Organizing the laundry

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Laundry! I can't stand to do laundry. I use to let it pile up until I was forced to wear dirty clothes or wash something. That all changed years ago. Not because I wanted to, but because I had a husband and kids to keep up with and they needed clean clothes.

I really tried hard to convince my husband that we needed to hire someone to handle all of the laundry and ironing. That did not work out so well. He laughed.

As an organizer, I am always trying to figure out ways to make keeping your house organized; easy. I had to work extra hard on this one. One day I stumbled upon something that changed the way I did laundry. When I tell you my solution you are going to think I am crazy. I am not saying this will cure your laundry problem. It is merely to re-enforce what I teach my clients; it's about finding out who you are and what works for you. What I am about to tell you has worked for me and for one of my clients who laughed at me, then tried it!

I have a double hamper in my closet that separates my whites and colors. One day I bought a white plastic hip hugger hamper. I thought I would use this as a transport basket. At the time, I had a load of clothes in the wash and the dryer was empty. I went to my closet looked at my hamper and saw that my whites were full. I placed a load in my transport basket. After the clothes in the wash were done I threw them in the dryer and placed the new load in the wash. My transport basket went back to the closet. This time I filled the transport basket with colors.

There was something about just seeing that one load in a basket that made me feel like I could get it done. I keep the transport basket in my closet where I can see it and for some reason I feel like that is all I have to deal with; that one basket, or one load. See? I told you it was simple. I worked to get through all of the dirty clothes and by the end of the third day the only dirty clothes were in the transport basket, washer, or dryer. That's the truth!

Laundry has never been a problem since. That basket was the perfect size load; not too big, not too small. Every time I see that it is full I know to throw it in the wash. So you see it wasn't something crazy that I had to do just something small that changed the way I view doing laundry. Simple solutions can make big differences.

I also know that to stay on top of laundry I have to have a schedule. I usually fold a load in the morning and put them away. I also take the load I put to wash at bedtime and move it to the dryer so that I can fold and put it away at night. If there is more laundry than normal, or items that have to be special washed, I may do another load as soon as I get home and another at bedtime.

My next step towards conquering laundry will be to convince my husband that we need 2dryers. I think everyone should have 2 dryers. This would really cut down the time we spend doing laundry! Until then I have my basket.

Another tip: a small amount of soap goes a long way. A full scoop that they provide in the box is way too much. Also, most clothes can and should be washed in cold water. Both of these tips will save you money!

Have a good laundry solution you want to share?? Let us hear from you!