House Help: Laundry Lament :)

Up until two weeks ago, I had planned on posting about how we should all do laundry on one day each week, so that it doesn't drag out over several days.

SINCE having a new baby in the house, I have found that washing clothes for 6 people is A LOT of clothing. :) Babies have a way of dirtying several outfits each day, as well as burp rags and blankets. Between spit up and poop, this little bundle of joy has created quite the mountain of laundry for me!

I designate every Monday as laundry day. I try not to schedule any doctor, dentist, or other appointments for Mondays. We tend to not run any errands and stick close to home, so that we can tackle all the dirty clothes in one day.

Lately, I have also been washing sheets, towels, bathroom rugs (little bottoms have been dirtying these with accidents or dirty shoes or dropping toothpaste!) and a load of socks and underwear later in the week, like Thursday or Friday. This week, I did 4 extra loads of laundry - yesterday I washed all the dirty sheets and the heavy blanket from our bed (it'd been awhile since it was washed) and today I did a load of socks and underwear as well as a load of rugs.

So, what kind of help can I offer with regard to laundry?....now that my whole opinion of it has changed. :) My advice is this: stay on top of it.

If you designate a day to laundry, DO the laundry that day. Start it first thing in the morning. Keep up with it when the cycles end. Switch the loads out right away. Fold and put away everything as it's done washing and drying. The more you leave in a pile or basket to do later, the less likely you are to sit down and do it. For me, it's all mental - if I have more than one clean load sitting there waiting to be folded and put away, I will see how large the pile is and keep putting it off. Right now, I have a basket with the load of socks and undies sitting here staring at me. The rugs load just ended in the dryer, so I really need to get this basket of laundry here folded!

If you need to do an extra load each day, do it! Throw it in first thing in the morning, rather than leave it for later in the day when you're bogged down with other activities and your energy level is depleted. :)

If you have to keep changing the routine or way you do it to find a way that works, DO IT! You won't find the best way for you to stay on top of it, if you give up and just settle with never being able to get it done.

On that note, I'm off to fold!