I’m ashamed to publicly admit this, but here goes: I’m terrible when it comes to getting the laundry put away once it’s cleaned. I have a really bad habit of taking the clothes out of the dryer and putting them on the bed, with every intention of folding them and putting them away. But it never fails, I get distracted by some other chore, and as the loads continue to dry, I just keep putting them from washer to dryer, from dryer to bed. By the end of washing day, I have a bed piled high with clothes, and I’m too exhausted to put them all away. So what happens? They end up being pushed off the bed, onto the floor at the foot of it, and for a few days I dig through it finding what I need, until I finally decide, Today, I’m putting these clothes away!
The only thing that works for me is if I immediately put the clothes on the hangers or fold them, and put them away one load at a time as they get done. If I can just keep up with them as they dry, the piles don’t multiply and become overwhelming. My mission is to be more diligent when it comes to putting the laundry away… for my poor husband’s sake!
Anyone have any helpful suggestions??
Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks&Me says:
I had a habit of doing this but with only three people in the house, it didn’t stack up as much as at my daughter’s house (two adults and four little children).
However, it was bad enough.
My solution may seem almost too easy but I no longer let myself put dirty laundry in the washer if I’m seeing the clean laundry start to back up again.
There is nothing like the incentive of the family needing clean clothes to make one put it away!
Also, I’ve learned if I’m letting clothes from the dryer stack up, there is often something behind the “why” of it. For instance, my teenage son’s room was horrible for awhile and I hated going in to it to put clean clothes away. Once it was cleaned and organized, I didn’t let them stack up as much.
Same for my hubby and I as we didn’t have enough hangers for everything (or drawer space). So, I would get frustrated at putting clothes away. Our solution to that… buy a few more hangers but get rid of a lot of our clothes that we knew we wouldn’t be wearing. Now there is enough room in the drawers and closet for the clean clothes!
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Mom, I'm Bored! says:
I need to work on this too. Thanks for the tip!
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 am
Tasha Via says:
I am the EXACT same way!! We travel for a living and so we get home and finally caught up on the laundry and it’s a disaster area until I buckle down and actually fold it and put it away=)
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Carrie says:
I just wanted to say that I really appreciated when you posted your menu for the Angel Food Menu. I just posted a recipe we tried with the sausage we got this month.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Trish says:
I have the same problem - there is a huge (and ever growing) pile of laundry on the floor of our bedroom. I think there are 4+ loads there now. It typically doesn’t get this big, so I will need to do some folding today.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Alyssa @ Keeping the Kingdom First says:
I feel much better knowing I am not the only one who does this! I certainly need to be more diligent too. Thanks for the reminder!
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
sandra says:
Been there, still doing that!!
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Arlecchina says:
My solution to this problem may not work for you, but I’ve found that if I leave the dry laundry in a hamper, it’s much too easy just to pick it up and move it. It seems strange, but if I dump it out on the bed instead, I usually end up folding it before we go to sleep instead of trying to move it all to the floor.
It helps that we have a very small bedroom without much space for piles of laundry! I guess that goes along with the recent posts about minimalism and paring down–folded laundry is a side benefit?
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
mom2fur says:
My comment vanished, so sorry if this is a repeat!
Sometimes, I like to wash clothes by category. For instance, all towels in one wash, or all aprons (and napkins–they sort of go together in the kitchen) or all t-shirts. This way, when you take it out of the dryer, it all pretty much goes to one place. Then you don’t have to walk back and forth between rooms.You could make each family member a ‘category,’ too.
I have been known to wash only red clothes. Yeah, weird, I know…but at least none of my boys get stuck wearing pink socks, LOL!
Oh…and having a clothesline helps…because it makes me get things off the line before it rains or the spiders decide to make homes in our skivvies.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Trace says:
HERE is your solution. It sounds drastic but move one bureau for each person to the laundry room/basement in our case and put clothes directly from dryer to bureau. Put 1 Hamper for each person next to said bureau. Ta-Da….done!
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Kansas Mom says:
I know some people will wash only one person’s clothes at a time (or all from one room), so they can fold from the dryer and then take them straight to the room to put them away.
What works for me is giving myself the “treat” of watching a TV show or movie from Netflix while I fold. I usually get the folding done within the first 10 minutes or so. If I’m doing multiple loads, I pause the DVD to pull them out of the dryer and add them to the stacks. At the end of the video, I stack everything in the basket in reverse order and put it away. (I do this after the kiddos are in bed and put their clothes away first thing in the morning; it only takes a moment if they’re folded and in drawer-order.)
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Meshellyn says:
I have the exact same problem! Our laundry closet is in the middle of our upstairs hallway with no room for folding or sorting or hanging afterwards. Thankfully we have a guest bedroom (until we have a second baby) and that bed is the catch all for clean laundry. I’ve been trying to minimalize the clothing we have and weed out what we don’t wear to minimalize the piles. I’ve seen in a catalog somewhere for a clothing bar that extends from the floor to ceiling and has swivel arms for hanging up clothing as it comes out of the dryer. Once finished it folds down and can be stored away. It may be something I’ll need to invest in when our guest bed goes bye-bye.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
anita says:
hmm..call me weird, but I’ve always loved doing laundry. There are only two of us at home now, so putting laundry away is a cinch…but I’ve always hung everything up or folded it, right as it came out of the dryer. Kitchen towels get put right into the drawer, as soon as they are folded. Everything else goes in the laundry basket and gets taken upstairs, along with the items on hangers, at the end of the day and put away before bed. No exception. The next morning I use the empty clothes basket to put in whatever is dirty and needs to be washed that day. Works for me!
A good hint…have a great laundry room that you love…and always have a clothes rod and empty hangers so you can hang things up!
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 am
deb says:
My laundry area is in my kitchen and from my kitchen I can see the LS TV in the LR so I just fold each load of laundry when the dryer “dings” while I watch something on TV and then put everything away. We are a minimalist family so we don’t have vast wardrobes of clothes to pile up, anyway. It makes life so much easier and more relaxing/pleasant. We also save tremendously on detergents and electricity this way. I also hang out my laundry unless it’s raining. Fold it as I take it off the line and into the basket so that when I get inside it is all ready to be put away.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:58 am