It’s finally the weekend! Time to sleep in (ha! yeah right we have kids) and enjoy time spent with family. Unfortunately, on the weekends you can usually find me under a massive pile of mismatched socks, Minnie Mouse underwear, and tons of clothes from the past week. Everyone has their crutch, the one housework chore that just wears away at your soul. Mine is laundry, I hate to admit I have actually cried over it before. I. JUST. HATE. TO. PUT. AWAY. CLOTHES. Therefore, when my friend posted about “a load a day keeps the mountain away”, I kind of balked at it. Who can actually do laundry EVERY SINGLE DAY?! But, then I tried it and it changed my outlook forever.
How to Tackle Laundry
Catch Up
This is my least favorite part, but you have to catch up with your laundry first. Goal is to have everything washed and put away except the clothes you and your family are wearing for the day. This allows you to start with a clean slate
One Stop Shop
For me, it’s easiest for to keep the day’s dirty laundry in one spot. It is helpful not have to walk around throughout the house looking for dirty clothes. I’m all about work smarter not harder, so this is just a little tip that goes a long way.
One A Days
One laundry a day (except the weekend, duh!) is key. It seems totally daunting I know, but coming from a person who hates laundry more than just about anything, TRUST ME. It is not bad at all. I like to place the laundry in at night, and my washer has a delay end so I set it to end in the morning. Then when I wake I put it in the dryer. When I get back from school drop off or whatever task we have, I quickly separate adult clothes from children clothes into different baskets. I fold and hang my stuff, fold and leave my husband’s things, and then if I can, I do the kids. Usually I alternate days between adult and children clothes. I like to fold the kids the next day and leave our clothes sorted to do the next. Now obviously we are all different and some of you can’t fathom leaving clothes to fold a whole day, so you do you. This way really works for me. I end up with two days of adult clothes or two days of kids clothes to fold. Since it is only a day’s (or two if you sort) worth of clothes, it takes NO TIME to fold and put away. I sometimes do it while the girls are getting ready for bed. Or when my husband and I are getting ready for bed, it is that quick and easy!
Upkeep
Consistency is key. I do a load of laundry a day, Monday through Friday, and then on the weekend I let two days pile up for Monday. If we have a quiet weekend I do keep it going, but usually I do towels or sheets on the weekend so I like the keep the queue empty.
Travel
Travel will screw you up. Heads up there. However, it’s not terrible to get back into the swing of things. You just have to start at step one and “catch up”. My biggest advice, come home with a suitcase of clean laundry. If you are at a place with a washer and dryer, USE IT! I swear to you, this makes SUCH a difference. I like to come home with all the clothes clean, except what we are wearing and slept in the night before. Then when we get home I immediately put everything away. It is stressful to do, but sort of satisfying and definitely SO WORTH IT in the long run. Otherwise, I am the kinda gal who can live out of a suitcase for a month, in my own home. Then, your first full day home from travel, you only have a small load to put away.
The biggest thing here is… life happens. I have been so behind on my laundry for weeks. My girls had strep throat, I got sick, I have been a bit down, we had company two weeks in a row etc etc etc. Don’t let that discourage you. It’s 7 am on a Saturday and I am back at the “catch up” step and that is OK. I’ll watch some TV and do this thing. Then, tomorrow I will have a restful Sunday and next week with travel coming up, I won’t have to worry about this massive pile of clothes accumulating in my laundry room.
Coming from a girl who has cried over a pile of laundry, you too can do this! God speed, and message me for moral support.
