photo courtesy of Just B Cuz
Ok, so this is very boring and domestic and housewifey of me, but I feel I should tell you all because it changed so much for me. I’ve started doing laundry every day. Previously (as in, like, three weeks ago), I’d do laundry when I could, and was always faced with three overflowing hampers on Saturday morning, when I should have been enjoying family time or planning a getaway (yeah, right) or something. I’d do laundry all day, and come Saturday night, Foldfest 2010 would start, usually because we couldn’t go to bed until we’d folded the mountain of laundry on our bed. Or, we’d shovel it all back into the laundry baskets, and I’d get around to folding it all the following Wednesday, right about the time the hampers were full again.
But now! Every day, I put a load of laundry into the washer, move a load into the dryer, and fold and put away one load. The whole thing takes about fifteen minutes. This means that the hampers are always almost-empty instead of almost-full, the dishtowels and washcloths that get chucked onto the basement stairs get washed on a regular basis, and no one runs out of underwear. In fact, it works so well, that on the weekends I’ve been able to not do any laundry at all, because by Saturday morning the amount of dirty stuff is usually so piddly that it’s ok to let it go for another day or two.
Sometimes I might have time to do more than one load, but I don’t. I have plenty of other things I can do, and, because the laundry gets done every day, it’s never a clothing crisis. I know that this method does mean that one load of laundry sits wet in the washer overnight, which my Laundry book tells me not to do, but considering how long it sometimes sat with the previous “method,” one day is nothing.
If you are at all overwhelmed by the laundry chores in your house, I seriously recommend doing this. Fifteen minutes a day, tops. And you’ll never face the Wall of Laundry again.
And just think what it would be like if your washer/dryer was not in the basement but on first or second floor!
I only have one kid so my laundry situation probably doesn’t reach crisis proportions as quickly as yours does, with 3 (almost 4!) kids in the house. But it’s always amazing to me how quickly it does get out of hand. *sigh* I usually don’t have quite enough clothing for one full load of anything after one day, though, so maybe my goal should be one load every other day? My wet laundry already sits in the washer that long half the time anyway, if I’m honest.
I don’t comment very often, but I do read every post and enjoy every one!
I feel like I do laundry every day, but it’s more like every two or three.
Since laundry has come up, let me take this opportunity to heartily endorse Charlie’s Soap. I was starting to get kind of grossed out by the residue that regular laundry detergent was leaving on our clothes. Our clothes, towels, and sheets just weren’t feeling good to me at all. So I did some searching around online, and found a plethora of five-star reviews on Amazon for this Charlie’s Soap stuff.
Oh. My. Goodness. Best laundry soap ever. (I use the powder.) The icky residue is all gone from our clothes, and they feel like real cloth again. Nice and soft and undamaged and clean-feeling. You don’t even need fabric softener! It’s really amazing stuff.
Go check out the Amazon reviews and charliesoap.com! They are not paying me for this endorsement. I’m not even a celebrity!
I read this post with a sigh. when I go to my mom’s house, that’s the biggest luxury – a wonderful thrill, to be able to do laundry every day. My laundry is in the basement too. But you pay for it. So you do sort of pile it up. it’s totally a weekend marathon. It might not have to be, but the paying for it, with hoarded quarters, just takes the gas out of any impulse you might have NOT to have it pile up. I will say, however, that we have, in the last 4 years, occasionally embraced what we call th marriage-saver: that is, the wash-n-fold service at the laundromat. It felt, at first, insanely indulgent, like getting a pedicure when you’ve never gotten one before. But it turns out to be, sometimes, a VERY well-spent 18-35$ (depending on how many pounds you’ve accumulated).
I know. compared to free that sounds awful, new york insane. and it is. But the same loads cost about 20$ when all’s said and done doing it yourself in teh basement or laundromat. it motivates you to not buy extra clothes (that you’ll have to wash) when you’re at Target. and to cook at home. and it is, I will tell you, a marriage-saver…I don’t know how much tension and bad feeling is accumulated on laundry days, when we face those giant piles and negotiate who is going to man them…but it’s alot.
but I WILL tell you, I DO know, and know better than most, the value of having your own washer dryer, and how clever Julie is to have come upon this little-by-little solution.
Oooh, now I’m all interested in Charlie’s Soap. Though it does say that sometimes babies are sensitive to it, but I might try some anyway.
Oh boy, Emily, your description of laundry made me tired. Except for the wash-n-fold part. That sounds like heaven!
Bethany, my wet laundry sat in the dryer too, so it’s much better to have a schedule to move it along. I bet you could do every other day!
I do a load every morning- in the dryer at lunch and then fold after dinner- it works well. I do wonder how you and others with more kids do it- I feel I do SO much laundry all the time for just the three of us.
Julie- do you know about flylady.net? DO NOT sign up for their emails because they will assault your inbox with 50 million emails but this page sums up their program-
http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Routines.asp
it’s a “get your life and house in order” website which has helped me a ton. It’s a bit cheesy with all the acronyms and I don’t follow their program 100% but have taken bits and pieces from it and that’s where I started the daily load of laundry plan.
oh my. flylady makes me feel very, very bad. I will return to her when I am not so vulnerable to self-criticism. maybe in 2025. but absolutely, I betcha she is super calm and everyone in her house is, which might be motivation to try again in 2010.
Yes, the wash-n-fold is great, once you say “because I’m (my marriage, family time, sanity is) worth it!” to the money and get over teh embarrassment of those nice laundresses seeing how ratty your panties are. plus, having the word “laundresses” be an active word in your vocabulary, not an old-timey appendix. urg.
Flylady makes me think that maybe a dishwasher would rival the washer/dryer in luxuriating items in a house! but I don’t think it would win. laundry in house, daily laundry, definitely would win. OH! and I have a product endorsement! for those of you with a potty-training child, whose whole wardrobe eventually smells of pee to slight or strong degres: Nature’s miracle pet cleaning solution. they’ve just come out with a laundry booster, which will help, since I loved the effect of that first bottle I bought at the vet for 12 bucks, but am pretty sure I can’t afford 12 bucks over and over again (though hopefully the need to clean peepee clothes will be over someday soon…however).
Julie, I thought you were looking in my house. I am glad i am not the only one with a trail of dish towels/rags and bibs down the stairs. Next time please give me some warning so I can pick up a little 😉
Emily and other trainers: Vinegar naturally neutralizes urine- you can put in the wash and spritz it on the carpet when the accidents happen. Quite handy to keep in spray bottle to spray the kids clothes whilst sitting in the hamper until next laundry day, and so cheap.
I adore your website – nice !
I’m all for doing laundry every other day. I feel that it helps to break up the mundane task into more manageable segments. Doing it all one day of the week creates for a mountain of mental pain.