve the problem, I grab my dry erase marker and label the top, back and sides of the box.  It’s not a pretty fix, but since no one else ever sees the other sides of the box I don’t really care about aesthetics.  Plus, once we’re done having kids and it’s time to get rid of all the clothes I can easily wipe off the labels and repurpose the bins for something else (FYI – a lysol wipe works well if the ink is stubborn).  It’s a simple organizing solution that saves me time and trouble.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

Honestly, I don’t see a big problem with this.  The fact of the matter is that I rarely use most of the items that are back there – like the fragile glass salad bowl we got for our wedding or the trio of cheesecake pans I purchased years ago.  In my opinion, you should focus your organizing efforts on areas that get the most use and not stress over the spots that are rarely seen.  That being said, it is important to make things accessible.  After all, every now and then we have company over and I have to pull out the glass salad bowl for Sunday dinner.

One way I’ve found to simplify this process is to add inexpensive tap lights to the insides of my lower cupboards.  It’s amazing how much easier it is to find what I’m looking for when there’s a little light to guide my way.  Just being able to see the back of my cupboard without pulling everything out helps a ton.  For one thing, it helps me remember what I have – so when I’m trying to think of what to make for Sunday dessert I can check the pans cupboard and remember how many different dessert options I have.  Secondly, it helps me actually use what I have – because when the belgian waffle maker is easy to spot and easy to put away I’m much more likely to pull it out and whip up some scrumptious waffles for breakfast.  Finally, it keeps me from over-spending – because when I actually can see how stocked my cupboards are I’m far less tempted to buy the latest kitchen gadget.

I found my cheap tap lights at Wal-Mart.  I bought a pack of 4 for around $2.  I used 3M command adhesive strips to attach them to the ‘ceiling’ of the cupboard.  After using them for a few weeks, I ended up moving them down to the upper wall of the cupboard so I could see and tap them a little easier.  I’ve also upgraded to the LED-style tap lights (available at WalMart, Target or the dollar store).  They’re a little more expensive but they take far less battery power so you end up saving money in the long run; especially when you’re toddler discovers how fun tap lights are to play with.

Remember, the benefits of instant lighting aren’t limited to the kitchen.  They’re great for all your dark organizing trouble spots – like in the bathroom cabinets, under the backseat of your car, or under your kids beds.  I’ve got them stashed all over the place.  They’re simply a great way to keep things organized and under control.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

I’d pretty much resigned myself to living with my husband’s hoarding habits when I got a great email from a clutter-busting company called Campus Quilts (perhaps you heard about them on the Today show or Rachel Ray). They’ve come up with a great solution for t-shirt stockpilers like my husband.

In a nutshell, the experts at Campus Quilt Co. specialize in taking your treasured t-shirts and transforming them into fun, functional, and durable memory quilts. They sent me a quilt kit to sample and I must say I’m really impressed with their process. The kit contained detailed instructions so I can get the exact colors and layout I want, as well as all the materials I will need to ship my shirts back to their facility (the shipping was even pre-paid for me). Their turn-around is generally only two to three weeks, so my Ohio State T-shirt memory quilt should arrive just in time for football season – go Buckeyes!

The whole solution is such a win-win for me. He gets to hang on to his favorite shirts from his alma mater and I get to free up a bunch of space in our closet. It’s too bad they can’t make quilts out of old engineering text books. I could really use the extra space in my basement.  Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all.

So here’s the great news, Campus Quilt Company has generously offered to give away a Quilt Kit and a $150 gift card to one lucky MeckMom reader. The winner will receive a $150 gift card and a quilt kit with order form, layout guide, fabric swatch card, bag to mail the clothing, and a pre-paid UPS mailing label. You’ll get to choose your own layout, quilt details, and colors. They’ll even email you multiple times throughout the process to let you know the status of your order and to give you peace of mind that your treasured t’s are in good hands.

A memory quilt like this would make a great Christmas gift! In fact, you should hop on over to their site to check out their sample quilts and read their customer testimonials. They’re customer service ratings are really impressive. Here are a two sample quilts from their site to give you a few ideas on how you could put the gift card to good use.

To enter to win, you simply have to leave a comment on this post with your favorite clutter busting tip. It doesn’t have to be related to closets. It could be on any clutter-related area. The giveaway will be open all week and the winner will be chosen at random next Tuesday (Sept 8th) at midnight CST. I’ll contact the winner via email and post the winner’s comment name here. Good luck, everyone! I can’t wait to read all your clutter-busting solutions. As always, for those of you who comment, thanks for passing it on.

*This giveaway is now closed.

And the winner (chosen randomly by the iPhone app iChoose) is…Commenter #8, Mindy.  Congratulations!  I hope you enjoy your gift card.  I’ll be contacting you via email tonight.  If I don’t receive a response within 72 hours another winner will be chosen.  Thanks for playing, everyone!

I hate that feeling so I use a very simple trick to combat key loss.  When I come in from the garage, the first thing I do is flip on the light in the kitchen.  It’s also the last thing I do before I head to the car.  So, naturally, the light switch seemed like a great place to store my keys.  I placed a few peel n’ stick hooks on the switch plate of the light switch by the kitchen door and a few more on the plate near the front door.  Now no matter which door I enter, there’s always a spot to stash my keys.

I added a few more hooks to the inside of a cabinet near the back door as well.  I store all my spare keys there…just in case my regular keys have wandered off the hook.  (I learned this one from my brilliant Mom who managed to get all 10 kids out the door on a regular basis – I love you, Mom!)

As a side note, I also use a similar trick for my purse and mail.  I bought a heavy duty removable hook and used a left over plastic inbox from my Family Big Board project and mounted both on the back of the kitchen door.  When I come in from the garage, I add my keys to the switch plate, toss my bag on the hook, and throw the mail in the bin.  Within 3 seconds I have my hands free and nothing gets dumped on the counter.  Plus, when it’s time to head out again, everything I need is right there waiting for me.  It’s a really simple strategy that saves me tons of time.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

Like most stay-at-home Moms, I spend a lot of my day in my kitchen – planning, prepping, cooking, cleaning, – it’s a non-stop cycle.  As much as I love to cook, I’d much rather spend my time somewhere else.  Like taking my kids to the park or watching 24, for example.  Consequently, I try to incorporate lots of little organizing tricks to help me minimize clean-ups and maximize functionality.  This week I’ll be posting a few of my favorites.

So let’s start with the kitchen cupboards.  Here are a few tips to keep your cabinets cleaner and more functional.

Lazy Susans: Those of you who have been readers for a while might remember that I love using these little spinning disks in my fridge.  They work great for a cabinet as well.  I use this one to hold all the cooking supplies I use daily (olive oil, salt, pepper, etc.).  The Lazy Susan helps keep everything within reach and make clean-up a snap.  I simply pull out the entire thing when I need to clean out the cupboard.

Sticky-proof Baskets: Don’t you hate when you reach for the syrup or honey and the bottle sticks to the shelf?  So do I!  Since training my kids to wipe down the bottle after each use seemed a bit unrealistic, I opted for the next best thing – a cheap little basket to catch the goo.  Now, any drips that wander down the bottle end up in the plastic basket – not on my cupboard.  Plus, when it starts to get too sticky I just throw it in the dishwasher for a quick clean up.

Clear, Plastic Containers: When it comes to cabinets, excess packaging is a real space waster.  If you’ve got certain dry-good supplies you buy on a regular basis (like the baby formula pictured here), you should invest in a few of these handy containers.  Not only do they help you keep things neat and organized, but you’ll always know when you’re running low.

I know these ideas seem pretty simple, but that’s the beauty of them.  They’re not hard to set up or maintain and I promise you they can make a big difference.  You can find all these organizing supplies at your local WalMart or kitchen supply store.  More to come soon.  Just thought I’d pass it on.