too many kids in the bathtub: The Family Closet- In Our New Home

In our previous home we had a very awkward laundry set up. Our laundry room was a very long and in our garage. We originally used it as a storage area along with a laundry room. This house was our first time we lived in a two story home. And I found that we ?spent so much time hauling baskets of laundry up and down the stairs. And more often than not, we would have to end up rewashing perfectly clean laundry because it had been left in the baskets and then taken out.?

That's when we decided to make a change. We had known of the family closet idea for years. But I never really thought that it was something that would work for us.

Until...

I tried it!!!! ?

You can see what our old family closet looked like in our old home?HERE

Once I implemented this new system, I could not ever imagine going back. ?So when we decided to move to the country and started looking at houses, a room for a family closet was a big one on our list.?

So when the Lord brought us to this house, we were amazed at the possibilities. ?Our home is very different from other homes. Different in the "not-so-normal" sense. There is NOTHING normal about our home! :)

In this home, the family closet is upstairs, along with a washer and dryer connection in what we turned into the playroom. I couldn't justify putting my clothes and my husband's clothes upstairs, so we decided to make the family closet upstairs for the children. And then my husband and I would have our own family closet in our room since we had another washer and dryer connection in the master closet. Because the setup is so different in this home, I had to be creative with how to to make it all work.

Here is the playroom. And laundry center. In this room we have all of the toys. Our children's rooms are just for sleeping. So all of the toys live in this room. We also keep the laundry baskets here.

So when our children change clothing, they take their clothing and sort them immediately.

When we wash our laundry, we fold it immediately and hang the clothing that needs to dry.

Because a dear friend of mine taught me how to do laundry without ironing!!!!! I no longer iron! With this new system, We hang most of our clothing while they are still slightly wet. This meant we needed?

a lot of hanging space. ?We hang all of the boys pants on the stair rails. And then all the clothing on hangers on these white curtain rods we put in between the pillars.

Here is what you see when you pull back the curtain to what looks like a little closet. This is where we wash the children's laundry.

If you have never seen the Hogan family speak on "developing the systems of your home"

we loved how they spoke on investing resources in making it easier for your children to help out in the home. They showed these handy little folding tools called "Flip Folds". There is an adult size and a child size and they ARE WONDERFUL!!!!!! Now all of my children, even the little ones can all fold together and the end result is the same.

THE FAMILY CLOSET:

Here is the entrance to the family closet

The back row of shelves are what we used in our old family closet. Each child has one colomn of shelves. Each of the children keeps their?

-under clothing

-Pajamas

-For the boys: Pants / For the girls: leggings

-Their towels that are color coded to their color on our family chart.

-and their sheets

On top of the long counter, is out changing table. With diapers and wipes.

A lovely quote that always reminds us what a blessing our large piles of laundry are.

The small closet in the family closet is used as the coat closet. So you can imagine that it's quite funny when I say to the children "would you put this coat up in the family closet closet" :)

I hope being able to visualize what we have done helps to better establish the concept. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Here is the?post?I have written about the family closet. And here is a?wonderful post?written by Kimberly at Raising Olives. And?here?at Lots of kids.

Have a wonderful day. :)

Source: http://toomanykidsinthebathtub.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-family-closet-in-our-new-home.html

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