I lived with a Laundry Monster for a long time.

There always seemed to be an insurmountable pile of dirty clothes stinking up one corner (ok, corners) of my home making me feel as if no matter what I did, my home would always be dirty.

It made me feel guilt and incompetence.

Bild von Pexels auf Pixabay

Yesterday, while writing about life improvements by quitting social media I recognized that one of the ways my life was improved was that my laundry was no longer out of control. In that post, I credited it to spending less time on social media, but today, I realized it was more than that.

I brought down my expectations

My mom is the laundry queen, who never has more than 1/2 a basket of dirty clothes. She is also a judgemental one who constantly talks down how people do laundry.

I stopped playing into that game.

I no longer stress if some white underwear end up with the brights, I just go with it and realize that the underwear will become bright white again next wash.

I no longer stress about the laundry sitting in the washer for too long. Really, it won't stink up if you leave it there a few hours (or overnight).

I no longer worry about making it "perfect" making it clean is now the game.

Bild von Monfocus auf Pixabay

I stopped multi-tasking

I understand that the washer does most of the work. I also understand that just because the washer does most of the work doesn't mean I have to run the washer, and make breakfast and wash the dishes or clean the bathroom. Now I run the washer and sit my pretty self down to read or play on the blockchain or whatever.

When the washer stops, I switch it, and when the dryer stops I fold and put away.

It really is much easier that way.

I delegate

I used to try to get the kids to help with laundry and it seemed like more work to get their help than it did to do it myself.

It turns out I was just asking the wrong way.

I can ask a kid to seperate the clothes.

Then I can glance at it to make sure it was separated "correctly"

I can ask another kid to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer.

And, once the clothes is getting folded, whoever walks by is in charge of putting stuff away.

I don't care if it's not yours, you are putting it away!

Bild von HomeMaker auf Pixabay

I don't worry about the washer being filled all the way to the brim

Running 1/2 a wash used to make my skin itch. The waste of water, electricity and soap! Now, if there is 1/2 a load, I wash 1/2 a load. Especially if there are underwear and socks in that sucker. NOBODY wants to sort, fold, and put away a full load of kid socks. Nobody.

I wash clirty clothes

Sometimes jeans can be worn 100 times without washing (only a slight exaggeration) sometimes a shirt can be worn more than once, PJ's can definitely be worn more than once.

But.

If they are sitting on the floor, or crumpled on top of a piece of furniture AND there is room in the wash, they just go in the wash.

But they wear out faster that way!

And the alternative is that they sit in a laundry pile so big that the kid grows out of them before they get used up all the way (true story).

Bild von Clker-Free-Vector-Images auf Pixabay

I throw more clothes out

When I was a kid, my mom used to give my clothes away to my younger cousins who "didn't have any clothes." Then, I would see their stepsisters or even my auntie wearing them and it would generate anger in me.

I swore that I would make my kids get rid of clothes they still liked.

But, then I realized the "truth." There are only so many days in the week, there are only so many pants you can wear, and there is only so much room in the closet.

So, as soon as something looks small, old, or worn, I take it out of circulation and pass it on.

Unless of course, they just hit a growth spurt. In that case, I mend, scrub, and add fabric to make it last longer.

I make it a point to wash when the hamper 3/4 full

Further, I got rid of all the sorting baskets, and extra large hampers, and etc for "organizing" the dirty clothes. One plastic hamper. That's it.

I don't strip the beds unless I am washing the sheets right away

Bild von JayMantri auf Pixabay

I have more than one set of bedding for each bed, but I no longer strip all the beds and put clean sheets on them, only to leave the dirty sheets in a corner somewhere. Now, if the sheets are not going directly into the washer, they don't get taken off the bed.

Kid complains that the sheets aren't fresh?

Then wash them! No One's stopping you!

I load the washer but don't start it

Here in San Diego 4pm -9pm is the magic hour. You save as much electricity as possible during that time and it keeps your bill down.

So now, I load the washer, and hit start at 9pm.

Then I go to bed, and dry the clothes in the morning.

Viola, a simple solution.

And those are all the small changes I made to get rid of my laundry monster.

I have a little laundry pet, and it even looks a little cute to me too. Also, it keeps the rest of my house clean.

How dirty can a house get if every time the hamper is 3/4 full, you walk around and pick stuff up the floor to make sure there aren't socks hiding anywhere?

Thanks for stopping by and having a read. Hope you are having a wonderful day.

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