This morning I wrote how the sun was shining, the birds were singing and everything seemed right with the world... then I walked downstairs. Although I'd love to spend the day outside frolicking, I'm starring at NO LESS THAN SEVEN LOADS OF LAUNDRY.(I'd take a picture for you all, but I don't own a wide angle lens.)
Why do I do this to myself?
For a while there, I'd gotten into the habit of doing a load of laundry every day. While this might seem excessive or wasteful to you, a family of five can easily create a load of laundry each day. Especially with three boys: one comes home with paint and marker on his clothes almost daily, one can't eat a meal without needing a bath afterward (despite him wearing only full-coverage bibs WITH SLEEVES), and one spits up several times a day and drools constantly. Peter and I? Well we're either being spit up on or being used as human tissues (Anyone else who can't go a day without finding snot or food residue smeared across their pants around thigh level??).
Between clothes, towels, bibs, receiving blankets, muddy mitts, wash cloths, etc, there's ALWAYS enough for a load. And since I hang dry the majority of our clothes (it's more gentle on both our clothes and the environment) I run out of space quickly if I'm doing load after load...
After load...
It helps that I wash everything together (except cloth diapers) and everything on cold.I'd say that 95%+ of our clothes are 100% cotton, so I don't worry about special care instructions, especially knowing that most items will be hung to dry.
So, what works for me? NOT LETTING LAUNDRY PILE UP FOR A WEEK. Doing a load each day saves me from having to waste a B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. day inside washing, drying and folding.
But as disheartening as a day full of laundry is, the prospect of using my backyard clothes line for the first time IN MONTHS is enough to make me positively giddy.
I try to do one load a day and hang it (we don't have a line but we have a laundry hanging thing in our laundry room). I usually do okay and then I fall off the wagon. Lately I have been off the wagon and only doing laundry on weekends. Which I hate, not only because it is a full day of laundry but because I can't hang it all, there is not enough room. :( I need to get my butt in gear.
ReplyDeleteI'm the opposite; I prefer to save it up for a big day of laundry; I do all the washing and drying in one big check-in-every-half-hour-or-so session and then I do the folding after dinner that night. It still gives me a lot of day left. I just hate laundry too much to do it every single day!
ReplyDeleteWhen I had a newborn I did do laundry everyday. I'm not really sure why I stopped. Maybe I should bookmark this post to remind myself daily! :)
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ReplyDeleteI currently have a load in the washer, a load in the dryer and about 3 waiting to be done.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to never end...I try to get a load in a day, but it always seems to pile up on me :)
Oh, and +11 C is so not fair. It snowed here again this morning :(
Enjoy the sunshine as you hang dry your clothes OUTSIDE *tear*
Oh I hear you! It's amazing how many outfits my boys go through in one day. And yes, in turn, my clothes always get dirty after just an hour of being with them! The first thing I do when I get home from work is change into my lulu's and a t-shirt! :)
ReplyDeleteAmy, you are such a great writer. You really do make me laugh out loud! Thanks for being so real.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, I remember those big loads of laundry. I also remember my clothes always having stains on them. One particular time, Peter (our son/your husband)was about 3 months old. We were getting in the car to go to church. As I was going out the door, I heard a loud sound...the diaper was not only filling, but running out the top and legs of the diaper...all over him and me!! Back in the house...to change BOTH of us! As I got back in the car, I remember saying "a gentle and a quiet spirit...will I EVER have one of those??" Love, Mom/Mora
Great laundry minds *do* think alike :-)
ReplyDeleteMine are on the line right now - I was so excited for the sunshine!!! No, we didn't take the dryer back, to be honest, the one we had was very old (at least 15 years, it had been the house's previous owner's dryer) and it was going to be time any day to get a new one!!
And SO true about not letting it pile up - I can't handle it when I miss a day or two and gets behind. It's like dirty clothing anarchy then :-)
ReplyDeleteI prefer to do my laundry once a week. We have a very large capacity washer so I can do two loads a week for 2 adults and a toddler. (Excluding towels and sheets) I still hate all the folding and putting away. If I had to do that every day I think I would go nuts.
ReplyDeleteOh the never ending laundry...a dreadful sight for every mom! Which reminds me I should get started on my own pile!
ReplyDeleteWhen I went from career woman to SAHM, my laundry day became laundry LIFE! I'm right there with you!
ReplyDeleteThis is my 1st visit to your blog, and I enjoyed it. Your description ("can be disorganized . . . great at dreaming up and STARTING projects. . . a work in progress") is me to a "T"! But I'm focusing on the "progress" aspect. :-)
I keep telling
So my previous comment was to illustrate how I start things but don't always finish. LOL!
ReplyDeleteAs I was saying .. .
"I keep telling my husband, 'Just wait-- someday, you are going to have this aMAZing wife!" LOL!
There I finished something.
Ha. I am the total opposite. It would kill me to do it every day, so I just get my "laundry workout*" once a week. Usually on Mondays.
ReplyDelete* Going up and down two flights of stairs is great for the glutes!
I was going to make a joking comment about having taught Joel to wipe his nose on the dog, thus saving my pants from knee-level snot stains, but if I'm going to be the only dad leaving comments, I'm not going to perpetuate any SAHD stereotypes. In fact, once Joel finishes his time-out for incorrectly alphabetizing the contents of my beer fridge, I'm gonna take him out on the ATV. And just to show him how much I love him, no sissy helmet today!
ReplyDeleteI have 3 kiddos too and my laundry pile is insane. I try to do a little every day. And we still have piles of snow here so no hanging laundry outside for me!
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