Tips for the Multitude: Taming the Clothing Monster

I have 9 (almost 10) kids.

And they are all REALLY close in age, and therefore size.

When I first married my husband, it was pretty easy to keep track of whose clothes belonged to whom.  I knew my own kids' clothes, and his 4 kids were all different sizes and thus easily sorted.

Then, as kids often do, they grew.

About a year ago I found myself confused about who had passed down which clothes, and I wasn't the only one!  The kids forgot what passed on or they thought that something would always belong to them even though they had grown out of it (mostly the younger set) and get all upset when a sibling was wearing what they thought was theirs.

I was frustrated.  They were frustrated.

So I came up with a system.

The Dot System.  (I can't be creative all the time...)

I thought some of you out there might also benefit from this system, so I'm here to share!

Here's how it works.

The oldest child of each gender gets one dot, adding one dot as you go down the line within the gender.  Generally speaking it's pretty easy to separate boys vs girls clothing.  (If you find there's a problem with a certain thing, say, jeans, you can either add a gender symbol on the tag or embroider a stripe of color to help you remember.)  You put the determined amount of dots on the tag or hem of each garment with a black permanent marker.  Nothing is exempt, though I try to be discreet with the dots.  Shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, even underwear and socks.  Sometimes it even goes to winter clothes and swimsuits depending on how confused we are.  Once everything is properly labeled, it's easy to sort!

Time to pass on the wardrobe to the next "generation"?  Easy peasy! Just add another dot, and you're ready to go.

So here's what it looks like right now in my house: (Stars represent dots)

* Elizabeth
** Julie
*** Katie
**** Mallie
***** Lorelai

* Kael
**Tristan
*** Layton
**** Joseph

This system has stood the test of time and several size changes. Joseph is a recent addition to the system, just because it was pretty easy to determine what was his until his socks needed to be bigger.  I still don't mark anything else.  But it sure saves me with the three older girls, the three older boys, and the two littler girls!  Whose is it? Check the dots! Wrong number?  Add one (or two)!  They can't argue with the dots like they can with size numbers.

Oh, and let me tell you, it saved Christmas!!  The kids ALL received new jammas, socks, and underwear, and a lot of it was VERY similar.  Even the jammies needed it, because I do not have the brainpower at this point to remember who received which ones. Solution? Dot them! Right out of the packages!  It went something like this: "Ooh! New underwear! Cool! Here, Mom."  Dot dot dot dot dot... "All yours!"  And then the socks and underwear were strewn all over the room.  No worries, just check the dots!  4 dots on something pink? Mallie!  3 dots on something navy blue or superhero? Layton! 2 dots on something boyish? Tristan! 1 dot on something frilly? Kael! No, I'm kidding. Elizabeth!  No worry, no stress.

There you have it! The dot system for keeping track of clothes in a large family.  Do you think it will work for you?  Any questions? Suggestions for improvement? Let me know in the comments!

The Country Bunny and Her Brood

Easter Sunday, our Relief Society President gave a lesson based on this book:

She did a fabulous job of relating it to this life and the Atonement in honor of Easter.

That's not what I took away best from her lesson, though. Sorry, Ashley!

The part that hit me most was where she teaches her little brood of 21 bunnies how to clean the house, cook, take care of themselves, and treat each other with respect. Here's one page:

 I don't have 21 kids, but I want that kind of order!  I pondered it the rest of the afternoon.  By evening, I had a plan.

I thought up 4 Helper jobs, one of which I can split up into three jobs for when all the kids are here; I came up with a list of things they should each do on their own every day; and I created a list of things that needed doing on a weekly basis.  I cut up one of those flexible fridge magnets that we get from every business ever created and glued each child's name on one piece.  Then I made a sign.  It looks like this:

What it looks like when everyone is here

What it looks like most of the time

<--personal day="" done="" every="" jobs="" p="">

<--important p="" question="">
<--weekly add="" chores="" everyone="" i="" may="" more.="" need="" one.="" p="" picks="" think="" to=""><--place current="" for="" in="" names="" not="" p="" rotation.="" the="">


Here's a description of each Helper's responsibilities:
Kitchen Helper: Empties dishwasher, fills it back up again.
Meal Helper: Sets table, clears serving dishes, wipes down table (all three meals).
Laundry Helper:  Does one load of laundry, start to finish, from washing to putting away.
Bathroom Helper: Swish the toilet (no cleaner), clear and swipe the counters, clear the floor.

Kitchen Helper is for all three meals when I have just four kids, and split up into three meals when I have more.

Part of getting dressed for bed is picking out clothes to wear for the next day.  They then place those clothes against the wall behind the dining room table so the clothes are accessible when the kids wake up in the morning.  To facilitate this, I made name plaques (marker on 8"x11" white paper in a sheet protector) for each child and posted them on the designated wall.

There were also some rules I established that aren't listed here, but I plan on posting them elsewhere soon.  Those rules are:

1) NO blankies, pillows, or animals out of the bedroom after breakfast.
2) Rooms must be clean before each meal.
3) Everybody helps clean up everything, without regard to ownership or who was playing with it. 

I am also working on a set of chores that they can do for money, like sort the sock bag and clean the patio door.

This week we had all the kids for Spring Break!  A perfect time to try my *evil* plan...Bwa ha ha ha...

Ahem.

Anyway, it started out great!  I introduced the plan to the kids on Monday at Family Home Evening.  There was no initial complaining.  I thought that showed promise.

I won't lie.  There was some grumbling on the first day of actually DOING the chores, but I think it helped that I was there doing it with them, and that almost everyone had a chore to do. (I only have 6 helper jobs at most, so two kids get a "weekend" from chores.)

I was actually surprised by how many of them were excited to do their chores!  I'm not kidding!  "I love to do laundry!" came out of at least two mouths, and "Hooray, I'm the meal helper!" was almost universal.  They took pride in their responsibilities!

Happy side effects:  One-on-one time with each child.  Cleaner house.  They made less mess to begin with.  There was less complaining because it was right there, on the list (I wasn't 'picking' on someone all the time).

They learn responsibility and important life skills.  I have more sanity and time for other projects, me time, and spouse time.  Win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win.  And the baby will have a system to grow up in.  Add another win there in a few months.

Happy mom, that's me!

A Sad Day

Today is a sad day. Tristan is officially out of naps. :(



We've been struggling with his sleeping habits ever since we got here, to Arizona. It seemed like he just needed time to adjust, but we were wrong about what he needed to adjust to!  This is especially sad for me, because I still need naps, being pregnant and all. Luckily, Mom is around to keep an eye on him, and Rhydon sometimes too, so if I really need one, I should be able to get one. And if all else fails, he loves the DS we have, and that would get me at least 45 minutes.  And movies have been so rare here, that now they're a special treat and that might get me another 30-45 minutes.



It's not all bad, though.  In two weeks, we will celebrate Tristan's 3rd birthday, and in this family, that means potty training (dut dut duhhhhhh....)!  No naps will make that transition easier, I think.  It also means that in the relatively near future, he will be out of a crib and into a big boy bed, and I've found it nearly impossible to keep my kids in bed for naps once they make that change. So all in all, it all works out.



But I'm still a little sad... ;) :(