“Why does MY house seem to be the only one where nothing has a place, or if it has one, no one puts it there? Never do I go into other homes and see their dresser tops and counters piled with boxes, hangers, toys... toys...and corners with laundry, kids' rooms with stuff just sitting around! No order.”
This is the question I’ve been addressing in a series of posts this week. The first four addressed everything else but laundry, and today’s article is about keeping laundry organized.
In my experience as a Professional Organizer, laundry can be the straw/shirt that breaks the camel’s back in a messy house. The clothes are like sprinkles on top of the mess cake. I don’t like putting away laundry either, I mean, who really wants to spend their time doing that? So, here is an area that can benefit from concrete rules, ones that don’t require decision or choices, which can often lead to excuses and clutter.
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If you have a large household, do at least one load daily.
This would equal at least 7 loads a week, if you prefer to do it over a few days instead of every day. I get up early enough in the morning to do a complete load before going out for the day. A complete load includes washing, drying, and folding. If it’s a day where I’m not going out after one load is complete, and have 2 more hours at home, I do another load. I do a maximum of 3 loads a day and start none after 1 pm. I know this sounds a bit rigid, but it works for me. Concrete rules mean no procrastination to get out of it. After all, I don’t think I’m ever going to WANT to do laundry! J
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Pick a day of the week when you put your clean laundry away and stick to it.
Every Friday, I put my husband’s and my clothes away. Most times I do it on Friday afternoon/evening, but if it occasionally ends up how I spend a Friday night, so be it. The handful of times I don’t do adhere to this schedule, and wake up on Saturday to a week’s worth of laundry to put away, I’m not happy about it. It feels like I’m starting the weekend with this mundane task on my To Do list. It’s just best to get it over with. Pick a day once a week to put away your clothes and stick to it, so quantity remains manageable.
Have a set number of hampers and don’t add to it.
For the clean laundry for my two kids, I have a limited number of hampers for clean, folded clothes for them. (You ARE folding clothes right out of the dryer, correct?): three. Once those three hampers are full, I hang up their hangables, sort out their other stuff on the guest room bed (her socks in one pile, his pjs in another pile, etc. etc. etc) and they come to get those piles and put their clothes in the appropriate drawers. After three clean hampers, am I excited and looking forward to the task at hand? No! But I’d be a lot less excited about five hampers worth. Three keeps the system do-able and procrastination at bay
Have a set number of hangers and don’t add more to your closet.
In addition to having a limited number of hampers, I have a limited number of hangers. When putting clothes away, if I run out of hangers in any one in my family’s closet because someone got new clothes, something old and obsolete goes out. Discards usually either go to my bin of clothes to be consigned or to my donation station. Again, it’s a concrete rule to keep quantities manageable. Start with a generous amount of hangers so that you know you realistically have enough.
Tweak your system to find what works for you, and stick to it.
What I do works for me. It may be helpful to others but they probably should tweak it to make it even better suited for them. Make concrete rules, ones that don’t allow for excuse making.
Jean Linder is a Professional Organizer for homes and offices throughout Suffolk County and The Hamptons. If you’d like to receive the other posts from this blog series, please visit www.jeanlinderorganizing.com, go to Contact Me, and indicate you would like copies of the blog series sent to your email address. Happy Organizing!
