whatever

Lori Noe - I love your blog, I’ve been reading it for many years and you are funny, real and a true advocate for the disadvantaged.

Iris Brown - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! When I read your post 2 days ago I had my 3 kids do their own laundry that same day! Still working on my 6 daughter but she’s on the path! What a revelation!!!!! This monkey is OFF my back!

Grace @ sense and simplicity - I totally agree about the laundry. In our house, the laundry fairy stopped doing the clothes when each child reached high school. It worked really well and they all left home knowing how to do their laundry. We also didn’t have set days to do their laundry, just when the machine was available – but it worked.

Tanya - I REALLY want to read Speak, so thanks for that reminder. I loved Bittersweet. Good choice.
I just finished ‘I know why the caged bird sings’ – Maya Angelou, and I am now reading ‘If you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat’ – can’t remember the author right now.
I just received Every Bitter Thing is Sweet, and Tables in the Wilderness in the mail today. Really looking forward to reading both.

Beth Ann - I am laughing how Stanley is sitting so pretty in the first picture, like you were taking a picture of him, not the laundry room! Silly dogs!

My kids are 8,7 & 4 and they all sort their own laundry and put it away. We have been doing this since the oldest was 4 and it has worked well. I fold/hang it. We have an Ikea ANTONIUS stand and containers in the laundry room – we sort by lights, darks, towels and undergarments (eww they get washed on HOT). I recently taught the kids how to turn the dryer on so they can dryer all of their snow gear – snowpants, gloves etc.

Have a great Wednesday!

Jen - Love all of the things! Saving the ‘kids do their own laundry’ thing for future reference.
Massively loving all the photos of crafty bits and your house. Your photos always make me so happy because all your things are so bright and fun! 😀
Thanks for the book recommendations too. My list of books to read on Goodreads is already over 500 books long, (true story) but who cares, why not add some more! It just means I have to read more – yay!
Happy Wednesday!
Jen

Meredith - Hey Meg, I love everything about this post. Thank you for the encouragement regarding laundry. It’s a BIG issue. I’ve got a large family also and you’ve just given me that extra push I needed to set the bar a little higher. It might be messy for a while, but everything is hard and messy before it’s easy, right? As for the books….I have a few of these which I am LOVING. Our bible study are doing The Best Yes and it’s amazeballs. It’s real and raw. So is Speak. Great picks! Have you read Freefall to Fly? I think you’d love it. Great cover too:) xo

cynthia - Yes, just yes. When both of my kids were in elementary school, I found clean, folded shirts in their dirty clothes baskets and called a family meeting. I printed out laundry instructions and said “when in doubt, pick cold” and marked that chore off my list. It was one of my best parenting decisions. The real treat is, on the rare occasion I would fold what I found in the dryer or wash a load of their’s just because – they were soooo appreciative! My son is better at laundry now than I am.

Lindsay - I was wondering if your kids separate their whites and darks and still run full loads every week?

MollyL - My mom always said that she never had time to read and couldn’t sit down to read at all. She finally started to read when she retired and then she couldn’t stop. My mom always felt that she shouldn’t read because her sister was a voracious reader and read all the time and my mom always heard my grandmother tell her to get her head out of the books. I was always a reader, but now that I have kids I just can’t seem to sit there and read. I tend to read when the kids are in bed but I just don’t read as many books and have stacks of them that I have yet to read. I just can’t seem to get into reading anymore. I feel sad about that too. I hope it will change at some point.

I like your laundry system. One kid could do it and one couldn’t (special needs). But I think I will teach the 13 yr old who could how to do this system. She does help me with the laundry now (folding and putting away, transferring loads, etc.).

Stacy Mc - A lot of these are on my wishlist. I just placed a order and got Bossy Pants, Bloom, The Rosie Project, Cold Tangerines, Let’s all be Brave Together, A Million Little Ways, and Interrupted.

Wendy B.,NJ - I’m sorry that this is an odd question, but I was wondering if you could share where you got the long tall laundry baskets that are shown in your picture. I can’t seem to locate any that either aren’t huge or art small and they seem to be a medium size.

Melissa - Wow I loved that video, I’ve recently been very worried about my super sensitive son & how I can ‘fix’ him so he doesn’t become like me because I used to be that super sensitive superhero, its been only a few months where I am just super sensitive crazy mom. I love the quote from your book which is just what I needed these laayst couple weeks, I’ve been so overwhelmed with tasks I shut down & maybe it is ok to rest and for nothingness why does everyday need to be accomplished, we are not superheros.
Being someone who I feel is made to serve I do it all in the house and I tell people “well that’s my job” …….well no, I stayed home to raise my children, enjoy them. In raising full functioning adults I need to stop doing things for them, today is laundry and I will not be doing theirs I am going to try out your laundry method its time, my oldest will be 10, middle child 8 & smallest is 6 . I’m tired of seeing them on Minecraft while I run around like a chicken without a head they think stuff magically gets done.
I’m so glad you wrote and posted that video, thinking about showing it to my son so he knows its ok to be sensitive he just has to show up 🙂 there aren’t any superheroes here just oily loving caring people.

Jenni - There are 5 of us in our house and we all do our own laundry. We’ve been doing it that way since the twins (the youngest) were in PreK. I tell everyone I know, YOUR KIDS CAN DO THIS! They NEED to do this. We started out the same way, everyone had a reserved day.

Now the only day that is reserved is Sunday for my husband. The kids have adopted the “when I run out of clothes I’ll do laundry” approach. That usually means they have to do 2 loads, or 1 plus a shared load. They work it out.

What has started happening is one of them will come downstairs in the morning wearing a shirt I haven’t seen in a year and say, “Mom, I need to do laundry today.” That’s their way of calling dibs on the washer after school.

NO ONE is allowed to touch or move someone else’s laundry unless it’s someone over 30 yrs old. 🙂

I fit my laundry in during the day as I need it. I also wash all towels, sheets, coats, blankets, kitchen towels, cleaning rags, etc. I usually recruit help to fold and put these things away.

It works for us.

Once my teen son was trying to push my buttons, and he and his teammates decided that their “thing” was to change socks every quarter during their basketball games. I said, “That’s fine with me because you do your own laundry.” That thing didn’t last long.

kelly - so glad to know i’m not the only one who reads several books at one time and they each take me a sweet FOREVER to finish, but that’s just how my brain works! and really it just depends on what mood i’m in at night as to which book i will decide to read. ha! okay, these are my suggestions:

Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford (SO good and hits home with this easily distracted mama!)

Living Well, Spending Less by Ruth Soukup (step away from the Target dollar aisle! 🙂

The Power of a Woman’s Words by Sharon Jaynes (Who knew WORDS could be so powerful??)

Ones on my future reading list:
Rhinestone Jesus by Kristen Welch
A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet by Sophie Hudson (i also plan to read Home is Where my People Are by Sophie. She’s a hoot!)

Love your blog….i’ve been reading forever. love your honest writing! ONE DAY i WILL make it to craft weekend!!!!

Amy Woods - I think it is awesome that each of your family members do their own laundry. There are only three of us, but we all do our own too. My son was about 7 years old when I incorporated it, and now that he’s 17 it runs smoothly. (Ahem, my husband is the worst about leaving his laundry in the washer! 😉 Good thing he is so awesome at so many other things!!)

I think I want every one of the books you are showing! The dreamer doer book looks really interesting. I’m a definite dreamer…but I want to become a DOER! Perhaps a different perspective that the writer intends, but I think I’ll check it out.

Be blessed! Amy

Debbie Brooks - Oh Meg, so much good stuff here! Thank you! I am also a tortured reader… The only one in my house of very focused and speedy readers. I always thought there was something wrong with me. Until I HAD to read about creative minds in a educational psych class… We are wired this way, on purpose. We are so aware of inspirational nano seconds and we cannot pass one of them up!! And it is a scary world when we do not feel this inspiration. I feel your feels sister!!

Beth - Right now I’m reading The Astronaut Wives Club, and it’s awesome! It’s a true story about what life was like for the first seven astronauts’ s wives. It’s so interesting and reminds me of Mad Men.

Rachel Berry - How have I never in my 20 years of marriage never thought of this? My oldest 3 teens can do their own laundry, I just need to stop being such a control freak and let them do it. I love the idea of everyone doing their own clothes! With 8 people in this house I feel like laundry is ALL. I. EVER. Do!! So this week I’m doing it, I’m going to teach my littlest people (baby excluded) to do their own laundry. They already put away their clothes, so why the stink not?!

Also just wanted to add real quick how much I love your blog. You keep it real and I love that. I’ve decided and well, I know that my life is too dull (color wise) Color does make me happy, and I really need to infuse more of it into my life and home. I find it makes my kids happy too, I actually busted out of my comfort zone and made a Rainbow cake for my daughters 13th birthday last month. It was a HUGE hit!
I’ve also made several ruffled aprons as well (all inspired by you).
You’re blogging inspires me to get back to my blogging, I’ve ignored my blog for far too long. So, Thank you Meg!

:)Rachel Berry

P.s. where are those rocking laundry room rugs from? They are fabulous!

erin - a couple things:
your kids give me hope. we’ve homeschooled for 7 years and are strongly considering putting our children into school next year. and, in your words, i’m feeling alllllllll the feelings about it. i know your family isn’t perfect, but just seeing that they’re normal kids who still love their parents/family? that gives me so much hope. does this make sense? i don’t know.
also, bittersweet was my very favorite s.niequist book. followed up by bread&wine. fyi
lastly, tomorrow..TOMORROW {which technically is only 18mins away now} i will begin teaching my oldest two to do laundry. i will. you’ve officially inspired me.
this post was fab. thank YOU. xo