The Leaning Tower of Laundry, OH MY!

With a house of 7 you can image that the laundry is out of control. It would be one thing if we just had a pair of day clothes and pjs going into the wash at the end of the day, but no. We have four girls which means ward robe changes through out the day and a son who seems to find dirt no matter what the daily activity is.
To top it off laundry is my LEAST favorite chore. My husband and I finally had it with the 3 loads a day, 7 days a week. What were we going to do? If we weren't spending every waking hour folding clothes we sure were going broke in a hurry with the purchasing of laundry soaps. We could not even get away with the cheaper brands because my newest daughter (10wks old) is very allergic to anything other then the draft.
So as my husband does, he hoped on the internet to find a solution.
Here is what we came up with:

one basket for each of ya!

We got each of the kids their own laundry basket. They were allowed to decorate them any way they wanted as long as their names were visible. This helped them get excited about laundry believe it or not. Then each child got assigned a day (Levi my 2 1/2 year old gets a day with a helper) That child gets to do their own laundry from start to finish and its there day so if it takes them morning to night to get it done, then so be it!  I help the younger kids with the soap portion but so far they have been able to handle the chore very well. They also came to the conclusion that it was no fun to rewash clothes over and over that were not being worn. The fact that once it went into the basket it was stuck there tell laundry day also helped because they did not want to run out of clothes. ;) smart thinking huh?

This not only helps the kids learn responsibility but it helps me not go completely nuts. The fact that the kids are now doing their own laundry means that I can get away with doing my husband's, 2mo old daughter's and my clothes maybe twice a week? Which makes me a oh so very happy mommy.