WFMW - Laundry schedule for families with children

An IRL friend of mine posted on Facebook that her son has worn the same pair of underwear for several days because he was out of clean underwear. Hey, if you have kids, you know what she's talking about. My kids have run out of clean underwear before I've gotten to their laundry, Heck, my husband has run out of clean socks or underwear before I've gotten to it. I've even gone on laundry strike because there is always so much to do and never enough time to do it all. To top it off, I know a family whose husband called her while she was out shopping and he asked her to pick up some new underwear because it would be faster than waiting for the laundry to be done.

When you add kids into the mix, it seems like laundry multiplies exponentially. Especially when you have girls or kids with sensory disorders who change clothes 20 times a day or simply because you are busy and just not home to do it. Hey, don't get me started on laundry doing itself - all you have to do is throw it in and move onto something else until it needs to go in the dryer. Throw it in and leave the house - let it run. In case you missed it, back in February my dryer motor caught on fire. If I hadn't been home, our house would have been destroyed. I don't run the dryer when I'm not home anymore.

So, I came up with a plan and tried it out. My girls have to wash their clothes on Tuesdays and Fridays. It's just long enough in between for them to accumulate enough to not be overwhelming (1-2 loads). They share a room and a hamper, so they have to work together, but I helped with suggesting who does what. Child B takes the clothes to the laundry room and puts them in the wash. (I'll share why in just a minute.) Child A or B takes them out of the washer (top-loader) and hands them to Child C so she can throw them in the dryer, which she loves. Then they all sort, fold, and put away their own clothes. They are nearly-5, nearly-8, and 10-1/2 - all very capable of the task assigned to them.

Then I get the washer and dryer on all other days to do anything else that needs to be done. If we are out all day on a Tuesday or Friday, there are enough other days to be flexible to give the girls the next day. I don't always keep up with getting the rest of everything folded or put away, but it's much better than having piles of laundry in some state of completion for all 5 of us.

This works for me in more than one way, it gets the laundry done, but it also helps incorporate therapy into Child B's routine. She has graduated from occupation therapy for sensory processing disorder. This is a good thing, but it doesn't mean her sensory disorder is gone. Simply put, we incorporate many therapeutic activities to meet her sensory needs into her daily life so she doesn't rely on formal therapy. Using her physical strength and as many muscle groups as possible is calming for her. It's hard, but calming in various ways. Some kids may have hyper-activity, anxiety, aggression, etc., so a physical activity is calming for their nervous system by using that energy productively. Pulling, pushing, or carrying the laundry basket to the utility room helps B. She can choose which one best suits her mood. It seems like a small task, but the benefits are great for her ability to get through the day without feeling agitated. After all, how would you feel if you felt like the tag from your shirt was rubbing all over your body? That's just an example of how these kids feel, though not exactly and not for all of them.

With this system there is no arguing over who is going to do what or who did it last time and whose turn it is.

Our laundry routine works for me. To read other tips, suggestions, find easy recipes, hop on over to We Are That Family and check out Works For Me Wednesday.

Works For Me Wednesday - Utensils in the Dishwasher

Kids go through a lot of dishes and utensils. We try to assign one cup per day and each kid is responsible for washing it out if she chooses to change her beverage, but they usually drink water and often share a cup. Something must be getting past me though, because we go through a lot of cups. We also go through a lot of utensils.

I realized a few weeks ago that it takes a few minutes to put away all the clean utensils and turn them the right way for storing in the drawer. I'm all for saving time and being efficient, so I started loading the utensils in the dishwasher according to type. You know how the utensil holder has different compartments? Well, spoons go one section, forks go in another, knives in yet another, and serving utensils or larger ones go in yet another. If I have too many of something to fit in one compartment, then I may have one compartment that is mixed. Everything sharp goes in sharp-end down and everything else goes in handle down. I don't like emergency room and urgent care visits and just know someone would get hurt with a sharp pointing up.

This makes unloading and putting away so much faster! I take one or two types of utensils out at a time and I just have to sort them by size, not by type. It works for me!

To read up on what else works, visit Kristen at WeAreTHATFamily.

WFMW - Gum Removal

I opened the freezer and found this inside:

Why, oh why is Child A's bible cover in the freezer?

This was truly baffling to me until I removed it.:

Does putting something with gum on it

really help remove the gum?

I mean, we saw it on The Doodlebops, but does it work?

Sure does! It just chipped right off with a butter knife.

Just be sure to leave it in long enough to freeze the gum.

A few hours should do it.

This is part of Kristen's weekly link-up, Works For Me Wednesday. To see what others are sharing or to link up your blog, head on over to We Are THAT Family.

WFMW - Free MP3s and online radio

I fell in love with this commercial from the first time I saw it. The product itself would be nice and I'm sure I would use it, but I don't need it and the cost is prohibitive. But the commercial is catchy. The song is reminiscent of some of the 80s music I liked back in the day, the filmography is neat to me, and there are so many details in the scenery. I just like it, even if it is corny.

So I went searching for "Stole My Heart" and found it free for a limited time and exclusively available through Amazon, which was weird to me because I use iTunes. But then I remembered that I have downloaded songs through Amazon before - free songs. Yes, FREE. Back in December, Amazon had a free Christmas download every day. All but 2 of them were real Christmas songs. (The other two were, uhm, how should I say this, not very wholesome and one was about Lady Gaga being someone's Christmas gift. Not exactly what I had in mind, so please preview songs before downloading to be sure they are appropriate for anyone who might be listening.) The free songs and free albums are listed at the right on the page and there are more available if you click the link to view them all. There is even a daily free song. Who can resist?

Downloading the Amazon MP3 downloader is easy. When you select your music, Amazon takes care of the download and adding it to your iTunes library. Your new music will be in your library, not your Purchased folder, which is only for iTunes purchases. Now you can add those songs to any playlist you like.

I love music and I love when it's free! (Which is also why I listen to K-Love both streaming and in my car. It's free ministry for my family and me and also my time isn't wasted with commercials that I don't want to hear. It's listener supported, rather than commercially sponsored, so it isn't really free, but no one is forced to pay for it; it's funded by donations. I was so tickled when my oldest daughter squealed that she could listen to Positive, Encouraging K-Love on the computer! You can listen free online or locate a station near you here.)

Free music works for me! To see what works for Kristen and others, drop by We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me Wednesday.

WFMW - Not tweeting every detail of my life

Don't get me wrong; I like Twitter. I like reading what other people are up to and I like to put something out there myself on occasion. But after reading this article earlier in March, and learning about pleaserobme.com, I realized that I want to keep my tweets cautious. (Pleaserobme.com is no longer posting tweets that announce people leaving their homes, but now that the awareness is raised, it is raised for criminals and honest folk alike, so caution should still be exercised.)

So, I love to read what you all are up to and I hope you'll keep tweeting funny stuff and things worth pondering. But I also hope you'll be careful when tweeting from your phones that you are not home or that you are going out or on vacation.

Today I was reminded of the stress-relieving value of Twitter, though, when my very struggling-to-be-independent 4yo (C) decided to put pepper on every one's lunch and made it too spicy for anyone to eat. With only a couple slices of bread in the house, off we went to Aldi for bread for pb&j! Argh. That was just the beginning of C's antics for the day. Anyone want a 4yo? (Not really! Well, maybe. I'm hoping and praying that tomorrow will be a better day for both of us!) I didn't tweet it, but did consider it. It goes back to that old saying about shouting it from the mountain tops. With Twitter, save your voice.

Being careful what I tweet works for me. Please be careful what you tweet.

To read what works for many others, hop on over to WeAreTHATFamily.

If you'd like to follow my rare tweets on Twitter, you'll have to request being a follower.

Self-checkout - Works For Me Wednesday

When I take my kids to the grocery store, we use the self-checkout. Why would I choose to check out and bag (sack, for you southern folk) our own groceries when I'm paying someone else to do it through the built-in cost of the groceries? Because it simplifies the checkout process. Really, it does. I have 3 young kids and there are tons of attractive magazines, gobs of candy and gumball machines, lottery ticket machines, coin counting machines, and front doors that go directly in to the parking lot right there by the check-out lanes. While I am unloading the cart, making sure everything rings up properly, paying for the groceries, and then re-loading the cart with bags, my kids have tons of distractions. And so do I - making sure they aren't adding things to the cart, running out the door, disappearing, or just begging for all the temptations. It's hard.

So, with the self-check out system, I can give all my kids a job. They can form a line and take turns ringing up and bagging or they can form an assembly like and one takes out the cart, one rings up, and one bags. Everyone is occupied. Everyone is happy. Everyone is busy. Plus they are contributing to a happy trip to the grocery store. As long as I can get them to not lean on the scale where we do the bagging, that is.

So, yes, even if my cart is overflowing with groceries, we do the self-checkout. In fact, especially if it's overflowing. It works for us.

If you have never used one of these before, I encourage you to read this hilarious, yet accurate, tutorial from Dawn.

Want to read about what works for others, visit Kristen at WeAreTHATFamily.

Dryer Safety - Works for Me Wednesday

This week, I am participating in Works For Me Wednesday (WFMW). Normally it is hosted by Kristen at WeAreTHATFamily, but she is in Kenya this week, blogging for Compassion. Which is truly amazing and inspiring and gut wrenching. Go take a look at what she’s been up to in Kenya. But back to Works For Me Wednesday – hosted by RocksInMyDryer this week.

Dryer Safety works for me. Since we just had a small dryer fire and are so very thankful that it remained small and contained in the dryer, I have realized by talking with friends that so many people are taking a very big risk with the way they are using their dryer. After all, we are all busy in our lives and we like to multi-task and get things done more efficiently without realizing we are compromising safety. Please read this and be sure to tell your family and friends. Fires claim lives every day and most are easily prevented. Although there are many, many fire hazards around most homes, I am only posting today about DRYER FIRES. The first four are risks that we were taking that I hadn’t realized. The rest are just additional helpful tips that I want to share because I love you all!

And what better time to go over all of this than now? With this weekend being when we set the clocks forward, please take the time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and test the detectors. If you are on a tight budget like me, perfectly good and reliable batteries are $1 at most dollar stores.

1. Only run the dryer when you are awake. A lint or motor fire would likely grow beyond the containment of the dryer before your smoke detector(s) would wake you. Smoke is thick and dangerous. This is not campfire smoke we are talking about. It does not smell good. It is rancid and full of chemicals from everything that is burning. It burns your throat and lungs and you can die just from smoke inhalation. If you are sleeping, you are awake when a fire starts, you may even smell the smoke when the fire is still inside the dryer and be able to turn off the power to the dryer and evacuate the house without harm.


2. Only run the dryer when you are home. If it were to have either a lint or motor fire, the fire would grow beyond the dryer before anyone outside would know and call the fire department. Your pets would die and your home would be ruined.


3. Be sure to have a working smoke detector in the utility room or where ever your dryer is located. Because smoke rises, this will be the first smoke detector to be activated. If your dryer is in the basement, put a detector down there and also at the top of the stairs. Be sure to test these by having someone down there test it while you are in your bedroom. Will you hear these during the night? If not, add more along the various routes to your bedrooms. This is one of the few times when less is NOT more. More (smoke detectors) is better!


4. If you suspect the dryer is on fire, do NOT open the door to shut it off. Unplug it or turn the knob to turn it off; opening the door can feed the fire with the increase of fresh air. Obviously if you see flames, don’t do any of this – just grab your kids and get out!


5. Clean your lint filter every time you either load or unload the dryer. If you have helpers with your laundry, train them to empty the lint filter, too. Lint fires are even more common than motor fires. If the lint filter isn’t clean, then new lint doesn’t have anywhere to go and will build up in places that get hot. It doesn’t take fire to start fire, it takes heat to start fire.


6. Check your dryer’s exhaust pipe. Where does it vent? Outside? You want your dryer vest to be as close to the outside wall as possible. You also want that exhaust tubing to be as flexible and as short as possible. The longer it is and position of corners rather than curves will provide more places for lint to collect. Keep these to a minimum. Vacuum from the outside to clear it out at least once a year. If you can’t clean it out thoroughly, then change that tubing once a year.


7. If you can afford professional vent cleaning ($35-$100 depending on where you live.) If you cannot easily clean your exhaust/vent part of your dryer’s lint system, then hire a professional. They will vacuum it out and may even replace that exhaust tubing.


8. Do not overfill your dryer. If your dryer is too full it will not dry efficiently and will put more wear and tear on the motor to completely dry your laundry.

If you find that your dryer is taking 2 or more cycles to completely dry your laundry, then you may want to have it serviced. It could just be that your setting is low, but it could be that the motor is wearing down. I usually dry all but towels, socks, and underwear on a low heat setting to avoid shrinkage, so I do usually put the load through 2 times for complete drying. However, I know that is normal for how I use my dryer. When I dry on high heat or on auto dry, I know that typical behavior for my dryer is 1 cycle for complete drying. If you notice that it is taking longer than usual, then have it looked into and be prepared to replace that dryer before a fire. Don’t wait for a reason to replace it, like I typically do.

And, finally, if you smell something burning but do not have smoke accumulation, then investigate quickly! If you have major appliances running, be sure to check those. If you see flames or have smoke accumulating, grab your kids and get out! Let the well-trained staff at the fire department handle the rest.

Being safe works for me. To see what works for others, be sure to check out RocksInMyDryer this week and then we're back to WeAreTHATFamily next week.