Laundry...again & always!

UGH!

Laundry! Dirty clothes, clean clothes...not sure clothes!

All the clothes my family owns, all four of us, is in one giant closet. It is a big walk-in w/ hanging rods and built in shelves; we could probably fit a full-size bed on the floor.

Unfortunately, the floor often looks like that photo to the left. Sometimes, there is even a pile (enough to fill a small basket) in the bathroom.

My current house has a laundry room and we own a washer and dryer, so having to take the clothes somewhere is not the issue. In fact, the laundry room is quite nice: shelves above the appliances, hanging rod, cabinets, room for small table.

So what causes this seemingly endless cycle of mounds of unwashed clothes, baskets of clean clothes and piles of clothes to hang?

I searched the phrase "laundry pile" to have an image for this post; I didn't want to wake the kiddos with the camera flash. The above picture [Thank you, unknown photographer!] and the site name it was from seemed perfect for my laundry rant.

The site was the blog 24/7 MOMS and the post was titled "Organize It - Simplify Your Laundry". This post was what they call a Party because it had multiple writer segments, a humor bit and even a video.

What I have learned and what needs adjustment:

• Have an organized laundry room. Mine is more than half-full of outside toys, buckets of toy trucks, a giant bag of plastic bags, car and house cleaning supplies and a wine rack/table used as a catch-all. So, I must empty and reorganize the shelves, cabinets...the entire room.

• Involve the whole family. One recommendation was separate baskets for each family member, while the video said the standard darks, whites and such. So, I need to teach the family (and I don't mean just the kiddos!) which basket to put clothes into and stay patient while the little darlings "help" me fold and put away clothes.

• Evaluate the amount of clothes. "If you can go for 2-3 weeks without running out of clothing, you may have more than you really need." Except for underwear and socks, that statement is right on for my family. So, it's time to organize and thin-out the closet. Figure out which clothes are not worn due to stains or holes, missing buttons, wrong size, out of season or just do not like. That means I need containers for things to fix, seasonal clothes (sweaters or swimsuits), consignment shop or charity store and freecycle (it's amazing what some crafters will take!).

• Try different systems or routines and stick with what works. So, I have two important-to-daily-life home areas to overhaul and a family to retrain. Then to plan how and where the laundry is collected and sorted and who's doing which job.

• Just do it! Everyone recommends folding laundry right out of the dryer. So, I must stop dumping the clean laundry into baskets which sit around long enough for the clothes to get super wrinkled and start to get mixed with the dirty laundry.

This post was a great opportunity for me to vent, learn and share. Now, I'm going to pick out a movie to watch while I fold three baskets of clothes!