Laundry System

Ah laundry. The never ending monster. I've been giving laundry some good thinking and experimenting with some new systems. Some of us like to space laundry and cleaning out over the week and some of us like to get it all done in one day.

I used to be in the camp where we did laundry and cleaning all in one day. My friend Emily who always had a house in tip top shape spaced her cleaning out. I didn't want to do that for the longest time because I didn't want to change and try something new. The problem with my system of cleaning and doing laundry one day a week was this: in less than 48 hours after all my hard work the house look like a disaster again and the laundry was piled high.

These days I clean a little most every day. And do at least one load of laundry every day, even if it is a medium sized load. My goal is to never have more than one clothes basket filled with dirty laundry. Sheets always get washed on Fridays.

Sunday is always my day off from laundry/cleaning/grocery shopping/computer.

One thing I've been doing that I feel is becoming a huge time saver is to always fold clothes in the same location and get a system. If you can develop a habit with how you fold and put away the laundry it will get faster. Here's what mine looks like:

• As soon as the buzzer goes off pull out the laundry immediately.
• Dump the basket onto my (made) bed. (I've chosen this spot because it is close to the laundry room and all the bedrooms where the folded clothes will be going. I was going to the couch to fold, the kitchen table, sometimes the boys bedroom to fold and sometimes mine. The problem is that it was chaotic-a different way every time was making it take longer. Like I said earlier, if you find a consistent spot to fold and a consistent way to fold it will be a time saver in the end.)
• Have all the hangers I will need handy-baby size and regular size
• As I sort through anything that needs delivered to the boys rooms gets folded and placed in the proper spot in the basket (because remember I dump it all out first thing). We hang all our shirts so they all get hung.
• I put away all me and Shane's stuff in our drawers and closet. Then deliver the boys clothes to their rooms. Having it folded in the laundry basket means I can make one trip around the house delivering clothes.
• Did you know that if you get your system down it will take you less than five minutes to deal with the folding and putting away of the laundry? Less than five minutes. The laundry nazi has been deceiving you by planting thoughts that it takes 2 1/2 hours to fold and put away one load of laundry. We must stop the lies.

We talked about this a few weeks ago, but how about decorating your laundry room so it is cheerful and cute? Lord knows you are in there enough-you might as well be good to yourself. Go on in and take a look around and see what you could do to spruce it up.

(Ahem, now I must go empty the load of laundry that was finished drying two days ago...that I have re-dried to fluff several times. This is the mess you get yourself into when you don't fold and put away right away. My little pep talk motivated me. That is unless I publish this and forget to get up because I keep checking blogs...)