Lightening Up the Laundry

November 2022

There are so many fun quotes about laundry, I couldn’t limit to just one or two, so here you go:

“Irony is the opposite of wrinkly.”

“Don’t you love those 12 seconds when the laundry is done?”

“Sometimes I feel like throwing in the towel but that would mean more laundry for me.”

“I love doing laundry! Except for putting it in the dryer, taking it out and folding it and then putting it away.”

“I’m pretty sure my laundry breeds while I sleep.”

“I love when I wash a tissue with the laundry….said no one ever.”

“I don’t want to fold my laundry. So I’ll restart the dryer…three times in a row.”

“When I’m wearing sexy, lacy lingerie… it just means I need to do laundry and I’m out of clean granny panties.”

“I wish my bank account refilled as fast as my laundry basket.”

“Behind every mom is a basket of dirty laundry.”

“We can land on Mars, but we still haven’t invented a dryer that folds all the clothes.”

Many people hate doing laundry. I remember spending so much time in the laundry room when my kids were young that I referred to it as my second bedroom….but I never really hated doing laundry.

In my travels, I do see a lot of piled up laundry and it’s very interesting to me that those with accumulated laundry have several things in common. Care to know what they are?

1. Some folks care deeply about color separating. I, on the other hand, do not (as evidenced by my husband’s less than sparkling white shirts). It seems more efficient to me to toss everything in the wash at once and the only time I won’t toss everything in is if there’s a new dark item or a very nice light item that I’m afraid will get ruined. Otherwise, everybody in! Some people cannot do that – it feels too uncomfortable. Naturally, it will take longer to process laundry if you have to do more loads by color. Some people do dark, white, middle of the road…and I even saw someone who separates by fabric weight. I find this fascinating!
2. Some folks have A LOT of socks and underwear and towels. They explain to me that they need a lot because they don’t get to their laundry often enough to survive with smaller quantities. In our home, we each use one bath towel and wash and dry them and reuse them rather than go through tons of towels. Same with bed linens. When socks or underwear are running low, we do a load of laundry. Some families are in a constant state of motion and have difficulty finding the time to do laundry.
3. Some folks allocate a day/time to do laundry. I do laundry whenever I see the bin filling up. I might toss a load in before I leave the house and then dry it when I come home. Again, some people don’t like the idea of having wet laundry sit – but I like the idea of not having laundry pile up. It’s a choice – and everyone can make their own choice about when and how to do laundry. (Someone told me their kitchen flooded when they turned on the dishwasher at night so I hesitate to use the dishwasher if I’m not home to supervise!).
4. Some folks leave their laundry piled up in the laundry room because they don’t have time to fold/put away. Because we do smaller loads, it doesn’t take very long to fold it up. Because our laundry room is so tiny, we don’t have room to store too much in there (especially with dogs running in and out and potentially grabbing a sock here and there). If no one wants to fold, I’d suggest tossing everything in a bin and deliver to each bedroom door unfolded.

My point in talking about this is for each of us to evaluate how our lives are affected by laundry. Is it a source of stress? If so, maybe it’s time to ‘evaluate and correct’ how we process laundry. Would it be worth using one of the services that wash, dry and deliver clothes for $1 a pound? Would it be worth having a family meeting to get some support? Would it be worth decluttering the volume of socks, underwear, towels, etc. so you have less to accumulate? Or, can you pat yourself on the back for a job well done?

Some of my favorite client sessions involve strategizing about laundry. Please reach out for support if laundry is affecting your quality of life. And in the meantime, happy organizing!

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“Helping Baby Boomers and their Parents Lighten their Loads”

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