If you are part of my email list and noticed that I promised you this post for TWO months and didn’t get it, I so apologize. As I mentioned in my last post, we got every disease going around and have been down & out for about 6 weeks. And I thought I had already written this post, but I didn’t! What the heck?
Unlike many of you, laundry is one of the few areas of my housekeeping that is 99% under control. I may be domestically challenged, but I have a few rules that I just can’t follow if I want to stay on top of things. If you are struggling with Mt. Laundry, maybe breaking one of these rules will help you get back on top of it.
1. Do a load of laundry every day.
This is the first and most important rule I break in laundry. If I did a load of laundry every day, I would wash the same one every morning and it would keep piling up! I finally determined that in order to stay on top of it, I need to work it until it’s finished. I set aside two days (it used to be one, but now I have 3 kids) to do nothing but laundry.
If you can’t get Mt. Laundry completed doing a load a day, try spending a whole day doing ONLY that. Or two if you need to. The first day, I do all the clothing — whites, darks, brights and then help the kids with theirs. On a great day, I will get it put away as each load finishes. On an okay day, I spend an hour at the end of the day. Either way, it’s finished! Day two is linens/towels, which could be as many as 3 loads. Give it a try!
2. Ignore labels when purchasing clothes.
If you do NOTHING else, make sure that you do not own items with special laundering instructions. If you have trouble keeping up with regular laundry, you will either do one of two things.
- You will forget about the special instructions and ruin a beautiful (and probably expensive item).
- You will put it aside to wash specially and then never get to it.
It will grow like my mending pile. Just. Don’t. Do. It.
3. All clothes must be properly folded.
Can I tell you a secret? I don’t fold my kids laundry. At. All. And I barely fold my own. Here is how.
I don’t know about your kids but they always rummage around in their drawers looking for their favorite shirt (skirt, pants, etc). My MIL came in and folded all their clothes once and they were destroyed in 1/2 a day. I don’t waste the time in the first place.
They have a pile of shirts laid flat in the drawer next to pants that are folded as little as possible. Usually in half, just so they fit. Maybe in quarters if they are tall. And there is nothing precise about it. Underwear are thrown in the drawer. Socks in a box.
My last secret? Hang up anything that can be hung. Voila! No folding necessary (we have plenty of closet space).
If you are suffering from a giant pile of Mt. Laundry, I grant you permission to buck laundry rules that aren’t working for you! If none of these “rules” fit, take a look to see where your laundry process is breaking down? Do you have trouble getting it into the dryer? Upstairs? Off the couch? Put away? Figure out where your process fails and think of a way to get the train back on the tracks!
Where does your laundry languish?
