Some people strive for “inbox zero.”
I strive for empty laundry baskets.
Inbox zero sounds nice, but I don’t think it’s worth my time. I clean out my email inboxes often, usually just leaving 10-20 messages that relate to an upcoming activity or a current project.
But that moment when ALL the laundry in your house is washed, folded, and put away is a glorious one. I try to experience it at least once a week. Of course, the moment is fleeting, and the laundry piles up again, but I never let it get out of control.
Disclaimer… in the past I’ve talked about cleaning my bathrooms religiously (every single week on the same day of the week). I think this devotion to having clean bathrooms got mistaken for enjoyment of cleaning my bathrooms. I would like to state: I do not like cleaning the bathroom. It’s a gross chore and one I would love to hand off to a housecleaner forever. However, I love the feeling of having a clean bathroom and find it’s much easier to keep it clean if I just deal with it quickly every single week, so I endure it while listening to podcasts. I don’t like it.
But laundry is another story. I actually find laundry quite enjoyable. Here’s why…
1. Laundry is relatively easy because two machines do almost all the work for you. If I lived in a time or a place where I had to manually wash my clothes down at the river or with boiling pots of water, I would not be a fan. But seriously… I dump a hamper of clothes in the washer, push a few buttons, transfer the clothing to the dryer an hour later, push a few more buttons, and in another hour 2-3 days of laundry for four people are completely washed and dried. What a modern miracle! Right now laundry is more “difficult” than it’s ever been for me. Since we live at the beach, we have a shared laundry room in the back of our house. To do the laundry, I have to walk down a flight of stairs and through a dirty alley. Our washer and dryer take quarters, so I have to remember to pick up a roll every single week at the grocery store. The machines are small and old, so it’s hard to clean many items at the same time. Oh, and I’m eight and a half months pregnant, so hauling our clothing up and down sandy steps is extra fun. Basically what I’m saying is… even in the least convenient of circumstances the modern washer and dryer make laundry the easiest household chore.
2. I know what you are saying… it’s not the washing part that bothers you; it’s the folding. The laundry comes out in a giant, clean heap and needs to be put away. Here’s the trick… make it fun. I have given myself a rule I follow religiously (kind of like cleaning my bathrooms): I can ONLY watch TV if I’m folding. I’m not a television girl by nature. I usually only have 1-2 shows I watch at any given time. Right now, those shows are This Is Us and Designated Survivor, and I keep up with them as I fold. I don’t watch these shows if I’m being idle, and I never watch other programs mindlessly during the week. Instead, I am usually caught up on both my shows and my laundry because I only do both activities at the same time. If you are someone who watches a lot of shows, choose your favorite one (or two) for motivation and commit that 30-60 minutes to watching and folding at the same time.
3. Put it all away right away. The machine did 90% of the work for me. Then I did the next 8% of the work while watching TV. Now there is only 2% of the labor left to complete… putting the clothes away. Usually I will put everything away in my room as I’m still watching a show on my phone (or I’ll challenge myself to put away a batch every commercial if I’m watching on a TV app rather than Netflix/Amazon). By that point, I might have half a basket of laundry that belongs elsewhere around the house. I’ll turn off my show and have it all put away in the next 2-5 minutes.
4. At that moment, I have reached “hamper zero” and I’m pretty thrilled. I know this process will get more complicated as we add more children to our home, but right now I typically need to do about four loads per week to stay caught up (an average of one load per family member). I typically do a load of laundry on Mondays, Tuesdays OR Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I rarely do laundry on weekends unless we have a beach day or a toddler accident. I anticipate going up to five loads a week when Baby #3 arrives next month. Even if you have four kids, you should be able to get all your laundry done in six days, always taking a laundry Sabbath once a week. Or you could do two loads per day, three days a week, and give yourself multiple days off.
So that’s it… how I stay completely caught up on laundry almost all the time. The rewards are great… Your closet and drawers are constantly filled with freshly-cleaned clothing. You are never missing that one shirt you wanted to wear because it’s still sitting in the hamper or completely wrinkled at the bottom of the clean clothes basket. You never have the burden of “all the laundry mounting” in the back of your mind. It’s just done. A machine does 90% of the work for you. And then you do the last 10% while watching TV. It’s amazing. It’s doable. It’s easily my favorite chore.
Laundry, I love you.
“Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life.” – Gretchen Rubin
