Laundry 101

Can we talk about laundry for a moment? I know it is dirty stuff, but somebody has to do it, right? I don't remember when, exactly, I first started doing laundry. I suspect it was about the time I started buying my own clothes with my VERY OWN babysitting money. I distinctly remember my sister, Michelle, taking said clothes - wearing them and then throwing them onto her floor never to be found again. It infuriated me! Fast forward about 5 years and I got married and had a family. I remember I was not particularly good about getting laundry put away. I would wash it, throw it into a basket, pull it out of the basket for one of us to wear, throw it back into the laundry. It was a vicious cycle. Then one day I was introduced to
Flylady. Now this was quite a long time ago and I have not been back to this site in like 7 years. If you know anything about Flylady, you know that the emails she will send you can get really annoying. If you don't know anything about Flylady, here is your ten second tutorial. Basically, this site helps you get organized, keep your house clean and declutter your life. She really does have some great tips. I really am glad I stumbled upon the site. BUT... I couldn't stand the nine million emails she would send to see if you had done a zillion and one things. So, I tweaked her. I took what I wanted and left the rest. What does this have to do with laundry? Well, I am getting there, really, I am! One of her "rules" is that you must put your laundry away when it comes out of the dryer. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Hey - I know that it sounds simple, but I am sure that I can't be the only one that didn't quite ever do that until I read her rule. I suddenly made this distinct effort to put the clothes away as soon as they were dry. I folded towels and hung up clothes AS SOON AS THEY WERE DRY! It was amazing! Literally, it changed my life! I still had to tweak it though. Previously, I just did laundry whenever. I quickly figured out that I was not good at stopping to put clothes away if I was busy doing something else. This got me thinking that if I had a laundry day, a day where I knew I had to put my clothes away or I was not going to be able to sleep in my bed that night - then maybe I would stick to this. That is what I did - I made a laundry day. For me the last several years it has been Tuesday. It is just a good day for laundry. I don't usually have to go anywhere on Tuesday - so I can stay in sweats and wash everything. Now, don't get me wrong, I still have to do laundry on other days. Things like bedding or at present time - clothing that Sebastian has wet through to for the hundredth time. For the most part though, all clothing and towels are done in one day and put away. Since I am writing a novel about my dirty laundry, I think I should tell you that I stink at the other rules of laundry. I don't really care for sorting much. I am not really into lots of different soaps, softeners, rinse cycles, etc. I am sure I could probably do better, but I really don't care. Tim's grandma used to have a whole card table in the basement with lots of different detergents. It just overwhelmed me, but her laundry did really smell amazing! Wow! I can't believe how much I have written about this. I never intended it to get this long. I am not done though... You see Tim was off of work for two weeks. During that time, he made lots and lots of campfires. He also did lots of work around the house including moving our laundry room and installing a new washer and dryer. Several times during this vacation, he did a load of laundry. Either his favorite jacket smelled like campfire smoke or his favorite jeans were dusty from drywalling. That is really great, right? In some ways, it is really great. Here is the thing though... he does the laundry, but he does NOT PUT IT AWAY AS SOON AS IT IS DRY! I know really, really nit-picky! I can hear you all saying I am being a *bleep*! Really, I am not. I just got to today - my normal - laundry day and found the basket of clothes and towels he had washed stacked way high. Remember the overwhelmed thing I told you about - yes that was exactly what I was overwhelmed! I am happy to say that I conquered my demons, I not only did all my usual laundry and put it away - I got all of the UNSCHEDULED laundry put away too! Whew! I can breathe again!