Monday Morning Laundry Blues

Yikes.  It really is this bad, since I just took this picture a few minutes ago!  It takes up the entire length of my hallway and the pile is as tall as my almost-3-year-old.

I think every article of clothing we have is dirty.  My poor husband went to work in his “back-up jeans and shirt" this morning.  Meaning what he is wearing is his absolute last clothing choice in his closet.  And my son hasn’t worn pajamas to bed – only a tshirt – for the past 3 nights.  And the baby slept in clothes last night since she also didn’t have any pajamas clean.

And this picture doesn’t include any linens: 2 loads of bath towels and 2 bed’s worth of sheets.  And crib sheets.

Needless to say, today is an enormous laundry day at the Hill House.

So what am I doing to get my laundry under control?

• I’m enlisting help.  My “big” kids are only 4 and 2, but they can certainly bring me the laundry baskets and run them back to the closets.  And I’m teaching them to sort, so they can ‘help’ me sort the clothes into the right piles.
• I collected random clothes in each room.  Someone please tell me how clothes end up in every room of our house?? I mean really.  How does that happen?  There’s kid underwear in the downstairs bathroom, there’s random socks by the back door and there are tights in the laundry room floor.  The kids and I go into each room, do a quick scan for random clothes, and get them to the big pile above.
• I’ve lined up my baskets and I’m sorting everything first.  Resist the urge to pick through the pile and pick out all of the white items.  In a pile as large as mine, there are sure to be items that are missed.  And that leaves you a small white pile to wash.  Just sort first and get all like items in one basket.
• I’m setting my timer.  I’m setting my timer so I know exactly when each load is finished washing.  The washer always takes longer than the dryer, so I only need to time it.  As soon as the timer goes off, I’m going to go roll my laundry.  I’ve got to keep it moving if I want to get it finished today.  And I do want to get it finished today.

This is the most important thing I am going to do today in relation to my laundry:

I am going to stay home.

The only way to get my laundry washed is to stay home and actually do it!  When I get behind on laundry, I set aside the whole day to be home – no grocery store trips or library trips.  The laundry doesn’t roll itself, so I have to be here to do it! 

Regardless of how practical or ‘perfect’ one’s laundry routine seems, we all get behind.  We all have commitments that take us away from our usual ways of doing things…and then we have to get ourselves caught back up.  Whether it’s laundry or dishes or meal planning or grocery shopping or mopping floors (ahem).

My timer has just gone off, so it is time to switch loads.  I’ll post a laundry update later this afternoon!

What is the most overwhelming task you have this morning?