Dear Mumsnet please could we have a 'Larger Families' section?

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

rather like the 'multiples' section

it could be for 4+ children maybe and we can all get together and discuss how to run home soup kitchens/chinese laundry and whether or not Nick Leeson had the right idea for how to finance our broods?

I have mooted it before and people seem quite keen - it is different having a lot of children and it helps to have support

Thanks !

genius, aren't I??

Thats gotta be tip of the day....

@ LTH's 'tip'

would work for DD1 and DD2 as they purposely mix their socks.....but still within the same 'type' tho IYGWIM.

soooo......if they have disney pooh bear and tigger socks, they wear one pooh bear and one tigger one day, and tother way the next.

not sure how they would cope tho with completely odd, as I have been a dragon in the past for matchy matchy right from undies up.....even as babes.

me thinks I have broken them a teensy bit.....

Hello Juuule
agal... the traveliner is dead easy to drive and even reverse park!!
It's not so bad on diesel. ATM it costs about £70 to fill the tank up. I drive about 9 miles per day, more at weekends and a tank will last us 2 weeks.
But the space inside is just great. Dp has organised the seats so that they face each other, it makes life so much easier.

Oh yes also wanted to share this as it's so useful.

In the kitchen each child has one of those see through plastic a4 paper holders you can buy in places like viking direct. They are wall mounted and then everything to do with school, clubs, all paper work relating to that child, party invites, etc, etc go straight into their folder and that way things don't get lost and it frees up the notice board. I highly recommend getting somefor example

kitty......have you seen in my house at the black hole that all school letters get sucked into????.

am liking that idea

Hi Kitty

Good idea about the folders. I still use the notice board and when everything falls off it's time to have a cleardown

Socks - hmmm. We've tried a variety of methods over the years. At the moment we've settled on a box for the big dark socks, a drawer for the younger girls pale, white, patterned socks and a permanent bag for the odd socks. If two socks are a close enough match then they're a pair . Under trousers odd socks don't matter. Odd sock bag gets sorted through whenever it's full. Usually able to reclaim a few pairs that way.

The sock thing is a nightmare here too!

For laundry our system is that I have four laundry hampers in the hall outside the bathroom. There is one for whites; one for darks, one for lights and one for pink and red. It is part of the bedtime routine from about 2 years old to sort your own laundry. If it is wearable again it is to be hung over the bottom of the bed (bunk beds and sky beds in our house to save on space) otherwise it is placed in the right hamper.

In the laundry room I have 6 hanging lines and I hang everyone's things on their own line. We do have a tumble dryer but I tend not to use it to dry clothes but rather to soften and remove the wrinkles once they are dry. (This takes only 10 minutes or so.) At that point it is loaded into their own laundry basket and they put it away themselves. (Even two year old DD does her own.) The best part about the system is that they all know where to find everything and they are more than welcome to contribute at any stage by hanging, drying or folding their own laundry at any time too!

We do have an odd sock basket here as well because I am too much of a control freak to allow them to wear mismatched ones...

I want a laundry room that I can fit 6 lines in

What's a sky bed?

I want a laundry room full stop!!!!

We don't have a laundry room - just the kitchen.

Clean clothes get sorted into laundry baskets for each room.

I have a futility room.

Kitty... great idea about the clear folders. I'm going to start that straight away.

Ooh hello Juule good to see a fellow HE'er, although technically I'm not supposed to be here, so

'you int seen me, roight'

I jokingly mentioned to Dh that we might have 5 and he looked catatonic with shock hahaha.

Bless 'im he's only just come round to 4, we'll see about 5 later.

We have a three bed house, 2 doubles and a single, but may extend out to give us either 2 further singles or another double but with a mezzanine floor, so hopefully everyone will have enough space.

We simply cannot afford to move to a bigger house in the current market

I have notice an abundance of odd socks after no.3 appeared, funny you should mention that

pmsl at futility room, I have one of those too.

Din't see a thing, Sorky

kama, do you find, liek I do, that parenting one child is still a full time job for 2 parents

I think children expand to absorb all the parental time, space, energy and money, even if they're onlies

Should have been a on the end of there, Sorkycake. I was rushing.

Juuule,

We just moved to this house in February and I am loving the laundry room... I had almost forgotten about the washing machine in the kitchen and babygrows all over the radiaors in every room. I am spoiled and I will remember to be thankful every time I feel like groaning in my 'futility' room! It is really massive. It even has a utility sink...

A sky bed is like a bunk bed without the bed underneath...

I am not supposed to be on here either. Especially not talking about laundry and such...

HEer here too...

Don't you think that says a lot when you can go into raptures about a ...laundry room Enjoy it
I'm really now after your description.

I haven't got a laundry rrom either but I have one of those old fashioned 'sheilas maid' things in the breakfast room, the boiler is in there too so it gets really warm. The washing dries in no time, its FAB!
It means I only ever use the tumble dryer if I have a huge back log of washing and need to get more than usual down in one day.

One of these in case you wondered....

we're having a new boiler fitted soon thought so my Sheilas maid we probably become redundant...

Given a choice between one large kitchen, and a space divided between kitchen and utility, I prefer the large kitchen. I have my washer and dryer in my kitchen, so have an extra 1.2m of counter space and floor space, which we find highly valuable.

I've not seen one of those for years.
I'm now eyeing up my kitchen to see where I could fit one.

kitty-you are so organised.i like the clothes basket idea,and the folder one sounds good now dd2 is at pre-school.

juule-we have 4 bedrooms with 5 kids and it still feels cramped.

can i ask(i havent had time to read the entire thread so sorry if its been said),sorry if this is really nosey,is anyone elses dh/p not the biological father of all their children?

and does anyone ever mistake their dh/p for one of their children?