Cleaning

Need Help with Laundry?

1. Collect laundry everyday

2. Do at least one or two loads a day and don't stop until you have put the loads away!

Who in this world feels like they spend at least half their time doing laundry? Or maybe you feel like me: that laundry is a monster that needs feeding just as much and as often as one of your children. This post is about my discovery of how to lasso the animal called laundry so it becomes a manageable task.

Before we moved into our new house, I was cleaning laundry the best I knew how. I would throw it all into a spot that was somewhat easy to hide until the pile became so bad that I was forced to start cleaning the clothes or go without a shirt.Sometimes I would plan one day and do it all. Monday was usually the plan and then I was doing laundry once a week, but we all know how that ends up. I would have lots of clean clothes that had not been folded in a giant basket or I spent the entire day doing laundry. Then, I don't even want to see it for another week. Besides me feeling like laundry was a monster hiding in my closet,  there seems to be trouble involved with waiting to do laundry until the pile is huge. I often overstuffed my loads to try and get it done faster. I broke the washer we had before stuffing in the loads. The clothes also don't really get clean when you do that.

Two months ago when we were moving, My mother-in-law came to visit. She is older and wiser and can run circles around me with her productivity. There isn't anything, it seems, she can't do. While she was visiting she had my clothes washed and put away before I had time to discover she even washed them at all. I was so amazed by the ease of how she stayed on top of everything that I began to take notes.

Everyday she would go to each room and collect the dirty clothes. She would take them to the laundry room, sort them into piles and put the largest pile with most amount of clothes into the wash. Then, as soon as it was finished, she moved it to the dryer. Later, when she had time, she would fold up the load right there by the dryer and walk around the house and put them away. What a concept! Do a load of laundry everyday! Then your clothes don't devour you! Also, I found that I didn't need as many clothes in my closet because I had plenty of clean clothes to wear. She helped me get rid of half of them I never even wore.

Since then I have made a plan and am executing this plan:

1. Collect laundry everyday

2. Do at least one or two loads a day and don't stop until you have put the loads away!

It is incredible how different my life is now. I don't plan as many activities outside the home as I used to because I don't want to get behind on laundry, but I love knowing that if my children need a pair of underwear or a clean towel, it is there for the using.