Thursday, November 8, 2012

Nuts and Bolts {Part 1}

Yesterday I received this comment on our blog:

Julia wrote:

I really like hearing about the nuts-n-bolts of how you do it. Do you have a system for "semi-clean" clothes? In our house, the clothes that can be washed again are draped on a chair- where they stay for a long time. Do you just wash everything after even a "minor" wear, or do you have a place for these clothes (without putting them back in the drawer? Also, how do you motivate kids to actually do their part with household chores? It's not that our kids are refusing- they are just "head in the clouds" kids, and it takes SO MUCH effort on my part to nag, remind, cajole, etc. for them to get stuff done.


I'd also like to hear the nuts-n-bolts about how you have housed everyone- did you move, add-on, or what? How have you decided how to put what kids in what rooms, with whom?

 

This gave me the idea to answer Julia’s questions in a blog post…or two…or three. :-)

 

Today I’ll address the first question:

Do you have a system for "semi-clean" clothes? In our house, the clothes that can be washed again are draped on a chair- where they stay for a long time. Do you just wash everything after even a "minor" wear, or do you have a place for these clothes (without putting them back in the drawer?

 

Regarding “semi-clean” clothes, there’s really no such thing in our house, even if a person only wore it for a few minutes.  If they came out of their room in it, it’s most likely dirty. :-)  Our clothes are pretty much covered in snot, spit up, saliva, dirty handprints, smeared food, dog prints, and sometimes even horse manure!!!  So, you can see why all articles of clothing go into the washer, regardless of how long someone wore it. 

 

If I lived in another country without electricity, a power washing machine, and a clothes dryer, I know I’d feel differently.  I’d probably spot clean the clothes.  I’ve visited enough countries to know that while outside the US, I wear my clothes as many times as possible before washing because washing in a foreign country pretty much means filling the bathtub with water, stomping around on the clothes while they soak in a tub of suds, wringing clothes one by one by hand (takes FOREVER!), then finding places to hang them to dry.  A real pain, especially for a spoiled American!  I probably wouldn’t let me kids get as dirty as they do here on the ranch, just to save laundry loads.  Or maybe I’d just let them wear really dirty clothing over and over again and not even care. :-)

 

Sometimes at our house, when someone wears really nice clothing (fancy dress or something that requires dry cleaning), and we KNOW it’s still clean (most likely because the person walked straight to the vehicle and wasn’t around the littles or the pets!), that item may be hung back in the closet for future wearing without being cleaned first.  That’s a rare occurrence though.

 

I think if we had “semi-clean” clothes that we were willing to wear again, we’d probably just put them back in the drawers/closets.  If they’re clean enough to wear again, they’re clean enough to put away.  Or maybe we’d require the semi-clean clothes to be worn the following day until they’re nice and dirty. :-)  I don’t think I’d like semi-clean clothes draped over chairs where they sit for a long time, so I’d suggest either putting them away with the rest of the clothes or enforcing a rule to wear those clothes the following day, or just laundering them.  Many times I ask myself the Dr. Phil question, “How’s that workin’ for ya?”  If it’s not working, I change it.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Stay tuned for more Silly Songs with Larry…oh, I mean, more Nuts and Bolts with Lorraine.  See ya next time!

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