Laundry…the dreaded chore. When purchasing clothes I try and find articles that can be easily washed. But sometimes there are those cute outfits that you have to have that need extra special care when laundering. If there is more than one person in your home that does laundry (I WISH!) then having a chart to know their care might be helpful. Today the girls from My Sister’s Suitcase are here to share with you their idea for helping keep the laundry organized.
Don’t worry, I didn’t have to take a picture of every item I own. Only the things that have special instructions. For our family, that wasn’t a LOT of clothes. For larger families you may want a larger magnetic board. The one I used was 11X17, found at Wal-Mart for under $7.
1. Pull out any clothes that have special care instructions such as: dry clean only, hand wash, hang dry, etc. We have a method called the “fluff and hang” so I added that as well.
2. I used a white background (posterboard) and took all the pictures with my phone + instagram.
3. If you do use instagram, make sure to turn your phone to airplane mode before starting your photo shoot! (Unless you want to share your wardrobe with your followers…)
4. It will say “failed” when you click SHARE, but no worries – they’ll all be in your phone’s camera roll, ready to go.
You can download and print the free labels here: Labels PDF
Cut out the labels and decide which ones you would like to use on your chart. I’ve also included a few blank ones that you can customize. Washi tape was a perfect (and removable) divider for each section!
To print the pictures of the clothing, I uploaded my instagram photos to the computer, then dragged them into my photo editing program. I use Photoshop, but most basic programs should work. I sized my pictures at about 1.6 inches square.
Once they were all on the grid, it’s time to print! I suggest cardstock or heavyweight paper.
I love that I can always add more pictures when I need to – just print and attach magnets to the back!
The magnetic whiteboard is so light, I only needed one 3M Command Strip to hang it in my little laundry room.
You can easily add a text reminder with a dry-erase marker until you get all your pictures up!
I hope this helps you keep tabs on all that laundry! My husband admitted that he’s excited to know exactly what to do with my clothes!
For more DIY and organizational projects, come see us at My Sister’s Suitcase!
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Genius! One day I plan to have a laundry helper (she is only 3 right now, so handing items to mommy is as far as we have gotten) and this will come in handy. xoxo
This is a fun idea! Of course the thing for me is to get motivated to actually handwash anything!!
Not to be picky, but “separately” is mis-spelled (second e should be an a)…you might want to fix it on the pdf version people can download. :^)
Karen, thanks so much for the heads up! (How embarassing!) We will definitely change the printable. Thx for reading!
1. I have always told myself I needed to do just this. Maybe now I actually will!!
2. I don’t seem to be able to read anything except the first paragraph of this post on my ipad now. Is that a result of truncating??? Bummer.
If my husband is doing laundry, this is what I tell him:
When in doubt if it should be washed in hot or cold, leave it alone!
When in doubt if it should go in the dryer or not, hang it up!
Works for us 🙂
This is a great idea for when your kids start helping with the laundry! I could also see making little reminder boards – like wash same colors together, wash whites all on their own, shrink this and you’re grounded LOL JK!
{giggle} love it.
Yep…I am so sorry Karen. I think there are ways around it though. I will keep researching.
I’ll still be following, it will just take me the extra step of going to my laptop. I understand why you had to make the change but what a pain for you too!! Hang in there!