Large Family Laundry Routine

I've talked before about how I use my laundry routine as part of our homeschool, especially with my little ones.

We don't just learn in the laundry room, sometimes I actually DO laundry.  

No matter the size of your family, LAUNDRY HAPPENS!!

I've tried many methods over the years from scheduling laundry days to delegating it to older children.  Schedules - aarrgh - don't get me started.  They're so restricting and what if Monday is laundry day and you're invited to a homeschool get together.  Then what?  Do you transfer laundry to Tuesday?  But that just screws up Tuesday's schedule.  Do you wait for the next Monday to do laundry again?  Of course not - the laundry room would explode.

How about delegating?  That worked OK until Downy was used as laundry soap.  After all my t-shirts lost their shape, I delegated myself back to the laundry room.  And besides, I love washing clothes and I actually missed doing laundry.

NOW, I've settled into a laundry routine.  My routine keeps me moving on auto pilot.  

Morning - Wake up, collect laundry, sort, start load, coffee, get dressed.

Noon - Laundry switch, 2nd load if needed, lunch.

Afternoon - Fold and stack on dryer.

After supper - Put away.

Next day - Repeat.

If you like watching other people do laundry and want all the details of my large family laundry routine, I have a video on my YouTube channel, A Country Life.  I yak on and on about washing only dirty clothes, my favorite bleach and folding immediately.

What's your favorite household chore?  I want to hear from all the other laundry lovers out there -  I can't be the only one.

3 Easy Steps to Put the White Back into Dairy Show Whites

We've just finished the animal showing portion of our local fair.  Emily shows dairy, which includes cows, heifers, and calves.  Amber showed our POA, Pearl, for the first time.  It's a lot of work for the kids and parents, but the lessons learned make it worth it.  Of course the trophies, ribbons, and fair premiums are appreciated as well.  

But speaking of lessons learned, I've learned a few tricks over the years about laundering dairy show whites.  Would someone please tell me why all white clothing is the uniform of choice for dairy showing?  Don't they know cow poop splatters in every direction when it hits the ground.  Anyway, I'm sure my opinion (they should wear greenish, brownish show clothes) isn't going to change the minds of the national dairy showing committee, if there even is one.  

First off this isn't the best example of dirty because they are Emily's showmanship pants.  They don't wear these very long and work extra hard to stay clean because part of the judging is based on the showman's appearance.  But you can see a few manure stains on the pant leg.  They sometimes have to lean on the animal so the backside of the show pants are usually quite dingy.

First step is to soak the pants in Clorox 2.  I fill the sink with hot water and pour in about 1/3 cup of Clorox 2.  I let the pants soak for at least 24 hours, swishing them around a couple of times.

After they've soaked, I search out any stains and apply a liberal amount of OxiClean Max Force Gel Stick.  I'm not normally brand loyal, but in this case, stick with the brand.

  

 I use a bristled scrub brush and vigorously brush in a back and forth motion over the stain.

I let the OxiClean work in for about 20 minutes and then transfer to the washing machine.  Add the recommended amount of (any brand) laundry soap and about 1/4 cup bleach.  I set my washer to the "whites" setting and launder.  It's amazing how they return to their original whiteness.

Now, this pair of show whites is not the ones pictured above.  These were much dirtier than those and look how clean they are.  The pockets are nice and clean.  The bottom hemline is ultra white.  Ready for next year.

And since show whites are kind of boring blog fare, here's a picture of Emily with Margret.

Linking up with Works For Me Wednesday and Raising Homemakers.

*this post contains affiliate links, if you click through and purchase anything, I make a small commission - THANK YOU

Removing Modeling Clay Residue

I used my Staples reward check to pick up some art supplies including modeling clay. I wasn't aware that clay left behind such a sticky/greasy residue. It was all over the table and so begun my quest to find what would take it off. I won't bore you with the list of things I tried, but I will say that Fantastik Heavy Duty worked.