Tara, your question is so good its answer is getting a post of its own. How do you store clothing for 11 people?
Answer: not the way I would like to and I hope to do something about that.
My very best answer is to do it like the Duggar's - create a family closet, or at least a children's closet, in or near the laundry room. The idea is you eliminate LOTS of potential problems caused by toting clothes from one end of the house to another and then cramming them into often too small dressers.
The sad truth is my kids never did discover a burning need within themselves to fold their clothing with smart creases like their grandmother does. I tend to wash and dry (because I LOVE my machines lol!) and fold and then send the snappy piles to their destiny, which is usually to be stashed into or under various pieces of furniture 'til we meet again.
The family closet would have communal sorting baskets for dirty clothes. Then each member would have a bucket (dishpan, milk crate etc) for their personal items. In my house we would likely have a couple community sock bins as well. I believe I saw that the Duggar's have dark socks for boys and white socks for girls. A large hanging rack would house dresses and church clothes.
Think of it - all hangers in one room. No more renegade socks! Imagine all the available space where rickety dressers once stood. All the closet room could be used for games, toys, books, crafts. I am sorely tempted to turn the smallest bedroom into said family closet. I will keep you posted. Meantime if you find any pictures of a family closet please share the inspiration! I could find NONE on the net.
I've always wanted to do this.
There is a beautiful photo spread in a book called "A Place For Everything" by Peri Wolfman and Charles Gold. Check your library catalog. That one is an upstairs room which houses the laundry machines, linens, and clothes for the husband and wife.
Plus, it is a fun book to read if you like organizing with rustic baskets instead of plastic.
Posted by: Meredith | February 05, 2007 at 06:50 PM
I dream of a family closet too.It can't be in the laundry room right now (because it's in the unheated, unairconditioned garage) but someday... *happy sigh*
No more babies emptying the drawers - clothes tucked away fresh and clean and not finding the clean pile under the bed... *happy sigh*
Posted by: Milehimama | February 05, 2007 at 06:51 PM
Hi, I popped over from Meredith's.
The family closet idea is a great one, even for our family of 6.
My friend Karen posted pics of her family closet just after her husband finished it. I tried to hyperlink but it didn't work, hopefully you'll see the whole link.
http://engstromfamily.blogspot.com/2006/06/my-new-laundry-room.html
Roberta :)
Posted by: roberta | February 05, 2007 at 07:46 PM
I have wanted to do this for years but my husband thinks I am nuts :)
I love this idea, think of the space in the bedrooms without the dressers!
Posted by: Rebecca | February 07, 2007 at 02:37 AM
Thanks for the tips! I didn't realize this topic was such a popular one. We have a laundry room, but it's also where we store games, crafts, and misc. things. My mind began to wonder if I could turn it into an effective 'family closet.' I'm not sure we're ready for that yet, but we will be some day soon. We have a communal storage for dirty things, unless the item has anything gross on it. Then, it goes straight into the washing machine to be washed w/ whatever's next. One bedroom is currently the kid's 'closet room' and we have our own closet. If something's on the floor in the laundry room, it's dirty and if it's in a basket, it's clean and just not put up yet. I used to fold, but found it all in vain. Now, I spend my time washing, drying, and sorting clean clothes into a family member's basket. My husband jokes that searching for matching socks in the dark in the mornings helps wake him up. I've tried to be better about putting things up when they come out of the dryer for that reason. I try to lay the clothes flat in a drawer or hang them so they don't get too wrinkled. Ironing is relaxing to me, so I'd rather iron then fold anyday. Shoes have been fun for us to store. I finally came up w/ a solution that works in our family. We have a basket at each door in case we just want a quick place to store the day's shoes. In our coat closet, we have a hanging mesh vertical storage thing (I'll try to take a picture soon). Each person has a cubby for shoes they wear weekly. Then, those shoes that are Sun. only shoes or ones we don't wear very often go in our clothes closets on a shelf. As for outgrown clothes awaiting the next child: they go into scented trashbags labeled by size and put into tubs. There are boys tubs and girls tubs. I used to pride myself in my ability to organize. Now, I realize it's an ongoing process that can never be perfected.
Posted by: Tara L | February 07, 2007 at 05:15 PM
Thanks for the tips! I didn't realize this topic was such a popular one. We have a laundry room, but it's also where we store games, crafts, and misc. things. My mind began to wonder if I could turn it into an effective 'family closet.' I'm not sure we're ready for that yet, but we will be some day soon. We have a communal storage for dirty things, unless the item has anything gross on it. Then, it goes straight into the washing machine to be washed w/ whatever's next. One bedroom is currently the kid's 'closet room' and we have our own closet. If something's on the floor in the laundry room, it's dirty and if it's in a basket, it's clean and just not put up yet. I used to fold, but found it all in vain. Now, I spend my time washing, drying, and sorting clean clothes into a family member's basket. My husband jokes that searching for matching socks in the dark in the mornings helps wake him up. I've tried to be better about putting things up when they come out of the dryer for that reason. I try to lay the clothes flat in a drawer or hang them so they don't get too wrinkled. Ironing is relaxing to me, so I'd rather iron then fold anyday. Shoes have been fun for us to store. I finally came up w/ a solution that works in our family. We have a basket at each door in case we just want a quick place to store the day's shoes. In our coat closet, we have a hanging mesh vertical storage thing (I'll try to take a picture soon). Each person has a cubby for shoes they wear weekly. Then, those shoes that are Sun. only shoes or ones we don't wear very often go in our clothes closets on a shelf. As for outgrown clothes awaiting the next child: they go into scented trashbags labeled by size and put into tubs. There are boys tubs and girls tubs. I used to pride myself in my ability to organize. Now, I realize it's an ongoing process that can never be perfected.
Posted by: Tara L | February 07, 2007 at 05:16 PM
I always thought the family closet would be a good idea, but then I looked at how I actually do my laundry. I hate sorting. So my solution (there's only six of us) has been for each person to have their own laundry basket (labelled of course), all identical. I use the short, square ones rather than the long rectangular ones to save on space. I also have one hamper for the kids' bathroom, and one for the master bathroom. These are only for towels, bedlinens and anything too gross to be walked back to a child's own basket (you know what I mean!). I also keep each child's clothing to a minimum and try to make sure they each have an equal amount of underwear and socks to keep them all in clean clothes for about the same time. Then, I work in rotation. I start with the baby's laundry and work up through the rest of the family, youngest to oldest and then the two bathroom hampers...then start over again with the baby laundry! :) This way I only have to do about one load per day if I want to get it all done in a week. I also always know what needs to be done because I keep to the order of things. I don't sort by color at all. I generally don't buy clothes that require special handling or ironing. The few times a year that we wear things that need pressing or have delicate fabrics, I send them out to the dry cleaners. I actually don't own a full-sized ironing board and they cleaners does a much better job than me at it anyhow. But, my husband doesn't have to dress up for work, so this isn't much of a problem for us.
For me, only having to deal with one person's laundry at a time saves a LOT of time. I don't have to sort into who does it belong to, what room does it go to, etc.
Posted by: LeeAnn | February 07, 2007 at 07:19 PM