$25 Visa Gift Card (Giveaway #5) Laundry for teens – what are your tips?

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This is what my laundry “room” look like on a laundry day:

Scary right? Well it makes me want to run away – quickly. But since I am the lucky one who usually tends to laundry, I have to stick around and actually get it done.

I feel kind of like a bad mom in some ways, as my kids are 15 and 21 and they never do their own laundry. My son is 21 and I know that he can do his own laundry. Heck he was away at state college for 2 years, so I’m assuming he didn’t go around that whole time wearing dirty clothes (and if he did, I don’t even want to know about it!). As college kids tend to do, he would bring me baskets of his dirty clothes to do while he was home for the holidays, or a break. I didn’t mind doing his clothes at all – it actually felt good to baby him a bit. Well…that has changed. Now that he is living at home full-time, he should be doing his own laundry right? It sure would make laundry days less of a burden for me.

Now comes the problem with that. I am very particular about how laundry is done. Very. I always make sure I use the proper settings, and pull the loads out of the washer right when they are done (to avoid that awful smell that occurs when wet clothes remain in the washer too long). So if I let my son do his own laundry, I see the following problems:

• He will screw up his clothes by washing them in the wrong temperatures.
• He will make a mess of the detergents/softeners (leaving gunk in them, instead of rinsing)
• He will conveniently “forget” that his clothes are in the washer, in hopes of me finishing them for him.
• My washer and his clothes will smell horrible as a result
• His clean clothes will be in the dryer when I am ready to do my laundry
• I will get annoyed because I will end up folding his clothes
• I will realize that it is just simpler for me to do his laundry, from start to finish

Yes, these are the reasons I still wash my 21-year old son’s clothes. How can I get him to do his own laundry and avoid the above issues? I am open to suggestions!

My daughter, who is 15, has done a few loads of laundry herself, and she does a good job. But again, it is just easier for me to do all of the laundry. There has to be a way for the kids to do their own, to relieve me of some housework/laundry duties, but I am having a hard time letting this happen.  Of course when this time comes, at least I can still buy my detergent of choice  and they will just have to use it.  I’m fairly certain that they won’t be rushing to the store to buy a certain brand, just because.  That is a good thing, because one of my favorite detergents is ARM & HAMMER Plus OxiClean Power Gel Laundry Detergent. I know I can count on it to make their clothes look as nice as if I had washed them. Hey – it’s a mom thing!

At what age did your children start doing their own laundry? Or what age will they start? What problems did you run into and how did you solve them?

THE GIVEAWAY:

One winner will receive a $25 Visa Gift card!

For first (and required) entry, tell me in a comment, what your biggest laundry challenge is.

*This is a sponsored post for Church & Dwight Co., Inc, the maker of ARM & HAMMER branded products, who is compensating me to try different products. Save $1.00 on any 2 ARM & HAMMER Laundry Detergents. And be sure and head over to The Switch & Save Challenge for the chance to win $25,000.