Thank you to Best Buy for sponsoring this timely post!  The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free

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Having 5 kids in the house means we have a lot of laundry and over the years we have had some success in keeping it under control. It can though be so easy to end up with a mountain of laundry and get behind. A number of times we have had to do laundry mat emergency trips just to get it all done and have a fresh start! Moving to a new house means figuring out just the best way that will work for laundry here. Each situation and house is different! If you are getting overwhelmed, now is the time to change things up!

When I end up at the laundry mat, things have gone very wrong!

   Tips for managing laundry with a large family!

Organize laundry in each room! – For some families this means that each child brings their dirty laundry to the laundry room each day. For others, they all gather it in laundry hampers in their bathrooms, and for others it means hampers in their rooms! One thing is for sure, you need a plan and everyone needs to know what it is! In our new house as the laundry is in the basement rather than having little kids going up and down those back basement stairs (not a safe thing for the toddler who wants to do what everyone else does) our oldest daughter using her adulting skills wants us all to try the laundry baskets in the bathroom plan! It is tried and true for many large families!

Down Size Laundry! – Many kids means that some kids get hand me downs! This can mean younger kids get more and more clothing of old and new and their clothing collection grows to be out of control. Figure out how many outfits you think each child needs and then down size with them to the ones they love the most and donate the rest of store in bins for younger kids. Remember to only keep the best things. Play cloths will happen naturally. Space is often limited with large families and so that is something to consider. A very cool thing we have seen in before is some families have color days. Mondays, everyone has a red outfit, and on Tuesdays a green one, and so on. This isn’t something possible for everyone but it is to give you an idea of what kinds of themes you could go with to help you down size. One of the great things for us is that the kids all seem to have favorite colors, this saves time when organizing and putting clothing away. Of course this past year every single one of our kids changed their favorite colors. Never has this happened in the same year for us before! Chaos I tell you! It does though let us down size.

Save Money & Save the Planet – One of the biggest issues with perfecting laundry for a large family is the cost of clothing and cleaning! I thought everyone knew this already but it is worth mentioning, ENERGY STAR® appliances are worth every penny. Best Buy is working to educate the public about the benefits of ENERGY STAR technology and their wide assortment of sustainable products. While our old dryer is going strong, our washer needs replacing! The only option in my opinion that we will consider are ENERGY STAR appliances. We have a big environmental footprint given we are a big family but we can make is smaller and we do try to. This is easy! ENERGY STAR is better for the environment, your wallet, and your clothing! Washers  and dryers are 25 percent and 20 percent more efficient, respectively, than standard models. That means if you have 4 kids, it is like using the energy to do just the laundry for 3 kids, the 4th is bonus cleaned! With the ENERGY STAR Dryers being 20% more efficient I know we will go with one of those when our Dryer meets the end of it’s long dedicated life to us. Simply put, cloths have longer lives as the new technology sensors in these new dryers know when the clothing is dry and so they don’t keep tumbling, the save you energy, and they save the life of clothing too!

  Reasons why I am buying an ENERGY STAR Washing maching at Best Buy:

– Easier on clothing so clothing lasts longer!

– Saves on water, this is great for my budget and the environment! 33,000 gallons of water actually!

– Saves on Electricity and that is great for my budget and the environment! Almost $500 over the life of the Washer!

– New technology means top loaders are redesigned, use less water and are great for clothing.

– You’re A Laundry Star When You Buy ENERGY STAR®

Find all the latest and greatest ENERGY STAR Washers and Dryers at Best Buy.

Laundry Routine – Once upon a time before children husband and I could get away with doing laundry only on weekends. Goodness it is hard to even remember those days. Now though laundry needs to be daily or every other day. You need to make sure you have a plan, this is key. Make sure you know when this chore will be done each day and by whom. Kids can do laundry! Teach them well and you will have few worries. However if you love clothing then this might be something you want to do yourself, but they can still help! Have young children help by making sure laundry gets to the laundry room and then have them empty pockets. They can help you sort depending on your laundry style too. They can move laundry from the washer to the dryer and of course they can sort, fold, hang, and put away laundry! The plan is the most important part!

  Wishing you (and me!) the best of luck perfecting your laundry for your large family! Do you have a tip you would like to share?