Being a working mom makes everything harder. One thing especially is getting everyone dressed in the morning and out the door. How I do it to make it easier on everyone, especially myself, is set out a weeks worth of clothing on Sunday so it is all set for the week. This includes underwear, socks and shoes.
For myself, I choose 6 to 7 outfits to choose from and place them on the bottom rack of my closet right when I open the door. This way if the weather changes I'm not stuck wearing a dress or skirt on a rainy day.
For my boys, I pick 5 outfits and leave them on their dressers for myself or my husband to dress them since they are too young to do it themselves. My suggestion for parents with older children is to have the child help you choose the outfits for the week. There is also a great organizer sold by many stores (I got my from Avon to use when JD and MJ get older) which hang in the closet and label the days of the week where you can organize the clothes by week day. Some even have a side pocket for shoes. This makes picking out clothes more efficient. If you have a child who will only wear a particular item of clothing, save yourself the fight by purchasing multiples of that item, maybe in a variety of colors, this way your child gets the outfit they want without you having to do laundry in the middle of the week. For children who go to daycare, try creating looks that blend together for example have multiple shirts and pants that go together. This way if there is a mess or accident, your child will always match. Along the same vein, if leaving extras at the child care center, leave neutrals that will go with any outfit, greys, blacks, or denim.
My Husband, he fends for himself. I make sure I hang his clothes up in the closet, but that is as far as I go.
To save yourself from ironing. Try to hang up clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. If you forget or something gets wrinkled anyway I use downy wrinkle release. Just spray and stretch and wrinkles disappear. (I haven't used my iron in over a year with the exception of for dress shirts). A hand steamer is also handy and faster than ironing. And if all else fails there is the old damp washcloth in the dryer with your wrinkled clothes trick.
When doing laundry, save yourself hours of folding by having a basket for each person in your family and linens. Fold items as they come out of the dryer and place them in the person's basket, this takes away hours of sorting later. When the laundry is done, bring each basket to the respective person's room to be put away.
When organizing your closet, put like items together, pants, dress shirts, polo shirts etc. and group by like colors. This will take away time spent searching for your favorite pair of grey slacks.
Keep regularly worn work shoes in shoe holders in your coat closet. This makes them easy to find and eliminates you tracking dirty shoes through your home.
Also with young children there are a lot of spills, messes and blowouts that can create stains. Fill a bucket with oxiclean and water. Leave it in a closet or laundry room. Put clothing items in it throughout the week to soak. At the end of the week dump the bucket with the clothes and oxiclean in the washing machine and wash. Most potential stains will disappear.
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