Monday, April 23, 2012

Laundry Is A Four Letter Word, Not Really, But It Should Be...

The term "laundry day" is completely ridiculous in our house. If I could get all my laundry done for the week in one day, I would be the happiest lady around. I'm not sure what I hate about it the most.

Washing isn't too bad. Our laundry area is our unfinished basement. Not as creepy as some basements, but it is far from the glamorous designs you find online.You know, the ones with the twenty drawers and matching bins all labeled perfectly. And whose laundry room really has crown molding?

Then there is the folding. This is probably the part I don't mind. Its like that instant gratification when you turn a heaping laundry basket of warm clothes (okay who am I kidding? Our clothes frequently sit a day or so unfolded until I can get around to them) into neat piles of clothing organized by family member and type of apparel.

So I lied a little bit earlier, after writing about this, I definitely know what I hate the most. Putting the clothes away! It's horrible. I'm sure for some of you that may have large walk in closets and spacious dressers, this isn't really that big of a deal for you. We however are lacking in the storage department. Our "master bedroom" does not have a closet. So all our clothes go in the dresser or draped over furniture or piled in laundry baskets. The kids have so many clothes, I cannot even get everything in the dressers. They at least have closets, but I have hijacked my son's closet to hang dresses and coats. I don't think there is a room in the house that does not have at least one laundry basket in it.

I have been trying to find some solutions to our organizational dilemmas. I have read about "family closets." This is a very interesting concept that will not work at all for us in our current house. A family closet is a room, preferably with the washer and dryer, where everyone in the family would keep all their clothes. All your laundry supplies are there, when you fold things you don't have to leave the room to put it away. There are tons of blogs and articles (Lots of KidsMusings from the Heart, and True Moments of Family to name a couple) that are talking about this. Also apparently I just found out in my Googling, that the Duggar family (I know you know who this is) works from a family closet.

I normally try to store off season clothes in plastic tubs or under bed storage. This year the winter was incredibly mild, so I packed all the heaviest clothes and coats away. But of course, the weather is almost freezing today and there was a threat of snow (it's almost May!?!?!). Needless to say, my kids had to wear lightweight jackets with layers of shirts and sweatshirts underneath to stay warm.

Are we the only family out there with this problem? I guess the best answer to this would be to downsize the amount of clothes we have and find creative organizational solutions. Anyone have any good suggestions? What works in your home?

2 comments:

  1. I try to do laundry every day that there is enough to do a load. That means almost every day, but occasionally I can skip a day. Once in a while I do more than one load a day.

    I generally like to hang our clothes outside or on drying racks in the basement (where our washer and dryer are). I find that I am more likely to fold the laundry as I take it off the line or rack, and then put it away. If I take it out of the dryer all flimsy and soft, I'm more likely to leave it in the basket for hours (or overnight) and then it gets all wrinkly.

    I also dislike putting clothes away, but I just make myself do it. It never takes as long as I think it will, and I'm glad to have it done instead of weighing on my mind because I haven't done it.

    Our closets are small, so I try to keep our clothing to a minimum, but that's kind of a relative term. I store off-season clothing in Rubbermaid totes in the basement so that there's more closet space.

    I'd love to have a combination laundry room/closet/dressing room for all of our clothing. It just makes sense to keep it all together like that.

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  2. I need to start doing a load of clothes every day. That way it doesn't seem like such an overwhelming mountain of dirty laundry. I think the place I need to start is sorting through one drawer at a time and getting rid of things that don't fit and we don't wear anymore. I wouldn't mind putting stuff away as much if there was a place to put things.

    Thanks for taking the time to comment!

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