Category Archives: housekeeping

housekeeping, laundry, Organization

A Laundry System that Works!

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I love this little cartoon I found last year, a little humor before we start talking Laundry Systems:

Are you or your children allergic to laundry?  Do you dread when it’s laundry day?  or is laundry day every day at your home?  Well I have the remedy for your agony!  Once you use my laundry system, adapted from my dear friend Stephanie, you are going to never think laundry is a chore…you will embrace it!

Here are some easy steps to help you get started:

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

1.  CLOTHING:  Make sure that each person/child has about 12 to 14 outfits to their name.  This does not include under clothing and socks, just outfits.  For underclothing and socks, I’d recommend a little more than the number of outfits just in case, especially when potty training.  😉  Also, make sure that your child has their drawers organized and easy to find where everything goes.  If need-be, give them a tour of their drawers and where their hangers are so that putting clothing away is easy-peasy!

2.  BASKETS: Get one laundry basket per person, if you want, you can color code them or do like I did, I bought two rounds for the smaller children and three squares for the bigger ones.  I avoided the rectangular shapes ones because of the small space I have for each basket.  You could also label each basket with your child’s name.  My husband and I share a basket and this is the only one that I actually sort anymore…we share only because we don’t have the space to have two baskets in there.

ALSO, I have TWO more baskets in the bathroom closet one for towels and another for linens.  These are my old rectangular laundry baskets, by the way.  So in my case, a family with five kids, we have 5 kid baskets + 2 linen/towel baskets +1 parent basket = 8 baskets.  Notice, you are already sorted out the laundry this way!  😉

Here are some choices of baskets that aren’t so bulky but hold the same amount of clothing as a larger rectangular basket:

I have three of these for the bigger children.
I have two of these for the smaller children.

When my first kids where smaller, I had these as laundry baskets and while they are super cute and you can color coordinate with your kids room, I honestly hated them and got rid of them when I implemented this system, so I don’t recommend them.  BUT if you can’t purchase new baskets and these are the ones you have, don’t let this stop you from reading on.:

3.  LAUNDRY ROOM:  Have a “catch-all” basket in your laundry room, especially if it’s on the first floor and your kids’ rooms are on a second, or vice-versa.  I really like this one (the one I have has only two compartments) but you can just have a general one…here is where I place my kitchen towels, etc.:

Also, make sure you add all the items you use for your laundry room on your grocery shopping list.  This will remind you to check before leaving to the store and always have items in stock.  🙂

THE SYSTEM

1.  SORTING:   Since each child has his/her own laundry basket the clothing is already sorted.  My kids have a bad habit of turning their clothing inside out when they take it off.  If they do this, they stand next to me and flip them back out and they also get a lesson in putting the clothing in the wash.  Trust me, once you get them to do this often enough, they start remembering to turn the clothing the right side the next time the change.


2.  ROTATIONS:  You have to ways of doing this.
     A) once a basket is full, the child (if able to do so) brings his/her basket to the laundry room to get it washed OR like I do,
     B) have an assigned day to wash per person.  So here’s our rotations:

Mondays:  Dad and Mom
Tuesdays: Child 1
Wednesdays: Child 2
Thursdays: Child 3
Fridays: Child 4
Saturdays: Child 5
Sundays: NO LAUNDRY, it’s the Lord’s day!  😉

Using this rotation, you will do laundry every two weeks or so.  🙂  So in essence when you look at a two week (14 days) time period, you have six days of laundry (if you have as many kids as I do) and eight days off without laundry!  If you have less kids then you have less time between laundry days!  If you have more kids than we do, I’d double up on kids so child 1 and 2 on Mondays, child 3 and 4 on Tuesdays…ect.  OR if you want to have less laundry days do this as well.  When I know we are going to have a busy week and it’s time for laundry, I double or triple up.

We don’t sort whites and darks, we wash the kids clothing all together….about every 2-3 months, I do grab underclothing and socks that might need bleaching and do sort but I don’t do this every laundry cycle.

3.  FOLDING & PUTTING AWAY:  The key for this system to work is that you fold the clothing as they come out of the dryer.  Sometimes we have an errand to run and I have to tumble the clothing for about 10 minutes to de-wrinkle them.  I fold and put back in their assigned basket.  Each kid (if of age and able to) helps fold and take their own baskets back up.  Some with supervision, I get them to put their clothing away on their own.  🙂  When folding stack all the pants together, all the shirts together, etc. so that when you or your child puts the clothing away everything is sorted and organized to easily put away.  Then grab the basket and put it so that they have it back in the designated location.  If they changed clothing while their basket was gone, I have them put the clothing on the floor where the basket is normally placed so that when returned, they just put it in the basket.

4. SPACE:  If you have space issues and one basket per person is a pain to your ears, this is my solution for you:





Tips on pesty lost socks: Teach your kids to put socks one inside the other when they take them off, this keeps them from getting lost.  Also, don’t buy the same style for all the boys or all the girls if they are different sizes, this makes putting socks back together a pain!

Once I started using this system, I really didn’t hate doing laundry!   Also remember every toilet scrubbed with love gets us an inch closer to Heaven! (includes tantrums and gentle guidance towards little people that test our motherly patience as well, lol)…Todd calls it the PASS technique = Purgatory Avoidance Suffering System!

Here are other systems that I have seen that worked too:
1.  A Laundry System for Large Families…and small ones too!  (Liz and I were trained by Stephanie, a mom to 6)
2. I love doing the laundry, really!
3.  A Laundry System that Works!
4.  Finding a Laundry System That Works for You
5.  Home Organizing Tip #3: The Laundry

Have you learned to tame the laundry monster?  Tell me how you did it and if you blogged about it, please leave a comment with a link!

Thanks for stopping by!  Remember organization + clean = peace!

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canning, eco-friendly, homesteading, housekeeping

Eco-friendly Housekeeping with Mama Kim

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Want to learn how to make your own cleaning agents that are eco-friendly as well as kid friendly?  Want to learn how to do more home made things like canning fruits and veggies?  I do!  That is why we’ve invited Mama Kim to join us!

We are going to have a new contributor…she is going to blog about Homesteading, eco-friendly cleaning agents, canning…and lots more!  Can’t wait to introduce her to you all!  Coming soon….

Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn to do but just didn’t know how or want to see how others do it?  Please leave a comment here to start giving Kim some ideas of things you’d love for her to blog about!  🙂

Blessings,
Mama Erika

Raising & Teaching Little Saints 
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Domestic Church, homeschooling, housekeeping, Organization

Getting Over the Free-Range Chicken Syndrome (Part II)

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In case you missed Part I, here it is.

Here are a few things we have been doing in the past two years in order to address these Mother Hen needs.

First, I scheduled a wake up time. If they were tired in the morning, that only meant they would appreciate their bed time a lot more. After a few days of waking up at the same time, they adjusted nicely.
Second, The Little Way Chore Chart was born! A system built around St. Therese of Lisieux’s Little Way. A chore chart that teaches self-motivated industry, love for others, accountability, diligence and humility at the same time that it teaches them to run a house efficiently. It also teaches them the value of things. They earn tickets to cash in for different rewards either for themselves or to gift to their siblings. They can see immediate repercussions on the family if they miss a chore or do it poorly. They can also see their progress through the week right on the chart. (We’ll add a separate post that goes in to the details of the chart and the files themselves in case you would like a copy of it.) It includes grooming, house chores, prayers, chores which relate directly to other family members, school work, and bonus stars for helping mommy and doing things with a good attitude. It is very simple and they keep track of their own progress. This also develops a sense of honesty and honor.

The third thing I did was create a target daily time-line; target being the operative word. In home schooling, life happens while you are living it. Because you are not in the car dropping them off here and there, there are lots of opportunities for spills, falls, fights and other non –scheduled events. That is why it is a target and not set in stone. Target Daily Time-line

The target time line allows us to move forward on our day in segments divided by prayers. We start with the rosary at 7:30 am and work our way through the different time blocks of the morning. The afternoon starts with the Angelus at noon and the school day ends with Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:00ish. Then we move through the late afternoon until we get to the Angelus at 6:00pm which marks the beginning of our evening block. This block ends with prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication, then a session of good night kisses and the day is done. This target daily time-line gives the children a clear view of what the day looks like. I have one for each day of the week and include extracurricular activities on each day as they are scheduled. Here is what it looks like: )

The fourth and last great change we made was the institution of uniforms for school days. Yep, you read it right, uniforms. This year I decided that the fashion show was highly overrated. I had also not had my laundry epiphany yet so the less laundry I had to do, the happier everyone at home would be. Now, getting dressed in the morning is joyful and efficient. There is no more looking for shoes to match or the other sock that goes with that outfit. No need to change from the dress to the shorts before going out to play. I don’t even care if they get grass stains or paint drips or holes in their pants. These are their uniforms and they were instituted for that purpose. It is carefree attire to be worn all day, no matter what the circumstances and I LOVE IT!
So in short, I have found freedom in structure. I have found peace in schedules. I have found growth in training my will to stick to this new way of home schooling so I can train my children’s wills. I have found that even with all the planning we do and all the scheduling we do, there are those days, sometimes weeks, that are just impossible and everything falls apart. However, I have also found that because I now have a plan, a solid base to go back to, it is a lot easier to get it all back in order and start over.
So the Ortiz Free Range Chicken Home School, is now measured and structured and we have more freedom to do the things we want to do because all the things we have to do have already been done. All with God’s grace, always!!
God bless,

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Domestic Church, housekeeping, Organization

Getting Over the Free-Range Chicken Syndrome (Part I)

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For me, home schooling was about pride for a long time. We were going to do everything differently from schooled children, every day, and all the time. There was no way I was going to teach my children like school systems teach or keep such a tight schedule. We will school in our pajamas and we will wake up when our body is ready to wake up! We will go on field trips at least once a week! We will do arts and crafts every day! Free range chickens vs. those chickens in those super crowded, mega sized coups. We are free range chickens!!! At least we were until I realized that we are not.

The Ortizes have needs that free range chickens don’t have. By the Ortizes, I mean the mother hen (the rooster kinda goes with the flow most of the time when it comes to home schooling issues. He mostly steps in to discipline when called upon by a frantic mother hen). Two years ago I gave in and took another look at my Free-Range Chicken Philosophy. Even though we were getting all our schoolwork done, there was an overall feeling of chaos throughout the day. From meal planning to lesson planning to crisis management, it was all improvised.

Realizing I have three girls who changed outfits at least three times every day and, later, a son that actually required changing outfits at least three times a day forced me take another look at the Freedom of Attire Policy in our home. Having four children wake up at different times of the day meant they would get hungry at different times of the day so the Letting Your Body Wake Up When It Is Ready Policy started losing popularity. We were struggling with diligence and willingness (with a good attitude) so the Get Your Chores Done Any Time Before Bedtime Policy got sent to editing. Spending one whole day out of the house every week started to mean spending one whole day packing and preparing for the next day, so the One Fieldtrip a Week Policy got in line for the axe.

At about the same time, a dear friend kept saying that we must train our children’s will so that they don’t have the same internal struggles that we do. Another friend, kept mentioning the importance of actually being at home. I tended to agree with all they were saying and yet, it just did not occur to me that these were essential for a joyful home schooling environment in my Free-Range Chicken world. Then one day, it did and the idea of a big modified and highly efficient coup for my free range chicks started to grow on me.
I started looking at what other people were doing in their homes. Two of my closest friends, Mimi and Christine, had just come home from FPEA with Accountable Kids’ chore tabs which the children switched from one wooden peg to another as they completed them. I thought they were amazing! Another friend, Theresa, had passed out a list of age appropriate chores at one of our mom meetings. I was awed by what she proposed little ones could and would do.
At our Little Flower’s meetings lead by the most awesomest ( yes, that is a world if you really mean it) LF leader on earth (yes, you are Jenny) the kids were learning about self-motivated industry, humility, love of neighbor, love of God and many other great virtues. The wheels started turning in my head: How can I implement all these great things without sending my free-range chickens into shock?
Tabs would never work in our home because I have seen what they do with the loose parts of toys and games. (I mostly find that they don’t survive the washer and dryer.) I had a lot of questions desperately needing answers, like:
  • What to do about all those outfits the girls seem to need to change into every day?
  • How does one train a will exactly?
  • How do I get them to want to do the things that I have to repeat thirty times a day everyday like it was the first time I said it to them? (Yeah, because Catholic home schooling moms never yell and never lose their patience…when strangers are watching!)
  • How do I reinforce everything they are learning at Little Flowers at home, constantly?

I am a definite visual learner and suffer from very acute CIADD (Child Induced Attention Deficit Disorder) so if I was to stick to a new plan, it needed to be on paper, a big colorful paper…..

[Stay tuned for Part II of Getting Over the Free-Range Chicken Syndrome….]

In the meantime, did you have an epiphany about the need for an organized Domestic Church/Homeschool? If so, what triggered it for you? (just don’t tell us what you did just yet – save that lovely comment for Part Deux of this post)…come on, don’t be shy!

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Cristina, housekeeping, laundry

I love doing the laundry, really!

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I love doing the laundry, really!

For as long as I can remember, I have hated, yes hated, laundry. When I was a child, growing up in Costa Rica, my mother would make us fold and put away all our clothes. The laundry basket would sit in my room for days just staring at me. When I left for college, the dirty clothes would overflow from my hamper and start filling in the base of what would soon become a mountain of clothes in my room. I used to tell myself that when I got married and had kids I would do the laundry in a timely fashion. Until then, well, there was just no need and definitely no will power allotted to the task.

The time came when I did marry and soon enough had my first child. That awful feeling towards laundry did not go away, not even for the love of my child. It was still something I despised and left until the last possible moment. There were always piles of clean clothes on the couch in our apartment. The background of most of our pictures at home has laundry baskets or laundry stacks on the furniture! It wasn’t just washing and drying but putting all that stuff away…UUGHH! Three kids later, I still had no love for laundry. What a chore!!! Why do we have to do laundry? Why can’t everyone just wear the same outfit every day so I can wash once a week, one load? What?! They did it for centuries and things were dirtier back then. OK fine, that would never fly, especially for homeschoolers. HRS would be knocking at our doors for child neglect or something. Anyhow, all of a sudden, I find myself looking forward to laundry days and really enjoying it every step of the way. What brought about this HUGE change of heart?

Recently, I found myself lacking in the prayer department, specifically for my husband and my children’s vocations, their hearts, their character. Our faith is a journey and as walk towards the cross, I find the hidden voids in my heart and begin to work so they are soon filled with things of God. But, with four kids 9 and under, homeschooling, moving twice in two years, packing, unpacking, nursing, changing diapers, keeping a house, keeping a home, constantly doing the ever dreaded laundry, when was I really going to add more time for prayers? I have been asking God for 8 day weeks for quite some time and all I get back is wake up earlier and time manage better. So I embarked on a mission: make my days so efficient that I won’t need that 8th day He keeps neglecting to give me.

This last October we started homeschooling for the 2010-2011 year. (We are a month behind the regular school year because we moved in September.) We set up new chores for the children, new target time lines for every day. I even started getting up earlier so that I could fit everything that needed to get done in my scheduled piece of paper. When the children saw their new chores and schedules, there was some grumbling and mumbling. And so I began, “Girls, when we do something for the family, we show each other how much we love each other. In doing for each other, we grow as a family.

We must see, in all that we do, the opportunity to show God how grateful we are for each and every member of our family.” I continued with the example of myself and my lack of passion for laundry, “for example, when I do the laundry, I take the opportunity to think about you every time I fold one of your pieces of clothing. Every shirt is a prayer, every roll of socks is a memory, every piece is an opportunity for me to thank God for you, because I am so grateful for you.” Yes, there were tears from my super emotional 9 year old and an attempt at tears from my not so emotional 7 year old. However, it hit me like a ton of bricks!!! I don’t know if it did anything for them but for me, my little speech was life changing. So God opened my eyes to the fact that all that extra time I had been wanting to get from Him, he had already given to me. Because I have so much laundry to do for my “large” family I have all that time to pray! For so long my prayer for extra time had been answered and I was just misusing it.

I love doing the laundry now. I actually look forward to laundry days and my little sessions with God. With every piece I fold and stack, I have the opportunity to say a prayer for the child that wears it. I pray in thanksgiving for their place in my heart. I pray for their vocations. I pray for their souls, their health, their gifts, their trials, their triumphs. I pray and pray and pray as I fold and fold and fold. It is my time alone with God in the chaos of my life with little children. I also find a lot of time to pray for my husband while I am folding his laundry. I pray for his soul, for endurance, for wisdom in leading our family. I pray in thanksgiving for his promise to love me no matter what.

Just this week, my husband was sitting next to me as I folded (no, not helping) and he caught me kissing my 7 year old’s pants that I had just folded. He looked at me and before he could say a word I told him, “I kiss their clothes sometimes so they can wear my kisses all day long. Besides, I just remembered something great she did today and I just had to kiss her.” Yeap, the task that I have hated for as long as I can remember is now my favorite chore because it brings me closer to God and it gives me the opportunity to think about each and every one of my family members individually and be grateful.

I know it is a leap to say that everyone will enjoy their laundry if they just change their focus. But like I said, faith is a journey and we are all at a different place in our walk towards the cross. We are ready for the next step at different times in our lives. This step, this extra time of prayer, came at a time when I needed it most. And like my laundry, anyone can turn their most difficult task into a work of love and find so much joy in the sacrifice that it ceases to be a sacrifice.

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home, housekeeping

Drowning in Laundry?

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So, as a family of six I felt (a couple of months ago) that I was drowning in laundry! When laundry day came, I wanted to run away as fast as I could! When I found myself doing laundry and about six months pregnant with number five – I freaked! So I did what a good mommy and housewife would do, first, I panicked, second I called for help from the “veterans” AKA mom friends with more kids than I!

To the rescue comes my friend Stephanie (mommy of SIX)! She taught me a system that works like a charm. I’ve been wanting to blog about her system since the first day she told me about it but I thought I’d give it a couple of months to try it out and see how it worked for me – it’s simply amazing! Then another friend of ours (Blogging Mama Liz) reported that she posted something on her blog about it a couple of weeks ago, so here it is: Stephanie’s Laundry System (for BIG, and not so big, families)! Thanks, Liz!

In my quest for a cool picture for this post, I found this cartoon about “the laundry monster” and I wanted to share it (oh how things change, lol):

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