We have a rule in the house regarding laundry, which works perfectly for getting EVERYBODY to empty all their pockets before laundry day (W & I both do laundry, and the teen lad): once the laundry leaves the hamper, anything found in the pockets belongs to whoever is doing laundry. This includes money. The rule applies all the way to the point the cleaned laundry gets put away.
Once I left about a hundred dollars in my pocket, and it went through the entire cycle. I was folding laundry and found it, and called the entire family in to see me take it out. I said “It’s mine now, but it could have been yours.” Now everyone is eager to do laundry and I couldn’t be happier.
8 comments
#lifehacks
Hehe I’m so stealing this idea
Very smart, applause to you OP.
All my partner leaves in his pocket are ball point pens and sharpies…. À very different result in our house
We did this in my home growing up and I have continued it with my kids. Once a month or so I will leave a dollar or two in a pocket on purpose for them to find. It costs me almost nothing and it makes them extra motivated to help with the laundry for the next week or so.
Once my daughter left fuschia lipstick in the pocket of her shorts 🙄 lovely
I saw a post years ago about a mom who did this with her son as a toddler through adulthood… she threw everything in a jar, toys, money you, name it… when he moved out (or got married iirc) she gave it back to him as a lamp/reminder to empty his pockets.
We had a similar rule in my house growing up. My mom did the laundry, and my dad was awful at emptying his pockets. Early in their marriage our washer quit working, and it wasn’t something they had the money for. Luckily mom had been collecting dads pocket money for a few years, and there was enough money there for a new washer.