Need laundry ideas

mstang67chic

Going Green
We run into laundry issues periodically with difficult child. I've shown him for YEARS how to do laundry and he just.....honestly, I don't know WHAT his problem is. He either has the washer set on a full load and washes a shirt and two pair of boxers or he has the thing STUFFED full. There is no inbetween. (Although he HAS done "correct" loads before)

I tell him over and over and over and over again....do a full load BUT a full load only consists of *this* and have a load's worth in a basket to show him. NOTHING I do gets through. One of these days he's going to kill the washer or dryer because of this.

Have any of you come up against this and developed any kind of measuring system that your difficult child or easy child GOT? I've shown him REPEATEDLY what amounts to a proper full load using the same laundry basket each time as a visual. I really don't know if he isn't getting it or if he just doesn't care or if he (as usual) thinks I'm stupid. I quit doing his laundry years ago for a reason and I'm not about to start doing it again.

Help!!!!
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Hand him a rock and a bar of Felz Naptha and point him to the river -

Wash board and a bucket ?

Girlfriend with a fetish for laundry??

All excellent suggestions - None truly logical.


When I got the new machine it actually weighs the clothes (I know ain't I a stinker) and if the laundry detergent would dispurse on it's own with this machine I would be in heaven. I've had the HARDEST time - getting DF to use the COLD water cycle and () much detergent. Dude on the other hand seems to DELIGHT in throwing in 2 pairs of jeans and 3 boxers 3 tshirts and watching it fill up just - _ much and going NEAT....and saying "Well you can't yell at me any more about wasting water." And since it weighs clothes - it also cycles and uses energy effecient wattage accordingly -
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Tell him to use a laundromat?

I don't know... Onyxx and husband are pretty good about this and now Jett is asking how much to use - water, detergent, etc...

Lost, but maybe if he has to PAY for every load...
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Stang, do you have a laundrette near you?
If so, then I would refuse to let difficult child use the machines at home anymore. He can take his laundry to the laundrette and do it there (and perhaps earn the money to pay for the cost of the laundrette himself).

Seriously, if he's not getting it and he's in danger of killing your machines despite repeated instruction, then it seems to me that the natural consequence is that he doesn't get to use the machines anymore.

Buy him a laundry bag and point him at the front door.

If that doesn't work, I like Star's idea of the Naptha, rock and river...

Trinity
 

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
I like the idea of using the laudromat, too--not so much for getting him away from the household machines, but to get him in the habit of thinking about different load sizes. Let's face it, he's not gonna pay for the Triple Loader for only three items (or if he does, he won't waste that much money for too long before he figures out that he could get away with a much smaller machine.) And if he jams everything into one machine, and the colors run or something like that--that's a good lesson, too.

Let him practice at the Laudromat until he gets the hang of it...

--DaisyF
 

susiestar

Roll With It
MY thank you can pull together a proper load of laundry and wash and dry and fold it. He has been doing it for at least a year and he is only NINE!!!

Your son is probably choosing not to "get it" because it isn't a big deal to him.

I vote 210 % that he needs to go to a laundromat. Put a lock on your laundry room door and use it. A key lock! Keys only on your ring and husband's ring.

Mabye give him enough for 3 loads of laundry a week and a box of soap and some dryer sheets to start. But taper off on that cash. He is a legal adult and needs to bear some of these costs himself. Until he has the total responsibility of his clothing he will not "get it".

Of course he can do what my bro did. He rented a house with a hook up for the washer and ran a laundry line in his basement. Now it is in the spare bedroom of his trailer. ALL of his clothes are khaki/beige/dull gray dull green except for some black jeans and blue jeans. His only separating of colors is to not wash the black jeans with anything that a stain would show up on, and for his 1 good white shirt he hand washes it or takes it to my moms and tosses it in a load of her whites. She is OK with it as long as he can wait until she is ready to do a white load.

The only way he will "get it" is to have to get it.
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
I like the laundrymat idea except....he would need transport, I doubt he would earn the money and I have no way of keeping him from my machines. The laundry room is actually a combo laundry room/mud room/back porch with the only other exit outside except for the front door. I can't lock it and I doubt there is any way to disable the machine short of somehow attaching a padlock to the washer/dryer themselves. And telling him no isn't an option because he won't abide by that.

Even if there WAS a way to keep him from using my machines....I can see him hand washing stuff in the kitchen sink or the bath tub and making a huge mess. Yeah I know...then he would have to clean it up. Easier said than done and I could easily see future water damage (at the very least) in that scenario. *sigh*

I never thought I would ever have to lock every day stuff up in my house when I had kids. (at least not beyond normal "keep the baby/toddler safe" type of things) We've even considered locking the frig and/or freezer to keep him from wasting things or gorging himself on stuff that he either didn't need or that I had plans for. It's not a feasible idea though so I limit what I can have in my own home. I really HATE living like this some days.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
Though your difficult child is quite a bit older than Missy, I feel like I will deal with the same thing. I did my own laundry about 10 years old and I've considered teaching Missy how to do laundry, but I know it will end up being way more aggravation than I'm willing to deal with. Hopefully, she'll get it when she's older, but I seriously have my doubts. My dryer melts fleece things and I think she won't pay attention and ruin anything that's fleece. I've already wrecked a few things accidentally.

When I go grocery shopping, she gorges on everything and things disappear so quickly. I have resorted to hiding things and she finds stuff. I have to ration things out and show her that they have to last all week. She doesn't get it.

I honestly have no answers....just a sympathetic ear.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I do have one idea on the laundry soap part.

They now make a product that is a sheet and it is soap, dryer sheet in one. You just use one sheet thingy at a time per load.

I long ago banished bleach in my house when the kids lived here because someone and I never figured out who it was always spilled bleach. So I just never bought any.

Maybe give difficult child his own basket and tell him he can only do laundry when he has one full basket. Give him a white basket and a blue basket. He isnt into good clothes so that should do it. Whites and towels can go into the white basket and all other clothes can go into the blue basket to get washed together. I mean he is a boy...they dont have dainties and delicates. They wear jeans and tee shirts.
 

Andy

Active Member
How big is the laundry basket you are using for the visual? Can you get a smaller basket or tub that when full or overfulling will not overfill the machine?

Get a white one for whites and a dark color one for colored wash. When one of these gets full, he is to do a load of laundry.

Even if it is an utility bucket, if it is the right size, it will help.

For the soap, you can get those small rubbermaid type containers that hold just the right amount of powdered detergent for one wash. He can fill about a half dozen to start with and come back for more when those are used. He has to return an empty one to get a full one.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
I do have one idea on the laundry soap part.

They now make a product that is a sheet and it is soap, dryer sheet in one. You just use one sheet thingy at a time per load.
QUOTE]

Genius! :smug: -

Stang - I asked Dude tonight and he suggested FLASH cards - no joke - he said at the Childrens home they had made flash cards/poster board with like 3 pairs of jeans, 4 tshirts, etc - drew a line etc...then drew a towel and wrote TOWELS - COUNT - MAX 10....pretty good idea. He said a lot of the kids there learned HOW to sort and wash clothes properly this way without asking - Dude has known since he was 9 - and iron
 

nvts

Active Member
Have him wash everything in cold and tell him that he has to wash "outfits", 2 at a time. Two shirts, two t-shirts, two pairs of tighty-whiteys, 2 pairs of jeans and two pairs of socks AND one towel. Anything more than that/less than that results in him losing whatever you can hold over his head. Money, movies, tv, computer, you know.

This method will also give you a better chance of him putting the stuff away as well. If you want, put a "reminder" checklist over the washer (laminate it or put a plastic see through folder over it- otherwise it will "conveniently" fall into the washer) about the "rules of the machines".

Good luck! I do an average of 3 loads a day. I don't know how my grandmother did it - she had 5 kids, herself and my grandfather to clean after and did the laundry by hand...um..uh...up hill...both ways...yeah THAT'S it! ;)

Beth
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
That's not a bad idea about the smaller basket. I may have to try that one. The flash cards aren't bad either....if he pays attention to it. LOL (Thanks Dude!)

As for holding anything over his head....he doesn't use the computer, any money we give him is normally something he's worked for, he does have a cell phone but he hardly uses it.....he really has nothing to hold over him. He's destroyed, lost, traded or "loaned" to a friend, anything of any value or interest. Matter of fact, he's currently mad at me because he needs a belt and I won't buy him one. I told him the last time I bought him one that if he destroyed it, it would be the VERY LAST one I bought. Guess what? I bought the belt and within FOUR days (and I'm being generous there) he had cut it up and turned it into a bracelet. Oh wait...my mistake. It BROKE. Cleanly with a nice straight tear at a spot that was conveniently the exact size for him to wear as a bracelet. :slap:


Ugh...sorry...today has NOT been a good day with him and I'm fed up. I could easily go on and on and hijack my own thread so I think I may just start a new one in General! LOL

Thanks for the ideas!
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Knock on wood...Miss KT actually got the "full load" idea quickly. I wish I knew what I said to make my point, so I could pass it on to you. I knew that if I didn't make myself clear to her, she'd be running the machine for her favorite undies and nothing else. She also caught on to the rule of "no dryer when the clothesline is up." Again, I don't know what I said. I'll ask her when she gets home from seeing "Evita" with the boyfriend and his best friend. I think they know someone who's performing.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I tihnk the flash card idea is brilliant. Also getting the laundry baskets of a size that if he crams them they still won't overtax the machines. I drove my mother CRAZY for many years. I use garbage cans - the indoor ones - for laundry baskets. I have baskets too, but for the bedrooms I put 3 of the indoor kitchen garbage cans (new - never used for trash) next to each other. The white was for white, the dark green was for darks and the inbetween color was for mediums. My mom could'nt understand why I didn't just have one basket and sort it out as I needed it. She also couldn't get over the idea that they were for trash. But they made one size that was perfect. husband is a crammer and even as full as he could stuff it this size meant the washer/dryer were not overtaxed.

If you use the smaller baskets and the flashcards you may have some success. If you plan on having hiim move out it might be enough to hold you until he is on his own.
 
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