I started my day with the usual morning routine. Devotional, Water, Coffee, Coffee, Coffee and then brain dumped my to-do list and notes. Today is also laundry day. After a fun weekend skiing with my best guy, we are all back to work and school.
To start the week off right, we reset the house yesterday afternoon. Everyone pitched in to do dishes, sort laundry, take out the trash, vacuum and prep dinner while I finished un-decorating Christmas.
We actually left the house a bit of a disaster on Friday with small piles of decorations everywhere. I took advantage of the warm weather and pulled down our outside lights but didn’t have time for repacking.
Going away for the weekend to visit family and ski with my son was far more important. Moreover, I knew we could handle a few chores Monday afternoon without much hassle. But life wasn’t always this way.
Christmas decorations used to be a several day affair. House cleaning was outsourced. Laundry piles were unending and meal planning non-existent.
Perhaps the idea of laundry, unpacking, dinner prep, lunch packing and un-decorating in a few hours feels completely unachievable to you? It might be. But that is just one amazing difference you will experience by owning less stuff. I chose the tagline Own Less, Live More because it describes the vision I have for this one life I get to lead.
If you haven’t checked in with me yet, please do. Send me an email, FB message, Instagram comment….anything. I’d love to hear from you. This morning, I received kind emails from readers. I am so grateful for those notes. It sounds like the challenges are helping many of you. So, let’s keep going! Laundry time!
Getting a handle on laundry for any family can be difficult. If you find yourself searching through the dryer for clean socks, I am here to tell you, there is a better way. That’s the good news. The bad news is, you have too much clothing. 🙂
Most people struggle with the final step of laundry….sorting and putting away. So, by reducing the amount of clothing you have and increasing the margin in your closet, laundry gets much easier. I promise. Before we evaluate your wardrobe, think about your laundry system. Consider creating a new habit.
Decluttering Challenge Day 16
- Laundry Day – If possible, choose one laundry day. In my corporate days, it was Saturday morning. Daily loads of laundry made me feel like this task was never ending! I also ran more small loads which wasted water and detergent. It ultimately made more work for me. A single laundry day encouraged me to wear all of my wardrobe. But it also made me aware of the excess and rarely worn items.
- Sort by Person – Before washing, sort by person. Give each family member a laundry basket to serve as their hamper. If you replace broken ones, I suggest buying square baskets that nest inside each other and stow away easily. Like these. I wash my husband’s clothes alone because he has more outfits per day. (I.e. Office, gym and home.). My son’s clothing and mine can be washed together and are easy to sort.
- Laundry Start to Finish – In other words, wash, dry, fold and put away the clothes on laundry day. I place the clean clothes on my bed. I cannot go to bed without completing this task. That’s the hard part, right? For today only – just wash, dry, sort and fold.
- Survey Your Closet – Is there room to put away these clean clothes? Or is the space filled with items you rarely wear? Is the closet so full that even hanging clothes are wrinkled?
- Donate Clothing – In honor of Day 16, find 16 clothing items for the donation pile and get ready for tomorrow’s clothing closet tour.
What if you are doing outside laundry for family in assisted living that u see several times a week and u never know what u r going to encounter
Cathy – that definitely complicates your laundry system. My advice would be to try to keep the washer/dryer free for the days when you typically return from a family visit. Do your in-home family laundry on different days from when you visit the assisted living facility. For example, if you visit Tues and Friday. Then, do the in-home laundry before you pick up more laundry. Absolutely sort/wash/dry loads by location. If the family members in the facility have enough clothing to only do so once per week, then you can run more full loads. I had a friend who instructed her 2 teenaged children that they needed to do their laundry Mon-Fri so that the washer/dryer were free for Mom and Dad on weekends because they worked outside the home all week. This is the idea that I’m getting at. I hope this helps you but I am happy to continue conversation with more info. Care giving is not easy work and I’m sure they appreciate everything that you do!!