The Laundry Monster

One of the things I am most strict about around the house is my laundry. Each day of the week is designated for a different load to be done. I toss it in in the morning, switch it sometime during the day, and then dump it out on my bed when it's dry. Then at night before bed, my husband and I each put away our own stuff.

This routine works really well for us and I never end up with piles of unmanageable laundry. We have a small family, so we generally just have one of each of these loads per week. However, if we have more than one, I would still do it on the same day (e.g. both loads of kids' clothes on Wednesday). Here's the routine that works for us:

MONDAY: Whites
TUESDAY: Brights
WEDNESDAY: Kids' Clothes
THURSDAY: Darks
FRIDAY: Sheets and Towels
SATURDAY: Anything I missed during the week

I dump the laundry on the bed for several reasons. First, then it's not shoved into the basket getting wrinkled. Second, I'm forced to put it away. After I put the clean clothes on the bed, I immediately put tomorrow's load in the basket and take it to the laundry room so I'm set to go for tomorrow. I find that keeping laundry baskets in my house is, for me, a clutter magnet, so I try to keep them in the laundry room.

A friend of mine designates one day as laundry day and just does it all day long. Any other ideas? What has worked for you?

Where Do I Even Start?

I thought a good first post for the re-launch of Simply Clean Living would be to talk about blitzing. We all have those days when we wake up and think, "WHAT happened to my house?" And it's all so overwhelming that you feel like you can't even start.

I have a remedy for that called blitzing. A blitz at my house is 30 minutes and no more. I set my timer for 5 minutes and spend 5 minutes cleaning each of the six main areas of my house: kitchen, living room, hall/bathroom, my son's room, my daughter's room, and the main bedroom/bathroom. I sometimes adjust that and add in our desk area instead or in addition. I probably do this 1-2 mornings a week.

It's really amazing how much you can get done in only five minutes. I start by taking out everything that doesn't belong in that room, and then move on from there based on what's bugging me the most.

I've hesitated blogging about this because it's really no good without pictures, and I felt stupid posting pictures of a really trashed house. But these are from when we just got back from a vacation, so it felt more valid somehow to have it be so messy. First a before shot, and then an after shot of each area.

Kitchen



Living Room




My Son's Room





My Daughter's Room





Master Bed





Desk Area





As you can see, it's still not perfect, but I feel so much better and more peaceful after doing it. I at least feel like I can actually live in my house, and all those anxious feelings die down. Try it! See what you think!