Skilling up - Laundry and Dishes

I've recently had 2 discoveries in the homemaking department. 

1. Laundry is much easier when I wash each person's clothing in their own personal and exclusive load. 

Because the children shower in our bathroom, naturally that's where the dirty laundry lands. Prior to implementing the new system, we had a family hamper. As a result, each load was one big soup of everybody's laundry. 

With that system, folding and putting away was irritating. I had to go to each room every time.

I don't know what inspired the new way -- to give each person their own load. I'm pretty sure y'all do this and have been holding out on me. Regardless, it is now our standard practice. 

This new way takes discipline, getting everyone to carry their dirty laundry to their hamper. BUT...it is so much simpler in the end. I dare say it's a serene experience to pull a load from the dryer, knowing all the items belong to one individual. Usually, I fold and let children put away. 

2. My dishwasher has a 60 minute cycle. 

Our old dishwasher would not properly clean dishes unless you ran it on the longest cycle. When we replaced it, it was deep in my psyche that clean dishes = longest cycle. By default I ran the new one on the marathon wash, 180+ minutes.

The long cycle routinely backed up the kitchen. But I didn't know any different! So one day on a whim, I tried the shortest cycle. And boom. I converted to a short cycle gal. My kitchen is much more efficient now!

My point in my sharing this newfound knowledge is .... sometimes, you can reinvent the wheel. You can hack it. These revelations have me looking at other pain points in our home and routines.

What about you? Can you relate to any of this?

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I discovered the term skilling up from one of my favorite podcast Homemaker Chic.