This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
Teaching laundry skills to your kids can be totally freeing when it’s back to school time! Teach them a few times then use this printable as a reminder. It includes a color chart so they will understand, visually, the difference between light and dark colors.
It’s back to school time, and that means running in fifty million directions and lots to do. One of my most hated chores is laundry until now! We had an older set of machines and to finish a typical week of laundry for four people would take 8-10 loads. Our washer finally died, and I did a happy dance! I purchased a much larger washer and dryer, 4.8 capacity, that now allows me to get our entire week of laundry done in three to four loads! It’s amazing!
With our new washer and dryer, we decided to do a makeover in our laundry room. I also wanted to make a better place for the kids to put their backpacks, jacket, and shoes when they get home from school. I was tired of tripping over everything in the doorway of our garage. We had old cabinets that did not fit most of my cleaning products. They were also ugly and brown.
I ended up getting a wire rack to hang on the opposite wall for most of our cleaning supplies.
It was ugly and made my new washer and dryer just look sad! Not to mention the lid of the washer would smack into the cabinet every time you opened it. 
After painting the room a neutral color we are carrying through the entire first floor of our home, I was ready for shelving. I planned my new shelving layout online and headed to Ikea. Once the new shelving was installed, it was time to put everything back into place. Before I could do that, I needed to remove all my pencil marks I used to mark where my studs were. I grabbed a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (best invention ever BTW), and it easily took them off without ruining my new paint job.
Magic Erasers are great for all sorts of things; I used to use them to clean the grimy build up off of my old washing machine. 
One of the things our salesperson warned us about was not using HE (high efficiency) detergent in our machine. HE washers use less water to clean your clothes and using regular detergent will clog up the machine because the amount of water it uses is not sufficient to rinse it out. That build up can cause the machine to malfunction and to eventually create an offensive odor. It will also cancel your warranty.
Luckily my favorite detergent and fabric softener, Tide Advanced Power and Downy April Fresh, come in an HE formula. I buy them in the big jugs from Costco, and they fit perfectly on my shelves where the kids and I can reach them. Tide provides the best clean of any detergent I’ve ever used and I love how soft Downy makes my clothes. 
My oldest is twelve and now at the age he can help with the laundry or at the least do his own. It took a few times for them to get the hang of all the dials and buttons so I made this printable for him to check the steps when he needs to. It’s perfect for teaching kids how to do laundry, and you can download the PDF for yourself to hang in your laundry room. 
I know have space for everything on my shelves and hid all the ugly random cleaning bottles in the baskets, bins, and jars. Now I even have hanging space now which is awesome! 
I just love this basket that clips on to keep items handy I need to grab quickly. 
All of this freed me up to hang a coat rack and hooks for the kid’s backpacks on the opposite wall along with a shoe rack. It’s now easy to put away when they come home. Now the trick is just getting them to actually do it (wink wink). 
Now it’s time for you to head to Costco and get all of your favorite P&G Household Needs Products so that you are back to school ready for teaching kids laundry skills!
