Carers Hints and tips to Success

[Former-Member]

Reducing unnecessary work aka "working smarter" can help make life easier for us. 

Often simple changes like placing items where they are generally used can make a difference.

Couple of examples with laundry.

Are dirty clothes being taken to  the basket in the laundry or bathroom? If they are not, having appropriately placed baskets in bedrooms can equate to them being utilised and can reduce washday stresses and help enforce boundary that only items placed in receptacles provided will be laundered.

Pre-sort systems can also work well. After Mr Darcy ended up with pink work shirts after not washing a new red towel separately we put 3 sorting containers in laundry, one for socks and jocks (which we  washed with towels), another for work shirts and the other for anything else. It worked for us and no more pink shirts 😀.

[Former-Member]

@mambofish 

You might pick up some tips from this discussion.

[Former-Member]

@Newbie 

You might pick.up some hints in this thread.

[Former-Member]

[Former-Member]

[Faith-and-Hope]

Hahaha @Former-Member, I put a variety of sorting baskets into my laundry pretty quickly after having three kids under 2yo ..... major sanity preserver there.

The basics were four baskets - whites, coloureds, darks, reds (no pink shirts here either).  On top of that I had a kitchen-laundry basket, a towels / hand towels / bath mats and face washers basket, and a sheets washbasket (with a second set for each bed, as for towels).  

They each had a dirty laundry basket in their own room (generally obstinately unused) and one in the bathroom where they had to pick up their clothes because I would ignore them until they were in the basket, which I would sort to the laundry ones.

Once it became four kids under 7yo, then five kids under 10yo, this system always stood me in good stead.

So did having a table or benchtops in the laundry where I could fold everyone’s washing straight from the line into their own clean washing baskets (laid out in order), with ironed items (last thing off the line and under the iron on their way in the door) hanging on a rack over the laundry door.

My part worked like a charm ..... getting the kids to take their laundry to their room was harder, so I started to place their clean laundry on the table in their place setting, and set the table around this.  Ironed clothes on coat hangers were draped over the back of their chair.  When they came to eat, they had to take their clean washing to their room and put it away first.  It showed them that the task of putting them away only took a minute, although they wouldn’t admit it at the time.

They fought the system as kids, but use it themselves as adults.

[Former-Member]

@Faith-and-Hope clean laundry on the table in kids place setting = pure genius 😀😀😀

[Faith-and-Hope]

Heehee @Former-Member ..... I think in systems, with a strong problem-solving drive ..... the household wasn’t spiffy-clean, but it wasn’t owing to the systems ..... 👍

Everything has gone awash now though.  

Mr took over the household systems in general when he tipped into mid-life crisis mode, and upended everything in his way to establishing the regimen and systems he uses for himself.  Everything else is semi-workable around him, but with adult kids, and households in two states in support of that, and flinging ourselves endlessly between them, it has become catch-as-catch-can.  

I try to keep a state of peace and tidiness in my immediate vicinity, and create a trail of order wherever I go, as does D2 generally-but-sometimes-not.  Chaos caves in around and behind us though as the other three are not holding much in place beyond meeting their immediate needs.

Tips to ordily-ness habits:

Fold anything that can be folded before outing it down.

Pile anything that can be piled, and straighten the pile - especially paperwork, magazines etc.

Bin rubbish immediately, especially unwanted receipts and envelopes from opened mail.

Hang anything that can be hung - jackets neatly over backs of chairs, towels on hooks, door handles, kitchen cupboard handles, anywhere that gets them off the floor and bench tops.

Kepp tidy-up baskets where clutter accumulates.  Just keep picking it up and putting it in tidy-up baskets and clean and tidy around that, to try to keep the standard and show everyone what clean and tidy looks and feels like.

Make your own bed every day, and straighten lounge cushions.

Keep the sink clear, or dirty dishes neatly stacked with sink and bench tops cleaned around them, and perhaps a tea towel draped over them, until they can be seen to ..... or even better, run hot soapy water into the sink and soak them till ready to wash up.

F&H golden rules ^^^

[Former-Member]

Lived in > sterile (in my view) @Faith-and-Hope . 

[Faith-and-Hope]

Lived-in is comfortable for me @Former-Member .....

In-laws standard is clinical/sterile/showcase ..... with judgements and snippy comments attached.

Our current state is cyclone-aftermath/burgled ?