The truth of the matter is that I decide to teach my daughter to do ...]]> I’d like to be able to say that I was inspired by LMA’s post about teaching her oldest to do laundry. I’d like to be able to say that I wanted to teach my daughter to do laundry so that I could say that I was raising an responsible adult. I’d even settle for being able to day that I wanted to teach my daughter to do her own laundry in order to lessen my workload.

The truth of the matter is that I decide to teach my daughter to do her own laundry in the hopes of preventing my head from spinning around on the top of my neck. Also, fire shooting from my mouth? Not a good look.

I walked into her bathroom one day to see this.

Her laundry hamper wide open with everything spilling out of it. I could have probably dealt with that except for among the piles I saw many things. I saw a pair of socks that were still rolled up in to the little ball that I put them in. I saw a t-shirt that was still folded exactly as it had been in her basket. I also saw a pair of shorts that I knew had not seen the light of day since the time I washed them a few days ago.

What happened? My head spun around on my neck and fire shot from my mouth, that’s what happened. I know every mother has experienced this. You spend hours doing your family’s laundry. You think your kids are old enough to put the said laundry away by themselves. You realize it might not be placed perfectly folded into the drawers in their rooms once it leaves your control. But hey, that’s just it. You are giving them some of the control and responsibility.

The only problem is that you have a sneaking suspicion that they are not putting everything away. Some of those clean clothes that you lovingly laundered and folded and placed in their baskets, some of those clean clothes are making their way back in to the dirty clothes without a wearing in between. One or two items each week you overlook. You pull them out of the dirty stack and place them back in their basket to be put away.

However, when I happened upon this pile of dirty in her bathroom with obvious clean seasoned it. I flipped. It was not pretty. Hence, the laundry lesson. Here she is putting a load into the washer.

Let me clarify that this was last night after her dance recital. Hence the excessive makeup. I do not let my ten year old walk around with any make up on. Much less the amount required for a recital. You should have seen the looks I got from the other mothers in the restaurant we went to for dinner after the show. The only thing that saved me was the fact that there were a few other families there from the dance studio. So we all had children that looked like miniature ladies of the night with us. At least I was not alone in my judged by stranger moms misery.

Here is the other picture I took of my daugher learning to do her laundry. Obviously her little brother wanted ot be in the photo with her. And, as always, she was the picture of patience and grace.

So, have any of you started teaching your children to do their own laundry since LMA’s post on the subject? This is the perfect time to mention that the entire family’s laundry was my job all through middle school and high school. Each weekend I would spend hours doing everyone’s laundry. I would also do everyone’s ironing. I ironed all the clothes as they were washed, not as they were ready to wear. So everything my entire family owned was ironed and ready to go each week. My dad didn’t even send his business shirts to the cleaners. I did them all. I did get paid though for my efforts. $5 a week. I think child labor laws might kick in these days!

But you know what? I went of to college knowing how to do my own laundry. In fact, I think that is the only reason my brother allowed me come and visit him at college as much as I did my senior year in high school. I would do his laundry and he would introduce me to cute college boys. I think I got the better end of that deal! At least when I was 17 I did!

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It was the best trick ever! We came home with much lighter suitcases and when I got home I didn’t feel the pressure of getting everything unpacked, washed and put away. I ...]]> This is a trick I learned by accident on a trip. We received a gift while we were on a trip. It was a really nice crystal serving piece. How to get it home? We got a big box from the concierge, put the gift in the much larger box and padded it with all of our dirty clothes.

It was the best trick ever! We came home with much lighter suitcases and when I got home I didn’t feel the pressure of getting everything unpacked, washed and put away. I had two days at home to decompress and catch up with my kids. Then the UPS guy showed up with my box of dirty clothes.

We have done this ever since whenever we go on a long trip. We get a box on the first day and put it in the corner of the room. It serves as our laundry hamper while we are there and then we ship home our clothes on the day we leave. Just make sure the box is sturdy! You don’t want the UPS guy to have to pick up your dirty unmentionables!

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When we go on a family vacation, I always take a laundry bag and put all of our dirty clothes in the laundry bag.  When we get home, that bag goes directly to the laundry room to be sorted and washed.  If we are flying and I can’t take a laundry bag, I designate one of the suitcases as the dirty clothes suitcase.  This makes life a little easier when you get back home!

It’s gotten so bad that I have instituted a 3 day rule for pajamas.  My girls ...]]> I have three daughters.  Along with daughters comes drama, tears, hormones and loads and loads of laundry!  I have been battling the laundry ever since I can remember.  My kids throw everything in the laundry basket, whether it is dirty or not.  If they try it on and decide not to wear it, they throw it in the basket.  If they wear it for1 hour and it’s not dirty, they throw it in the basket. 

It’s gotten so bad that I have instituted a 3 day rule for pajamas.  My girls are not allowed to put pajamas in the dirty clothes unless they have worn them 3 nights in a row.  You see, they are too lazy to fold anything and put it back in their drawer.  If they throw it in this cool plastic basket in their closet, a magic fairy comes, washes it, folds it and places it nicely in their drawer.

My oldest will be 11 years old this summer.  The time has come.  She needs to do her own laundry! She is not happy about this.  It is not making her feel grown up.  She is no dummy.  This is a chore and she can smell it a mile away!

I don’t have high expecations about this.  I know this is something that I will have to “teach” her over and over and over again.  She’s not very good at hanging clothes up.  They get all cockeyed on the hanger and she’s especially bad at hanging pants.  But, I know if I want to get more done so I can have more fun that I must raise responsible children.  They must pick up some of the household duties.  They get the pleasure of becoming self-sufficient young ladies and I get the pleasure of watching The Young & Restless uninterrupted. 

Here are some picture from our first laundry lesson:

Who does the laundry at your house?  Do your little darlings participate?  Do you think I am a Lazy Mom for assigning my kids chores or do you think I am raising responsible youngsters?

The hostess asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves.  She also requested that we offer a time-saving tip that we have discovered.  Boy, did this set ...]]> Recently I was invited to a luncheon for a young Mom who is looking at moving to our town for her husband’s job.  The purpose of the luncheon was for her to get to know some other Moms her age and to answer any questions she might have.  It was a fabulous idea.  I wish someone could have done that for me.

The hostess asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves.  She also requested that we offer a time-saving tip that we have discovered.  Boy, did this set off my Lazy Mom alarm!  This is what we are talking about.  Everyone has an inner Lazy Mom.  The tips everyone shared were great and I wanted to share a few with you.

1)  When preparing a “real” meal (as opposed to a frozen meal), double the recipe so you will have another meal in your freezer.

2) When thinking about cleaning your house, take care of the “water” chores first.  That would mean: laundry, kitchen and straightening bathrooms.  If you can stay on top of these, life will be much easier.

3)  Don’t allow your kids under the age of 6 to participate in sports or activities.  One of the Moms stated that she asked her middle-schooler if he remembers playing t-ball or soccer at age 3 and 4.  He had no memory of it.  Why waste your time, money and energy at this young age.  Your time can be better spent with your family at home, instead of in the car.

4)  Have a weekly family meeting to coordinate everyone’s calendars.  This particular Mom uses a wipe off board and loads all of the activities for the week for everyone to see.   This saves time and confusion. 

We have saved you even more time by adding a wipe off calendar to our brand new Lazy Mom’s Store.  Now, you can purchase your favorite Lazy Mom items right here on our site.  Don’t waste time going all over the web.  Do your one stop shopping here! You will find the link to the right of this page.  Simply click on it and follow the directions!

5)  One Mom suggested frozen foods.  She said what is most important to the kids is that you are all around the table.  They don’t really care if you are having french cuisine or french fries!

6) Another great tip was to keep 2 baskets in your laundry room:  one for whites and one for colors.  She taught her kids at a very young age to bring down their dirty clothes and put them in the appropriate basket.  She doesn’t waste time gathering and sorting clothes.  The kids have already taken care of it!  You can purchase this great laundry sorter right here in our Lazy Mom’s Store.  Just click the icon on the right!

7)  This last great tip is a way to get your kids involved.  This family did not believe in paying their kids allowances.  They pay their kids a commision based upon the work they do.  This helps the Lazy Mom because her kids wantto work to earn their money.  They use a bank made by Christian finance guru, Larry Burkett.  This bank has a place for you to deposit money to save, a place to deposit for giving, and a place to deposit fun money.  We have made this bank available in our Lazy Mom’s store.  Check it out!

Keep those Lazy Mom tips coming and don’t forget to embrace your inner Lazy Mom.  We know it’s in there!!!