5 Tips to Slay Your Mountain of Laundry and Not Lose Your Mind

Are there piles of laundry on your bed waiting to folded and put away? Are there piles of clothes oozing out of the hamper, and spewing onto the floor of the laundry room?

You are not alone!

As a busy mom to 4 kids twelve and under two of them being boys I know oh ‘to well the daily maintenance that is required in order to not drown in “mount clothes”.

Get your kids to help! Yes, they are completely capable even our 5 year-old is expected to do his share, and help with the laundry monster.

Here’s how I get my kids to do laundry without whining or complaining.

Our boys (5 & 7) help separate laundry into the appropriate hampers, and help transfer wet clothes to the dryers. They have also been instructed on “how to” load dirty clothes into the washer, fill the soap dispenser, and hit “start”.

You would be amazed at how well they do, and how excited they get when they get to help mom. It may only be saving me a couple minutes (switching loads, etc. ) but, minutes add up to hours.

Our girls (9 and 12) are expected to do a bit more. I will also add, we do not give our children a weekly allowance.

But, we do have “chore cards”. When a child is asked to preform a specific task; usually for the girls it is folding and putting away a load of laundry – I,

1) Ask “said child” to perform the chores (once they have been properly instructed on how to do so)

2) If “said child” is available, willing, and able he/she will do the chore when asked without whining or complaining

3) Mom inspects the work of “said child”, and signs off on their “chore card”

4) After a child has filled their chore card they may redeem their card for a $10 “pay day

5) Everyone wins!

More Laundry Slaying Tips From One Busy Family to Another…

I wash ALL of my kids clothes together – I know, gasp? Take a deep breath – yes, I do not separate my kids clothes.

Most of their clothes have been washed countless times, and for the most part fall under the category of “lights/darks”. If there is a particular outfit that requires special care then, I will set it aside and treat appropriately. But, for the most part 99% of our kids’ clothes are washed together in one to two giant loads.

Our kids have a large community hamper located in their bathroom. At the end of the day all clothes are to make their way to the community hamper (and, not to be placed on the floor) or, mom is likely to get angry.

We also have a separated hamper system (lights, whites, and darks) located in our master bedroom. The separated system helps me recognize the clothes that may need to be pulled for stain treatment and/or special temperature care.

Fold clothes as they come out of the dryer. Handle once, not twice! There are few better things on a cold winter day then, folding warm clothes. Remember wanting to snuggle in the basket as a kid?

Over the years I have tried to limit the “amount” of clothes that come into the house as well. If there are only so many clothes to choose from then, the loads of laundry are that much more manageable. Think about it, if you have enough pants that you don’t need to do laundry, but once a month – what in the world would that laundry mountain look like – huge, right?

Fewer clothes, means a more manageable mountain.

And, lastly having a “family closet” is pretty much amazing! If you can figure out “how” or “where” to put one – do it! Gone are the days of running around, and putting clothes away in six different locations. Once our clothes are washed, dried, and folded – into the family closet they go. I will share more on this system soon, but for now if you don’t I have one already – I would start thinking of where you may put one.

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Spring Cleaning Your Homeschool Curriculum and 5 Tips For New Homeschoolers From a Mom of Four

%22All Good Thingsare Wild and Free%22




Ok. confession, I love homeschool curriculum. I love reading reviews and the smell of new homeschool books. I love reading about the various homeschool theories and seeing all that is out there. All that said, it can be very overwhelming at times. We are sucked in to the pretty pictures, newest homeschooling fads, and wanting to ‘feel’ like we are covering everything we ‘need’ to.

It is hard to believe this is our 7th year homeschooling {we started when Music-Bee was 2.5/3} I shared some reflections of journey HERE on Periscope. I also shared why we are spring cleaning our curriculum and what we will be doing on Fridays for the remainder of the school year.

As the weather and seasons begin to change we all get a little restless so it’s time to shake things up a bit…check out ‘My Happy Homeschool Fun Fridays’ on Instagram to see what we are up to.

5 {well, 6} Tips for New Homeschoolers From a Mom of Four

  1. Resist the urge my friends – do no buy a bunch of curriculum especially if your kids are little. The books are pretty and ah, that smell….resist it! There are far better ways…
  2. Do not stress if our 3, 4, or even 5 year old is not ‘doing’ school {unless required of coarse check your state laws HERE}
  3. DO NOT make your kids ‘do’ school all day or feel like you need to fill their days with constant entertainment.
  4. DO NOT feel guilty about saying no to the local homeschool co-op, library time, or playdate. Your kids will be social – they will have countless opportunities to ‘be’ socialized – if anything they will be ‘too’ social at times.
  5. DO enjoy spending time with your children – get outside as much as possible, read good books, go to the park, the zoo, the hands on museum, the beach, play games, and don’t feel bad for exposing them to ‘real’ life and hands on learning. Learning is an atmosphere – and, ‘the mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days’*. The road isn’t easy, but you are planting seeds for a love a learning…
  6. Implement a quiet time in your days and don’t feel bad if you have to close your eyes for a few to tune out the noise. We all need a break sometimes and don’t beat yourself up. As homeschool parents there is no ‘lunch room break’, ‘prep hour’, or ‘specials’ – you are it! You are on duty 24/7 – you are the lunch mom, the nurse, the principle, the art teacher, the reading aid, etc. take that break! And, don’t think twice about it!

This is a time in our home where hands  on learning and living books become one; Here are some of our favorite ‘living books’ {If you are not familiar with these they are classics not text books. They are literature based to help inspire, spark curiosity, and encourage a continuous love of learning} Click the picture affiliate links included for your convenience -if you order I will get a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you – it helps keeps this little blog running so, thank you!





Spring Cleaning Your Curriculum And 5 Tips for New Homeschoolers from a Mom of Four

*Charlotte Mason Quote

Some of our favorite Homeschool Spring Cleaning resources;

How Old is Too Old For a Pacifier?

MORGANS

The great pacifier debate – How old is too old?

Our youngest ‘speedy-bee’ (aka speedy-D) always had a paci hanging from his mouth and,  I do mean always.  It never bothered me but, I was always amazed at the number of people that had an opinion about it {even though the pediatric dentist and our pediatrician said it was fine until the age of four}. I think it is quite common for some people to  get squirrelly  about things like potty training, pacifiers, bed wetting, taking away the bottle, etc. My question is ‘why’? They aren’t going to go to college with it for goodness sake- that is unless they choose to jump on the ‘trendy’ teenage pacifier bandwagon {ummm, serious side note – why do teens do this again?}

Everyone is different and everyone has a different need. Let them be little! Don’t worry about the ‘nay-sayers’ and the overly opinionated world we live in.  I truly think Speedy-bee having a ‘plug’ hanging out of his mouth made some people crazy but, I could care less. {after four kids you care about these things less} I knew K-bear used to do the same {Ha, and here is proof! She did!} And, guess what worried momma’s there is no prize taking away the paci before they’re ready. Let them keep it. Ignore the judgement.

Here’s proof we had 2 paci loving kids – that gave it up on their own without ever looking back! Both were just a little over the age of three – they threw them in the trash on their own terms {I of coarse dug them out to save them..haha} but, the key was they chose to do it. The pacifier was gone; neither of them asked for it again, and the once pacifier debate was now a thing of our past. {To be totally honest, I think I missed the darn thing more than they did – I’m a sucker for a cute kid and a paci.}

So how old is too old for a pacifier?

According to our professional health care team ‘four’. But, does that mean a four year old who still requires a bit of comfort at night should be traumatized by taking it away? Absolutely not! At four years of age the ability to reason and know consequences is starting to develop – take baby steps. Your speed doesn’t matter forward is forward – there is no prize for getting rid of your baby’s pacifier before they are one, two, or three all children have comfort items; whether it is a blanket, stuffed animal , or _____. These are the items that help them develop the necessary skill of self soothing – after all we all like to feel secure and validated in our environment.

So, the next time you are tempted to fight the ‘battle of wills’ {I did the force method with Pumpkin, our oldest} let me tell you, from a mother to a mother; fight the urge to conform to the nay-sayers and rest knowing they will give it up when they are ready!