Why is laundry so awful? If you are here reading this, you probably feel the same way. It’s awful. It’s boring, ridiculously meticulous and NEVER ENDING. Why is it never ending?! And if you’re a mom, you’re probably totally done doing laundry.
It’s not enough that the entire household’s health and life ends up the mom’s job. But then we add the nonstop pile of laundry. It can make anyone feel utterly insane. The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That’s what laundry feels like…pure insanity.
For some reason, you may expect it to get easier or somehow more enjoyable. After years of constant washing, drying, forgetting to fold, re-drying, forgetting to put away, rewashing, drying and endless cycles of nonsense, we’ve all had enough.
Not to mention the kids being annoyed because their favorite pants or shirt are dirty and the forgetfulness to wash them. Or those dreaded school days where each kid had to wear a different color or theme every single stinking day! Don’t get me started on theme weeks. Theme weeks are the bane of any Mom’s existence.
Don’t you wish you could spend more time relaxing and not worrying about endless piles of laundry?
Don’t you get so sick and tired of having to spend an entire Saturday trying to catch up on laundry?
Do you wish you only had to worry about 1 or maybe 2 loads a week?
What if you only had to do a few loads a month?! How is that even possible?
What if I told you that you can enjoy more time relaxing instead of doing laundry. What if the kids worried about their own laundry?
What if I told you that teaching your school age children how to do their own laundry and making them do it is actually great parenting!?
No more wasting time on loads and loads of laundry every week.
Here’s 10 reasons why you should be MAKING your kids do their own laundry and not feeling guilty about it!
1.Stop Nagging.
You don’t like nagging, the kids and husband don’t like hearing the nagging, hell, you don’t even like hearing yourself nagging! Little do those kids know, we don’t enjoy constantly nagging them to pick up their clothes or throw them in the hamper and not in the hallway.
Once you start making the kids (and husband) do their own laundry, you won’t ever have to worry about nagging again! Next time they come to you and ask where that blue shirt is for picture day, you can simply reply with, “I don’t know, did you wash it?” And that’s the end of it! No more worrying. It’s on them! No more accidentally washing your husband’s hunting clothes with fabric softener either. (Unless of course it was intentional 😉 )
What a gigantic load off of your shoulders when you don’t have to bag anyone anymore. Think of the mental space that frees up once you start delegating this one chore.
Of course it takes some time to stick to this rule. And you will feel tons of guilt at first. Stick to your guns! I know it’s hard and you’ll want to give up in the beginning. If you have older kids they will fight you on it. I know you’ll get tired of nagging and want to give in so bad. But you have to stick to it. Tell yourself it’s for their benefit too. You want them to see how hard it is to manage a household and respect their partners some day. Keep sticking to the rule and help only when necessary. They’ll get the hang of it.
And once everyone gets the hang of it, it’s really not a big deal anymore. And you won’t ever have to hear yourself nag at anyone for laundry again!
2. So much less time wasted on doing laundry.
If you sat down and really calculated the time wasted on laundry, you’d be astonished! And yes, I know, you think it’s YOUR job to do every single piece of laundry in the house. To take care of your family. To be the protector and the loving Momma. I get it. But what happens when those kids end up getting jobs and going to college like mine did? What happened to mine is they knew how to do their own laundry and never thought twice about it! And every other kid was panic calling Mom at home. lol My son was simply astonished that none of his friends knew how to do something so simple. Do you know how much pride he had just being able to say he could handle that for himself? He felt GREAT!
Now take all of the time I got back all of those years while he did his own laundry. I read books, I polished my nails, I ate in peace, I took BUBBLE BATHS! Because why not? I’m important too!
Why should moms have to carry the weight of the entire household on their shoulders while everyone watches movies or plays games? Why do we do this to ourselves?
Everyone can pitch in as a team unit and not expect one single person to share the load.
3. Delegation is healthy for you all!
This is one of the hardest things for a strong woman to realize. A huge tough pill to swallow. Delegating responsibilities is a really healthy thing to do!
Please let go of the urge to do it for them after you have seen them try and fail. They NEED to fail. They need to get annoyed. And then they NEED to get back up and try again. And what they don’t NEED is you enabling them and doing it for them. Although it will be easier at times.
These kids (and husband) need to learn to take care of themselves. You will feel less stressed and they will get used to doing things for themselves.
Also, realize that you’re value is not ONLY in what you do for your family. With that mindset, you will get burnt out that “No one sees how hard you work for them!” That kind of negates the point of doing things for them in the first place, doesn’t it? Instead, watch them take on responsibility like a working unit of the family. And let them watch you take time for yourself and relax. They want to see you happy.
Happiness doesn’t live where guilt is.
4. Stop the fights and arguments about lost clothes.
Did you ever get blamed for the favorite jeans gone missing? Or get blamed for not washing that dreaded Hawaiian shirt for beach day? Or get in an argument for washing a wallet or car keys?
That happens no more! From now on, everyone can get irritated at themselves for not washing that right shirt, or leaving the clothes in the washer too long.
Don’t have your favorite red shirt washed for color of the week day? Oh well.
Forgot to wash your favorite pair of jeans? Oh well, it’s not mom’s fault anymore.
The kids will learn to take responsibility for themselves pretty quickly.
Imagine how good it will feel when you no longer have to worry about anyone else’s clothes but your own!
And of course there are times when you can lend a quick helping hand. But just be careful not to do too much or you’ll be back where you started.
There are plenty of times in my house where someone left wet clothes in the wash. The person wanting to wash theirs always throws them in the dryer. Or if there are clothes in the dryer and someone needs it, they throw them in a basket. The point is that we all work together as a team. No one is completely and solitary independent but no one is putting the entire load on one person.
5. Save on energy by switching to cold settings.
Save money on your energy bill when you switch everyone to the cold setting on the washer. I’ve been doing my laundry on cold for over 15 years and never had an issue. There is the occasional super dirty blanket or rags that need that hot setting of course. But most of the laundry is done on cold.
Why cold? Because the cold setting prevents bleeding and the need for anyone to separate colors. So the kids can just throw everything in at once without worrying. Easy peasy. And money saving. Win. Win.
You won’t have to worry about anyone ruining their clothes because cold settings virtually eliminate that. And the drop in energy costs is a really nice added bonus as well.
Use cold water and don’t stress!
6. Kids can start at an early age.
Each one of my kids started at Kindergarten age. Now at first, you do have to help them a lot. But make sure you’re helping from a distance and still letting them do it alone.
I put a dot or sticker next to the settings on the washer and dryer that they needed to use. Our newer washer had a pre-setting, so after I programmed that, I just had them hit the pre-setting. Whatever washer and dryer you have, make sure you put a sticker next to the appropriate settings for COLD. And for the dryer, have it next to a medium dry setting so they aren’t cooking their clothes.
You will have to remind them or ask them gently to switch the clothes at first. But they get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Not only that but little kids tend to love using the adult gadgets and feeing proud for doing it. Once they get older the habit sticks and you won’t have to nag teens to do their own laundry. If you’re starting with teens god bless you. You might have some work cut out for you.
7. You will only have a few loads a week!
After you teach the kids HOW to do laundry, implement that they HAVE to do their laundry. STAY FIRM with it. You will probably get some whining and have to deal with some backlash at first. But you have to stay firm. It can be hard to argue instead of just doing it yourself. But you need to stay firm and keep steady. It’ll all smooth out in the end.
After everyone else does their own laundry, you’ll only have a few loads left!
You can do your own laundry and then rags, towels and other things. I only do two loads a week at the most! Sometimes I don’t do any laundry during the week. Depending on what I wear, I may not need to do my own laundry until the following week! How sweet is that?
8. You’re making them into great adults.
My children are now young adults and older teens. They have all been doing their own laundry since they were in Kindergarten. They’ve never even thought twice about it. At first it was a lot of fun for them to operate the washer like a big kid. Now they don’t know a life where Mom did all of the laundry.
By having them do their own laundry, they’ve learned to be self sufficient and independent. They have encountered people their own age that have no idea how to do house work and they are always stunned. My oldest son even had to show some kids at his first job how to do the work laundry! The boss was so impressed.
The kids also have a sense of pride that they can and will be able to care for themselves once they leave home.
My other son actually told me the other day that he always loved doing his laundry. He said it gets done when he wants it to, how he wants it to and he doesn’t have to worry about waiting. If he needs work pants or any other clothing, he likes that he has the control of when it gets cleaned.
9. What if they don’t do their laundry?
Young children do need the help. But as the children age, if they don’t do their laundry, it’s not getting done. Period. Forget the nagging. Natural consequences at what will have to be in play here. They can’t wear their favorite shirt if it’s not washed. They’ll learn pretty quickly to take action.
I do set my foot down if they would choose to wear something obviously soiled or smelly. They have to change and wash it before they are able to wear it. And I have helped them get stains out or showed them how to.
Obviously this method isn’t fool proof. But it sure beats the amount of laundry I’ve had to do if they didn’t do their own. I’d never get anything else done at all. I don’t know how other moms do it!
10. Make your kids into fantastic empathetic adults.
By simply having your children do their own laundry, you are teaching them how to be responsible as a family unit. You are teaching them that no one person has to carry the whole load. You are teaching them to care about you as the mother and to take on some of their own responsibilities.
Not only are you teaching them to take on responsibilities, you are teaching them to respect their future partners as well. They will grow up knowing it’s completely normal to share responsibilities and work load. This will help them create and strive towards healthy relationships. And all we want is for our kids to be happy right?
By teaching and enforcing your kids to do their own laundry, you’ll have a more relaxed and happy life. Teach your family to share the load.
Love the life you live, you’re worth it!
Don’t just survive this life, thrive!