Laundry... done!

I was trying to do the one load a day method, but it wasn't working.

1. I hate folding clothes. Doing it every day... I just can't make myself do that. I end up dumping them on the love seat, and telling myself I'll do it tomorrow. For days. Sometimes weeks. And that builds up fast when you are washing a load every. single. day.

2. I kept running out of socks because the white hamper fills up much more slowly than the rest. I've had to wear my husband's socks at least one day a week since I started that. And I know the logical thing would be to wash the whites when I was out of socks (or buy more socks... it has occurred to me), but I would also be out of other things, like hand towels and cleaning rags, or the kid's socks. The towels, darks, and lights hampers fill up so much faster.

So when I read that Nony at aslobcomesclean.com had managed to keep laundry under control for quite a long time by having a laundry day once a week, I jumped at it. Cause I know I own a week's worth of socks (if I don't step in anything wet more than once). And not having to fold every day, just devoting one day a week to it, seems more like something I could pull off.

Yesterday (Thursday) was my first "laundry day". And I did fold and put everything away, including the mountain that we've been having to pick through on the love seat all week. I also pulled out all of the pajamas the kid has outgrown, counted and recounted to make sure she had at least one week and a day worth of pajamas (just in case something trips me up on a Thursday), and tossed the rest (about 50% of the original total) on the donation pile.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what we actually use through next Thursday. I know there are so many clothes we don't wear, and I really could clean a lot out of our closets.

Something else encouraging about this is that after I have already developed the habit of "one load a day" (minus the folding), today I've been getting the itch to load / check the washing machine. Not that there is anything to make a load out of. Not that I want to do laundry. But out of habit, I keep thinking "check on the laundry". This gives me hope that I really can turn routine maintenance into a real habit given enough time.