How I Solved My Nagging Laundry Problem

• Have you ever tried to figure out how to tame the laundry pile at your house?
• Do you dislike laundry as much as I do?
• Feel like laundry is a constant nagging problem?
• Do you ever leave a load of towels in the washer and forget them and have to rewash them so they don’t stink anymore?
• How about the load left in the dryer and you have to go back and keep “fluffing” it up to remove the wrinkles?
• Do you perpetually have a load of laundry sitting around that is staring you in the face and needing to be done?

Yeah well I can relate to all of these, and I must admit laundry has gotten the best of me! I really have struggled over this dilemma, and I finally pinpointed the reason.

IT”S NEVER DONE!

I am an all or none person. I love doing tasks until they are completed or to a stopping point.  I like the sense of accomplishment.  I will work on a house project and stay up till it is finished, and I don’t really like to break up tasks in my household duties either.  Knowing this about myself, I solved my laundry dilemma once and for all! Believe it or not, I actually like doing my laundry now. I know, amazing!

Here is how I solved my laundry problems.

• Declare a laundry day once a week. My laundry day is Friday.  I like getting laundry done before the weekend.  I want to free up my Saturday for doing fun projects and playing with my kids. I start first thing in the morning stripping sheets and they are the first to go in, then I do laundry throughout the whole day.
• Keep going…washing, drying, folding, and keep the rhythm of this going. As soon as I bring the laundry up it gets folded and I put it straight into the laundry baskets to be carried upstairs later.
• Buy large rectangle baskets with tall straight sides, The ones you see here are from Walmart, and I love them.  They actually hold 2 loads from my dryer. I don’t like oval or round baskets, because the stacks of clothes don’t fit in as well.
• Choose a central location for gathering and folding. For me this is in my kitchen. This way I can go about all my other duties for the day, and the laundry is part of my day.  My living room is off limits for laundry now, because I have learned if I bring it into my living room, it makes me frustrated and tends to sit.

*I must tell you… I don’t have a nice laundry room yet, and I have a three story old farmhouse. My washer and dryer are in my basement.  So for me I have to bring the laundry to a central location till its all done.  Part of my frustration with laundry was all the hauling up and down the stairs, and read on, because I recruit help!

• Keep filling your baskets through the day. They just sit in my kitchen till dinner. For our family of 5 I will fill 4-5 of these baskets.  Any towels and kitchen linens are put away immediately.
• Get everyone to help. In the morning I have my kids help collect the dirty clothes from the places we keep baskets, and at the end of the day, my husband and older son help carry the filled baskets upstairs to our bedrooms.
• Put laundry away the same day. This is the best part of all.  I love the sense of accomplishment of filling all the drawers with clean clothes. My oldest son and husband put away their own laundry.  We all pitch in, and they are so happy and grateful for the clean clothes.
• Celebrate your accomplishment! It is the best feeling when it’s all caught up! I make sure we have leftovers for dinner or a simple meal on laundry day.

**Since Friday is my laundry day, I will sometimes do one additional load on Saturday for any miscellaneous things or extra clothes to top off all the laundry.  This way Sunday I have all of it caught up for the next week. ahhhh….

What about the laundry through the week?

• Dry out all towels and washcloths before putting into the dirty clothes, so they don’t mildew.  (I usually don’t do all my bath towels on laundry day.  I have a day for cleaning my house, and when I do the bathrooms, I use the bath towels for wiping down and then throw in one load of rags and towels on cleaning day.)
• Have laundry baskets in bedroom closets and a central family clothes hamper in the house, so laundry is out of sight and collecting until laundry day.

Ways to keep down amounts of laundry. I have learned that we can reduce the amount of laundry in our house. Here are my quick tips for doing that.

• Wear pants or clean shirts, and pajamas more than once in the week.  (exceptions are for babies…if you are in the spit up stage and kids making lots of accidents, you will have to do some laundry through the week.)
• Reuse bath towels, After all, you are drying off a clean body! Try to get the family on board with this.
• Narrow down your clothes. I used to have way more clothes then I actually needed or ever could wear.  Even with busy boys, I am amazed how I can narrow down our amounts of clothes we actually need. Simplify the wardrobe.
• Bed sheets are washed and put right back on. This is just one more way to keep things simple. If its too much for you, you can do your sheets on a different cleaning day.

These are the tips that have worked for me, and it will be different for every family.  Most of all I hope you are inspired to figure out the best solution for you.  If you have some tips to share, I would love to hear them.  Please leave me comments and tell all!

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