I love to experience clean laundry. . . warm, soft, freshly-scented cotton folded and stacked in lovely piles. I enjoy separating my children’s and my husbands better attire and carefully hanging it up to dry, knowing this helps alleviate the wear caused by the dryer. I relish the aroma of gently scented soaps mingled with softeners and the clean bouquet of bleach.
On the flip side, I despise dirty laundry. I am saddened by piles of damp, malodorous clothes and linens. This could be a constant cause of discontent in my life as 11 people can produce a large, ugly hill of soiled laundry. However, it is not a problem in my house the majority of the time.
My technique is this: instead of waiting for a specified wash day, my LG’s are working away almost every hour of the day. The movement of water in that stainles-steel tub and the purring of that large, lovely dryer can usually be detected in our home.
One of the first items on my list in the morning is to initiate a load of laundry. Throughout the day, we all continue to move the process of fabric-care along. Washing, drying, folding and suspending some of the clean products from hangers – this is the rhythm of the laundry room and everyone participates. (Our daughters are the heroines in this laundry epic, they are always contributing to the laundry attack. Our sons are either knights in shining armor or villains to be slayed, depending upon their helpfulness factor!) It’s punctuated by the continual movement of fresh linens, towels, and clothing to their proper places in our house.
This daily laundry ritual is a key factor to my overall sanity. I could not face 5-7 days of laundry generated by 11 people on a regular basis. I have taken this project on after camping trips so I am well aware of the ugly reality it produces. I’d rather face continual, manageable laundry issues throughout the day. I can rest easy knowing that at some point my laundry basket will be empty, albeit for only a moment, during any 24-hour period. In the meantime, I will continue to bask in the fluffy, warm loveliness of clean towels.
This is what works for me. You can peruse great tips at Rocks in My Dryer’s Works For Me Wednesday.
“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.” – E. B. White