I was putting the millionth load of laundry in the washer yesterday and you know what I was thinking? Nothing. It just hit me that I am now so used to some of the mountainous tasks that come with a large family that I did not even think of it. They do not seem mountainous any more. Just a part of life. The same goes for dishes. We are one of those few odd families who does (or is it do?) not have a dishwasher. Well, we do but it broke down about three years ago so now it just sits taking up space in our kitchen until we figure out how to unhook it to throw it away. It is one appliance that will not be replaced even with a bigger better model.
Anyway, I was thinking about what has changed about those particular chores that made them less mountainous. We do a few things different. Let me think...there is one person assigned laundry room duties for the week. The chore is done three times a day which means a guaranteed load of laundry washed,dried ,and put away each time they do the chore. I also made it a habit to flip laundry through out the day as I walk by the washer. Not bad. There can be a back up when our dryer decides to take a few cycles to actually dry the clothes but catch up is just a few loads away when that happens.
As far as the kitchen/dish duties. Once again a child has the kitchen chore for a whole week. The chore is done three times a day by the child including towel drying ...gasp...Jeff and I do the in-between chore stuff.I think the key to the dishes not being so overwhelming is when the children are excused from the table after eating they each do their own plate,cup,and utensils.That takes care of most of the plates,cups etc...not bad.The dish doer just needs to do what it left over.
I do not know how these particular chores fell into place but they did. Of course, our house is far far from what I would consider clean but these particular areas I remember to be so overwhelming last year and now they work rather smoothly. This is a nice random thought.
Another random thing...
Look at this cute Pebbles and Bam-Bam fabric book I found! I was pretty pleased.
Tina,
ReplyDeleteAh! A kindred, no dishwasher, friend! I love the idea of each child washing their own dishes. And, with so many children, this is truly not overwhelming to the one who has the duty all week, I imagine. And laundry...well...since we have only 7 people currently in the family, I certainly don't complain! Are your washer and dryer on the main floor? Do you have that one child fold and put away all the laundry all week or each person fold and put away their own? Does that get a little difficult when the undergarments start to change for the girls? I just love these practical posts that I can learn so much from! Thanks!