Never-Ending Laundry
This post would probably be better if it were considered a ‘Laundry Tips’ post. But unfortunately, it’s quite the contrary. If you’re looking for tips, then just take my way of doing laundry and do the exact opposite! If you struggle with getting laundry done, then you’ve got a friend in me. If you are meticulously organized in your laundry process, then you have full permission to judge our taboo ways. I just wanted to share our honest way of tackling our never-ending laundry in hopes of either encouraging you or giving you a good laugh!
I am not proud of our laundry methods, in fact it is one of my biggest embarrassments. If someone comes over unannounced, I cringe at the thought of them going upstairs and seeing our messy mounds of laundry. I also hate seeing it myself, yet I don’t always have the time and energy to constantly be doing laundry. Teaching first grade, mommying a toddler, caring for three pets, and finishing other house chores kind of takes a toll on my energy levels. I would say that I am a laundry master when I’m not teaching during summer break, but let’s be real, I am not. I don’t know how my mom did it when we were kids. She definitely has a meticulously organized laundry process and she taught me her ways, but I’ve never been able to live up to her methods. I’ve been known to do my own thing, so I guess laundry falls into line with that, as well. Therefore, I have to decided to embrace my unconventional laundry methods and openly share my biggest at-home embarrassment!
Washing and Drying
In my opinion, the washing and drying part of the laundry process is the best part. It smells good and makes me feel clean. However, we struggle to remember to switch the washed laundry to the drier which of course causes them to create that unforgettable sour smell. Thus, we end up washing them again and wasting detergent and water. Not to mention that every time we attempt to load clothes in the washer or dryer, our wild toddler drums on the machines as loud as possible, attempts to climb in the dryer, or throws things like my phone in the wash. Nevertheless, we continue on. Once we finally get the clothes into the dryer, one of two things happen. Either they dry all the way and end up sitting in the dryer for a while, or the load was too big to dry and they need another round, but because they sat in the dryer too long they are now sour again. Thus, we must wash again. We’re quite brilliant people.
Folding Laundry
If you can relate to our intelligent method of washing and drying (and repeating), then let’s see how you relate to the next part of the process. If you are shocked by our ways, then hold on to your hat because we’re just getting started. I hate putting laundry away. We don’t have the time or energy to constantly be doing laundry. So instead, it piles up. We wash and dry clothes (sometimes multiple times), then throw them in baskets until we have no more clean clothes. The clean clothes eventually take over our laundry room so that we can no longer walk inside. Then we are forced to go through our mound to either fold or hang.
Once we have decided that it’s time to put laundry away, we take the loads of clean clothes and throw them on the floor of our always vacuumed bedroom (insert sarcasm). Our son loves this part of the laundry process because he gets to either crawl over the mounds or play in the baskets. Thankfully he keeps himself entertained and enjoys “helping” which usually consists of him throwing clothes over the banister or shoving them into random drawers. It’s quite the endeavor, but as he plays we begin folding.
We fold everything that goes in drawers and separate out the stacks for my husband, son, and myself. If we come across an article of clothing that needs to be hung, we throw it back into the basket that it just came from in order to hang later. We also keep an eye out for clothes that we no longer want, need, or fit. Those clothes go into trash bags to give away. (Last time, we went through our drawers and closest too and ended up with 8 trash bags!) As we continue to sift through the laundry, we also have a basket for clothes that need to be rewashed. Why would clean clothes need to be rewashed? So glad you asked.
There are a couple of reasons our clean clothes might need to be washed again. One being that they still have that wet clothes sour smell. Either they sat in the wash too long or didn’t dry all the way and we didn’t realize it. So we throw the soured clothes into a basket to wash again. The other reason we need to rewash clean clothes is because they have been peed on. Yes, you read that correctly. Our pets love clean clothes. Our dog loves to lay on them and me as I fold. Our male cat, however, loves to find a nice soft pile of fresh clean clothes and soil them. We do our best to keep the laundry room closed, but every now and then we forget and he makes sure to remind us. Therefore, my husband and I have to smell our clothes as we fold them. Are you judging us yet? I know I wrote a whole post on why I love cats, but I might have left out this little bit of info. Doesn’t everyone love pets that pee on their things? (Sarcasm inserted, yet again.)
Hanging Laundry
When everything is folded, we put the stacks of folded clothes away and move on to the hanging clothes. Well let me rephrase, we maybe move on to the hanging clothes. Most of the time, we’re either out of time or our toddler has lost all patience and we have to stop. Therefore, our clean hanging clothes that were put back in the basket, now sit in the basket even longer. We’re usually quite proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished, so the one basket of clothes doesn’t bother us compared to the multiple baskets. After a day or two or three, etc, we eventually make our way back to the hanging clothes.
Actually, I make my way to the hanging clothes alone. My sweet husband doesn’t ever hang clothes. Not sure why not, but I’ll either hang them for him or they’ll sit in a basket for him to hang which never happens. He’s perfectly content pulling clothes to wear from the basket. I, however, cannot stand rummaging through other clothes to find what I need, so I hang them. Instead of going to my closet to hang, however, I grab as many hangers as I can, sit on the bedroom floor, hang clothes from the basket and lay them in a stack on the floor while my son continues to play in the other baskets. Once each piece is on a hanger, I pick up the entire stack and take them to the closet. Then that’s it! The laundry is officially washed, dried, folded, and hung! That is until I turn around and see the dirty clothes basket already overflowing... thus it begins again.
Share with me!
Do you struggle with laundry or have the perfect laundry method? How do you tackle the never-ending laundry?