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It’s time to talk about every mom’s nemesis: laundry. Why, oh why is there so much? It even starts before the kid makes their grand entrance…you must wash everything. Maybe this is prep for the mountain of laundry those tiny, little people produce. Am I right? I can honestly say that I never had a problem keeping up until the littles came along.
As a professional organizer, I feel it is my duty to attempt to master the clothes. Almost all of my clients share the same problem. How do we keep up? I have attempted to look at this problem as a science experiment and am here to share my findings.
In my opinion, there are three separate methods for tackling the laundry.
1. The Once-a-Week laundry hustle.
This is great for busy moms who do not have time to tackle loads and loads of laundry once or twice a week. The problem is unless you are fortunate enough to have access to multiple washers/dryers, this method takes a freaking day! Literally all day. The other issue is that your living room turns into a makeshift closet while you attempt to sort and fold in the midst of the chaos that some people refer to as the weekend. Also, let’s be honest, you most often DO NOT finish said laundry on your one-day marathon, and it drags on and on until you eventually wash it again because, well, you’re just not sure if it’s clean or not. Friends, I used to be a victim of this method, it’s not the best.
2. The Twice a Week Laundry Dread.
I call it a “dread” because you fool yourself into thinking that there isn’t any laundry by not looking at it. “If I just don’t lift up the laundry hamper, it isn’t there.” 🙂 Unfortunately, it is there and multiplying like rabbits. The other issue with this method is that it never gets completely done. I tried a Wednesday/Sunday routine and found that my Wednesday laundry was still in a pile when I went back on Sunday. Plus I ended up hating these days. Yes, I had less laundry than once a week, but it was still A LOT of laundry! Too much! Although this method will work for some, I say only do it if you absolutely know you are going to stick to it stringently.
3. Embrace your stage and just do it daily.
This has become my new favorite method. Do I love doing laundry, no, I don’t, but do I prefer for it to be done as quickly as possible, yes! So does, um…every other woman! The best part about doing laundry daily is that you already know you’re going to do it. There’s no dread or stress about how big or disgusting that pile might be. You just know, “Well, I did it yesterday, so there can’t be that much.” I promise you it is actually amazing. Well, maybe not amazing…I mean it is laundry. lol
Simplify Tips:
1. Throw a load in while you are doing other things.
2. Set a timer on your phone/watch/Alexa to correspond to the W/D. This way you don’t forget when it is “supposed” to be done with its cycle.
3. Push it through and know that you only have to do one load of laundry today, but make it your mission to complete it that day.
The third method ONLY works if you get yourself completely caught up. So you may have a marathon or two, but then NEVER again! Friends…this really has been great for us.
Yes, I feel like my life consists of doing laundry, but I also know that when it is all completely done I can breathe a sigh of relief. Until tomorrow…
Good luck!
Steph