Just the mention of the word brings out a sigh, doesn't it?
I have yet to meet a mother who hasn't complained about laundry. But why is that? Laundry really is one of our easiest chores. Most of us are blessed to have a washer and dryer right in our homes. We do not have to drag the laundry basket down to the creek. We just throw the clothes in and walk away.
But maybe that's the problem. Maybe it's too easy to do the laundry and not so easy to finish the laundry. We wash and dry load after load, but then we end up with piles that never get put away.
I think I've finally found a system that works for me.
I wash and dry one load at a time. I sort, fold and put it away before starting another. It goes against everything I feel like I should be doing. It is surprisingly hard to walk by the empty washer and resist the urge to just throw another load in. But, if I can get one load fully finished and away before I start another, I am actually being much more productive.
I fold them right on top of the washer. It is a 15 minute chore, not a mountain of laundry. I still do about 3 loads a day, but it doesn't feel like it. For the first time ever, I have empty hampers...that have stayed empty.
Before, I would have a load in the washer, one in the dryer...and then forget about them until my husband would come home and need his work uniforms washed.
He would take the clothes out of the dryer, dump them somewhere, switch over the wet clothes, put in his load and go to bed. In the morning, more clothes were piled up and his were in the dryer.
So I would wake up to 3 loads to put away. This, of course, was too big of a job to tackle while I'm trying to feed the little ones breakfast and start our school day, so I would throw another load in the wash. At least I was doing something.
But really, it wasn't helping at all. Does this sound like your life? I would encourage you to be a little lazy and just do one load at a time.
Laundry is a part of life, but it doesn't have to take over your life.
laundry is a never ending monster in my house and there's only 3 of us! ian and i both wear two outfits a day (work and post work). then you have mads who's a constant mess lol...
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from money saving mom and your post about plastic bags and baby wipe boxes. Loved That! Now about the laundry. I personally love laundry. It is the only household chore I enjoy doing, but there are parts that I do not enjoy. To overcome the areas that I did not like, bringing hampers to kitchen and returning clothes to bedrooms, I found something that works for me and might work for you as well. My son is 11 now and older daughter is 8. When they were younger I bought hampers that had handles and wheels. Their job was to bring all the hampers to the kitchen and then we learned how to sort in groups by color (reds, whites, darks, lites, etc.) They helped load the washer and helped move things into the dryer. When the dryer ends, I folded all of the clothes in that load on top of the dryer and then I called the children back to the kitchen. They carried each pile to the place that it belonged (bathroom counters, mom and dad's dresser, bedrooms on the beds). I then went to each room as I had time and put the clothes away in draws or cabinets. Now that the children are older, they have to put their own clothes away. All this to say: let your children help you with this choir to ease the burden and teach them how to "Do Laundry". I teach high school and you would be surprised the number of students who have no clue how to "Do Laundry". :)
ReplyDeleteOh boy...that definitely does sound like the way that it was in my house! I'm saying "was" because since we put my clothesline up, I only do 2 loads of laundry a day MAX...mostly because that is all that will fit on the line. I'm trying not to use my dryer AT ALL this summer to help lower our electric bill and so it's been a fun challenge. And it's not only helped decrease my overwhelmingly large "to be put away" piles, it's also made me look forward to doing laundry daily and keeping up with it. As it stands now, I MAYBE have 2 loads that need to go into the wash and one that needs to be hung on the line. I also have one that is hanging on the line currently. It's really working out beautifully and I can't tell you how much I have been enjoying hanging the clothes on the line. I pretend I live on a farm when I'm out there and I feel very farm-wife-like. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I would love to have a clothesline...someday. :) You are too cute!
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