Dot, Dot, Done

While searching the best that Google has to offer in the way of organizational tips I stumbled upon this. 

I love to fold laundry.  There is something so satisfying about stacks of clean clothing.  It is such a tangible, concrete display of the hard work and effort that was put in to doing the laundry. 

One of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday is to cover the bed in multiple loads of clean, warm laundry fresh out of the dryer and fold mindlessly while watching a weeks worth of DVR'ed TV. 

The part I hate, nay loathe, is putting the clothes away. 

This is where the mindless ends and the deep thinking must begin, especially in a house like mine. 

Sure, sounds easy enough.  Just make a pile for every person.  Sure. 

Except that the Monster and Middle Monkey are no longer separated by huge gaps in size.  In fact, Middle has taken to swiping the T-shirts of Monster.  It is getting tougher and tougher to tell their clothes apart. 

I hear you saying, "who cares? Just let them wear each others clothes, no biggie." 

EXCEPT that Monster Monkey, when dressed in Middle's pants and T's looks like he is going to be headlining at  an all male burlesque, belly shirts & skin-tight sweats, oh my!

And Mini-Monkey, throw her in the mix and I'm putting onsies away in her drawers and dressing miracle in some tiny T-shirt that was meant for the Mini...I'm all jumbled.  It's a mess. 

I was desperately seeking a solution and BAM.  There is was.  Dot, dot, dot.

Now, after I spent an entire afternoon trolling through this bloggers entries I have learned quite a bit more than I bargained for.  Her politics and much of her "mommy methods" are not my style, but, kudos on this tip.

She suggests that you  assign a dot system to your children, and then make the corresponding dot(s) on the labels of their clothing with permanent marker. 

Goes something like this.

Monster Monkey = 1 dot  (  * )
Middle Monkey = 2 dots ( *  *  )
Mini Monkey = 3 dots  (  *  *  *  )
Miracle Monkey = 4 dots  (  *  *  *  *)

The idea is that when the Monster is done with his 1 dot  (  *  ) items I can add another dot (  *  *  ) and hand them down to Middle Monkey, and so on...

Maybe not so crucial after the Monster & Middle but I still think it's a great idea for things like socks, underwear, pants, t-shirts, and hats, gloves, shoes....Okay --- It's a great idea for everything!!!

I have already implemented it in the Big Boys room and it has already made the job of putting clothes away SOOO much easier. 

Took about 10 minutes and 2 permanent markers one black, one silver and BAM...

Dot, Dot, Done!!!!!