You rarely have clean clothes, but do you really have a laundry problem?

‘Problem’ is a more…serious word.  Maybe you only have a few laundry issues.  Or maybe even a slight laundry dilemma.

Or maybe an actual laundry problem.

Here’s how to know for sure:

1) You’ve gone to Target at 11pm to buy underwear just to avoid washing the dirty ones you already own.

2) You have 6 bottles of laundry detergent in your stockpile, but you never have to replenish it.  Hmmm.

3)  You have actually thrown away a few pieces of clothing just so you don’t have to deal with the stains on them.  Ugh – yellow mustard.  Enough said.

4) You only wash your favorite jeans every 4–6 weeks. (Please, please wash them more often than that!)

5) You haven’t seen the floor of your laundry room since you moved in.  5 years ago.

6) You chronically have 3 empty drawers in your dresser…because you don’t have any clean clothes to go in them.

7)  Your sock drawer is completely empty.  Your stray sock bin, however looks like this:

(Oh yes, this really was my sock bin a few months ago.)

I wrote this tongue-in-cheek, but there are those of us who struggle – a lot – with some aspect of taking care of our homes.  (If you’re curious, my struggle is keeping our floors clean.  They need to be vacuumed practically every day with six people living here and oh! that’s just ridiculous to me.  Who in the world has time for that?!)

But if your struggle is laundry, you’re at the right site. There are easy steps you can take today to improve your laundry life.

So what are some of those ‘easy’ steps?

Here are a few good places to start:

- If you have no idea where to start with the pile of laundry you’re facing, here are 10 steps to getting your laundry pile under control.

- Here’s some direction if you’re looking to start a laundry routine.

- And if you’re the type of person that needs quick results, here are 3 immediate ways to reduce your laundry pile.

I absolutely adore my apron.  It was handmade for me by my Great Aunt Mary (who is as fabulous as you’d think she would be).  It has seen a lot of wear and tear over the years I’ve owned it.  And it has also created a lot of memories for my children and me.

(The apron on the left is mine.  The apron on the right is my daughter’s, handmade by her Mawmaw.)

When I have on my apron, my kiddos know that something fabulous is about to fill their bellies: melt-in-your-mouth homemade pancakes or our favorite chicken casserole or barbecue meatballs or homemade pumpkin bread or….the list goes on!  By wearing my apron, my family knows some serious cooking is about to take place, and then some serious eatin’.

But are aprons really necessary?

I believe they are.

I would guess that I wear my apron at least 4 or 5 days out of the week.  We have a pretty minimal clothing budget, so I must take good care of even my house clothes.  Even though I stay home with my children during the day, I don’t want to look messy and stained.  I can’t tell you the times that an apron has saved my clothes!  Things like bacon grease and homemade tomato sauce are really hard stains to remove.  By wearing an apron, I don’t have to worry about stain removal.

There may even be a better reason to wear an apron than stain removal (gasp! Did MamaLaundry say that??):

Wearing an apron tells your mind: prepare to work.

Whether you are wearing an apron in the kitchen to keep splatters off of your shirt or you are wearing your apron during your regular house cleaning, it almost seems like part of a uniform.  Since I worked as a nurse for 9+ years, a uniform definitely gets my mind into gear that I am getting ready to work!  And an apron is no exception.  It helps my mind know that we are going to get moving and helps me stay focused on the tasks at hand.

So what about you? Do you think aprons are necessary?  Do you wear one daily?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on them!

I’m pleased to link this post to WFMW over at We are THAT Family.  Because aprons?  They definitely work for me.

I know, I know. It seems strange to love that my children have dirty clothes.  With dirty clothes comes the never ending laundry pile that is hard to get a handle on at times.  It means another evening of me folding clothes when I would much rather be doing something else.

(2 of my 3 beauties, as my Daddy would call them)

But it also means that my kiddos are healthy enough to run outside and play in the backyard.  While cooking dinner most afternoons, I can hear my girls squealing in delight as they make “cakes” in the sandbox.  I can hear my little boy fighting imaginary pirates as he digs a big hole in the backyard.

Sure, they come back covered from head to toe in dirt.  But in the big scheme of things, does it really matter that they ‘messed up’ their clothes outside?  Do I care that it adds to my laundry pile?

Not in the least.

(Note the dirt all over her face – even up her nose!)

I am acutely aware that not all mamas get to see their children make ‘grass angels’ (like snow angels sans snow here in North Carolina) or scribble with markers and get it all over their shirts. I realize that this is an enormous privilege – this motherhood I live every day.

And I am so grateful.

So bring on the dirty clothes! My washer is waiting.

Most days, I don’t mind doing laundry.  In fact, I almost enjoy it.  It’s a great feeling to get everything washed and line everyone’s drawers with clean, fresh-smelling clothes.  It’s gives a great sense of completion.

But there are those days where I think I’m going to revolt if I have to wash one more load of clothes.  Usually that happens when it’s 9pm and I realize there is one more load to fold in the dryer.  At 9pm, I want to wind down from my day – not continue to work.

So what do I do?  What do I do to encourage myself to get moving and get the laundry job finished?

Well, it varies.

Most of the time I can just give myself a good pep talk when that happens: “It’s going to be bad tomorrow if everyone wakes up without clothes to wear, so you’d better get moving.”  Or: “Make things easier on yourself – get the laundry done today because tomorrow is super busy and you don’t want to add one more thing to your plate.”

On the rare occasion, I let the laundry slide.  And then I suffer the consequences.  What are the consequences you ask?  7+ loads to catch up on which is not my idea of a fun day.

But when that does happen, it cements it more in my mind that I have to stay on top of our laundry or it will overtake us.  In the early days of pre-children, I could get by easily with slacking on the laundry and letting it pile up.  But now that we have four children, that’s just not an option.

So in this season of life, the pep talks continue for the days I’d just like to let the laundry slide.  Thankfully, they work to get my rear in the laundry room.

What do you do to encourage yourself to wash clothes when you’d rather do a million other things?

There is a picture of a onesie stained with baby poop at the bottom of this post.  Don’t scroll down if you are the squeamish-type.  Consider yourself warned!

Do you have clothes that have been lying on your laundry room floor for weeks?

Do you have tablecloths and cloth napkins left from Christmas that you have yet to wash?

Are you in the middle of switching out children’s clothes and need to finish the job?

Do you have a pile of ironing so large it makes you cringe every time you look at it?

Are your bed linens so gross that your whole room has the boy smell?

Today is the day.

Take a few minutes and write down the three biggest laundry tasks that you have hanging over your head.  You know the ones.    Put them at the very top of your to-do list for the day.

Examine your schedule for the day and see where you can fit in at least one of these dreaded laundry tasks.  If it is just throwing those random, scattered clothes from the laundry room floor in the washer, it will literally take you 5 minutes to get started.  Now if your ironing pile is up to the ceiling…well that might take a couple of hours.

What laundry job am I doing today that I’ve been putting off?

Oh it’s just so lovely, the things we mamas do.  I have about 4 outfits with baby poop on them that must go into The Soak.  And it’s not going to be pretty – some of them were rinsed immediately in cold water and some were not.

What dreaded laundry task are crossing off of your list today?

There are so many times in my life where I have been completely overwhelmed with laundry…and I just didn’t know where to start.  Having a mountain of dirty laundry staring you in the face can be daunting.  Not to mention depressing.

So how do you get started on such a task?

Here are 10 steps that will move you well on your way to conquering that huge laundry pile:

1. Plan to stay home for the day.
   This might be the most important piece to the process of getting your laundry out of crisis mode.  You simply can’t roll the laundry along if you aren’t there to do it!  If you are a stay at home mom, cancel all trips to the library or grocery store.  That can wait for another day when people have clean underwear again.  Instead, clear your calendar of everything but the essentials.  Make sure breakfasts and lunches are super easy with minimal prep and clean up.  This is not the day for elaborate meals!
2. Plan to stay home for the evening.
   If you work outside of the home, come straight home after work and clear your evening calendar to make room for your laundry plans.  Order take out or pull something from the freezer for dinner.  Whatever dinner plans are, make them simple with minimal prep work and clean up.
3. Next, designate a sorting spot for your mountain of laundry.
   For me, I sort everything in our upstairs hallway.  My laundry room is super little and can hardly fit the machines and myself in there at the same time.  So throwing all of our dirty clothes in there would be pointless.  Of course this spot will vary for each family.  Yours may be in the laundry room, on your bedroom floor, or in a corner of the kitchen.  Make sure to make your sorting spot near your washing machine. You don’t want to create extra work for yourself.
4. Go into each room of your house and look for stray clothes.
   I cannot tell you the days that I find random socks and tshirts in the school room or by the back door.  I have no idea how or why they are there, but they are nonetheless.  After you’ve examined every room, take all of the clothes and put them in your already designated sorting spot.
5. Gather all dirty clothes from your laundry baskets.
   Take them to your sorting spot.  Just dump them in a big pile.  Don’t worry about sorting anything until every dirty piece of clothing in your house is in this sorting spot.
6. Start sorting!
   Just start at the top and start sorting clothes into piles: whites, darks, delicates, towels, etc.  I would encourage you to sort through the entire pile of clothes at one time.  Don’t stop halfway through when you think you have a full load of whites.  I can guarantee you there will be that stray shirt at the bottom of the stack that you wish you would have thrown in there.
7. Start your first load and set your timer.
   Put your first load in the machine and set your timer so you know when it is completed.  Today is not the day to leave a load in the washer for several hours.  As soon as your timer dings, move it on to the dryer or clothesline and put your next load in the washer.  Don’t forget to set your timer again!  If you are like me, there are a million things going on in your household and you need the timer as a reminder.  I call this “rolling laundry.”  By having everything already sorted, you can easily put loads in the machine when it is time.
8. As soon as the loads are finished in the dryer, take them out, fold them and put them away.
   A load of clothes is not fully completed until the load of laundry is folded and put away.  This is the hard part for many people.  That last step can be a toughie!  I can’t even tell you how pleased you will be with your results if you’ll go ahead and take the 5-7 minutes to put the entire load away.  So just save yourself the headache later and do it as soon as they are folded!
9. When you are finished with your final load, rest.
   You deserve it!  You’ve accomplished a ton of work by getting your laundry out of crisis mode.  Be proud of yourself!
10. Finally, when you’ve recovered from your day or evening of laundry work brainstorm about your laundry routine.
    I’ve outlined a few ideas to move your laundry routine out of crisis mode, whether you are a mom that stays at home or a mom that works outside of the home. You don’t want your laundry routine to be crisis mode – you want it to be on auto-pilot.  It gets old when your laundry is always piled up high, so when you’ve recuperated from your laundry day, work on developing and implementing a laundry routine.

If you have children that are old enough to help, then by all means assign them some laundry tasks!  My 3 year old is definitely old enough to carry the random-room clothes to the laundry pile.  And both my 3 and 5 year olds can put away their own clothes in their drawers (with minimal assistance).  So if your children can help, give them a job and let them get to it!

Clean clothes can be such a blessing to your family.  So get motivated and cross this big laundry pile off of your to-do list!

Do you have questions about how to work out a laundry routine?  Or how to conquer your own Laundry Mountain?  Ask in the comments or send me an email: mama@mamaslaundrytalk.com.

What’s going on in your laundry life this week?  I’ve got several outstanding issues that I must tackle.  Here they are in no particular order:

• My husband is complaining that his workout t-shirts are smelly.  They smell great coming out of the washer and then the dryer.  But as soon as he breaks a sweat in them, they smell awful and soured.  It’s really a losing battle with those shirts, though.  He works out in the morning and then those wet shirts sit in a hot, plastic gym bag all day until he gets home.  So that incubation time certainly is working against my laundry efforts.  But I’ll do my best to get them smelling clean again.
• I have a ton of kids’ clothes to put through the stain remover soak.  It seems like their clothes are coated in everything from salsa to chili, which are two toughies to remove.  But I’m sure The Soak will do the trick!
• I have got to work on my Laundry Room this week.  It’s hanging over my head, and I detest for things to hang over my head!  We’ve got a super busy week coming up, so this item will probably be towards the end of the week.  But I will get it finished!  I’ll be sure to post pictures upon its completion.

And other than the normal washing clothes routine, this should be it.  I hope!

What’s going on with your laundry this week? It’s Monday, so go ahead and figure out what you need to accomplish and put it on your to-do list!

Is folding laundry just a mundane task to you?  Is it your least favorite chore?
Here is a list of things you can do while folding through your laundry pile:

1. Check items off of your mental to-do list. I almost always have a written to-do list on the counter, but I also have a mental list going.  I take that time to review what I’ve gotten accomplished and what is still left to do.
2. Daydream. I rarely have a few moments of quiet for daydreaming.  On the occasion that I am folding clothes alone, I let my mind wander.  It’s fabulous.
3. Memorize Scripture. I try to memorize Scripture with my children.  This is a great few minutes to go over and review the verses.
4. Interact with your kiddos. Tell them a story, ask them how their day was, or have them review their spelling words.
5. Call your best friend/mom/sister. It’s a great time to chat up a friend.  Laundry folding is not rocket science, so it won’t compete for your attention.
6. Listen to something. An audio ebook, the radio, your favorite CD, an online course you’ve downloaded.  The options are endless.
7. Watch a short video on YouTube. The average load of laundry takes between 5 and 10 minutes to fold, depending on the size.  YouTube has a plethora of short videos to bide your time while folding.  There is everything from tutorials to news.
8. Catch up on the DVR. If you’re a person that saves all of the laundry to fold at one time, it might take awhile.  Watching a show from the DVR could be a nice treat while doing the job.
9. Teach your children how to fold! If they are old enough, take this time to teach your children how to fold their own clothes.  Start out with the easy stuff like folding a washcloth or folding their underwear flat.  They can move on to folding t-shirts later once they master the basics.

What do you do while folding laundry?  Leave your ideas in the comments!

Well, it’s Monday.

I love laundry…but the laundry overflows (yes, even at Mama Laundry’s house!) every single Monday morning.  It can get old.  And overwhelming.

And some Mondays I’m a little more tired than usual and I need some encouragement.  A little inspiration to get moving on rolling the laundry.

So I created my little Laundry Bulletin Board:

It is the home to many things: extra button packets, my quickie stain removal guide, receipts that we need to keep, my son’s famous index card drawings that always end up in his pockets.

But it is also home to a few very important reminders: pictures of my husband and my kiddos and also one of my favorite Bible verses.

Some days I need to see a picture of my lovelies so I can remember why I am trying to work through this mountain of laundry craziness.  I need to see their sweet, smiling faces and remember that it is an enormous privilege to provide their basic needs.  I need to see my husband’s face because it triggers me to think about how thrilled he is when he sees all of his white t-shirts clean in the drawer and declares that the “Laundry Fairy” has been.

And my Bible verse is there to remind me that the Lord cares for me in all of my struggles, even in something as mundane and ‘every day’ as laundry.  I’m so grateful He’s interested in everything I do, whether it is something grandiose or just another daily chore.

We all need a little  pick-me-up from time to time.  A little inspiration to keep on keeping on.  I use my bulletin board as a great reminder of how clean clothes can bless my family.

Do you ever need  a little laundry inspriration?  What do you do or use?

I am pleased to link this post to Remodeling This Life.  Go take a peek for some new-to-you reads!

I love clothespins.

They are versatile and have literally hundreds of uses.

These are a few of my favorites…

A Con Agra treat from Blissdom:

My Sweet Sadie Grace in her Clothespin Bib:

Holding open my hymnal:

What are your favorite around-the-house uses for clothespins?