Bathroom towels (Project 61)

My first confession: I have 5 kids. Five.

That probably explains a lot right there. Whew! Glad I got that off my chest.
So, keeping my house in order with 7 people living here is a challenge. I came up with something to help, so I thought I'd share.

About 5-6 years ago, when we lived in our old house, I bought the kids all matching towels and embroidered their names on them. Thinking that they would be responsible for the towel with their own name on it was giving them far too much credit.
No one wanted to bother actually reading the name on the towel. Including me sometimes my husband. So, everyone just grabbed whatever towel was handy, and then when I yelled, "Who didn't hang this towel up?!?" Everyone denied responsibility.
Then I had two more kids.
Who didn't have their own names embroidered on the towels.
And even though I had like 15 towels, none of them managed to get hung up.
Ever.

When we bought our current home, it was still under construction. I asked the builder to put hooks instead of a towel bar in the bathrooms. I told him that I didn't know a child or husband who would actually take the time to fold a towel and nicely hang it up.
He must be someone's husband because he concurred. I also asked him to reinforce the wall behind the hooks so they wouldn't get pulled out of the drywall.

I'm brilliant. I know.

But, although I still don't think my older kids had any excuse, my little ones got really frustrated. If the towel wasn't hung up right in the middle (it can be hard for a little one to find the middle) it will fall right off the hook.

Despite my brilliant ideas, my bathrooms were not anymore orderly, and my children were still leaving towels on the floor and denying responsibility.

SO... I got even more brilliant!

I bought 3 each of 5 different colored (and bright!) towels. I also bought a washcloth in each color. I cut the washcloths into thirds and made 3 straps which I then sewed onto each of the  towels. Viola! They each had an easy to find hook for hanging! (This did require unpicking part of the towel so I could sew it into the seam to really make sure it wasn't going anywhere)

Then, at family home evening, the kids each drew a number out of a hat. Kid who drew number 1 got to choose their towel color first, and so on.
Now, I don't have to read any names, and everyone knows whose color is whose, and I know exactly who to yell at when I see a towel not hung up! (this is my pet peeve, can you tell?!)

 

 
And, it's easy for the little ones to find the hook, hang it up, and not feel so frustrated!

(Sorry about the unpainted patching up.... this used to have 3 hooks, so we added another one.)

I also found some matching rugs and shower curtain to go with the bright colors.

And yes, I do have four kids sharing one bathroom, and one child who has a bathroom all to herself. Not fair?

Trust me. This works out best for everyone.