Dirty Laundry, Part 1

So you thought I was going to air my dirty laundry here? Uh...no...

But I can give you some fresh ideas on how to turn your dirty laundry into clean clothes. This hint is something I've been doing for years, and it seems to fascinate people. A few years ago when we were selling our house, most people got more excited about my laundry system than the house (they saw my buckets).

I have matching plastic trash buckets, each labeled with a laundry load. I used my handy-dandy label maker to make these categories:

• Underwear/socks
• Denim
• Dark
• Light
• Towels/wash cloths
• Hand-wash

You could make more or less categories depending on your preferences.

When my boys were still living at home, they knew that if they wanted their laundry done, it had to be sorted into the buckets by the time they left for school on Monday. They each had their own hamper in their rooms, and brought that hamper to the laundry room to sort their clothes. It only took a little instruction at the beginning, but of course a lot of reminders on Sunday night or Monday morning. The system does work well.

Now that it's just the two of us, I still use this system because I only do laundry once a week. I sort all the laundry from the hampers in the closet, then take each bucket to the washer as I'm ready for it. If you have room to leave the buckets lined up in the laundry room or closet, and you're very disciplined, you could sort the clothing as you take it off. Then wash each load as the bucket gets full.

When not in use, I keep the buckets on a shelf in the laundry room. They can also be stacked, but it's not that easy to get them apart once they have been stacked. I keep a small dish tub on the shelf for dirty dish cloths and towels, so I can wash them in a separate load. You could have one marked for clothes that need to go to the dry cleaner, too.

On the cloth bag we use to take laundry to the dry cleaner, we have attached a laminated card with name, address and laundry instructions: crease sleeves, light starch.

Another good hint: Post a list of washing instructions, either laminated or in a plastic sleeve, above the machine so anyone in your household can put in a load of laundry. For example:

• Towels: Wash in Hot water, Dry on High
• Underwear/sock: Wash in Hot water, Dry on High
• Light clothes: Wash in Cold water, Dry on Delicate

Though he's extraordinary at many things, Dear Hubby's not allowed to touch laundry because his plan for laundry is the same as for cooking: High and Hot! Tomorrow - more about our dirty laundry. Oooh, bet you can't wait.