And probably at least once a week you will do many more than two loads, because you will also do the towels, the permanent press items, and some bedding. That will be your real “laundry day”! I go into everything in depth and at length in Worksheet IV.
In that marvelous document I talk about kitchen towels, and I wanted to show you something I have in my kitchen.
I found this little rack at a yard sale and I painted it white. It's sort of in a dark corner in my kitchen along with the fire extinguisher, the trash pickup schedule, and the recycling. On it go my damp towels, and everyone knows that if a towel is there it's getting ready for the wash. Isn't this a more interesting picture than a bleach bottle?
If you are seeking permission to have clean clothes on a reliable basis AND laundry baskets wandering around your house, under control but in various stages of the process, you have it! With my blessing! I don't know any other sane way to go about it.
Freckled Hen says
I like all your pictures! Even the laundry ones. It is interesting to me to see how we all cope with daily chores. You are always full of great advice. I was going to bring up the flu laundry–when every sheet, blanket and towel in the house is dirty but you spoke of this in Worksheet IV. Once again proving you are the most organized person I have ever encountered!
Arden says
Uh oh. I have more than 7 children AND a baby AND a husband with a dirty job (restaurant). My laundry is exactly as you describe and I do it exactly as you laid out. It is the easiest and most effective way of handling laundry.I also do meal plans for the month. When I shop, I buy sale items and staples and then I make the menus from a stocked pantry and two freezers. This will free up so much time in the long run. I had to fumble around and figure this out for myself – in the midst of having 8 children. I wish someone had been around to teach me.
Anne R Triolo says
so, notice in your last picture that your kitchen counters have all sorts of things on them? and at least most of them belong there! I feel like if there is one thing on my counter it makes my whole kitchen look messy and disorganized. I would like to learn the art of organized kitchen counters.Just putting it out there.
Leila says
Dear:Freckled Hen: you are too kind :)Arden: I wish someone had told me too! So that's why I'm putting my idiosyncratic ideas out there: so that some gal can be released from the necessity of reinventing the wheel, housekeeping-wise! And all these comments really help!Annie: So funny. I realized that the picture here reveals a very messy background. Fortunately, it seems that one can't be enlarged for some reason :)I consider myself a "messy counter" person…always trying to reduce the number of cluttery things on my counters and always failing. I like to have things right at hand! But grouping things helps, and always cleaning out from under everything (as opposed to just leaving stuff in one place forever) helps. Maybe this could be a post sometime 🙂
Mrs. Pickles says
I love your towel rack! You lucky thing! My grandmother has a similar, smaller one that she uses for her dish cloths and I've been looking for one just like it for AGES — I so dislike soppy dish cloths hanging over the edge of my sink. Obviously I need to hit yard sales more often. 🙂
Jackie says
I do so appreciate your thoughts on laundry. I recently switched to using the dryer balls (plastic and spikey) instead of the sheets, but after about 200+ loads, I find that they don't really work well any more, so I'm switching back to sheets. I've never thought about cutting them before, though…I'll have to try that. Thank you so much for your words of wisdom!
Jen says
I love your laundry posts. I have been doing 1-2 loads of laundry for years – 3 loads a day when we had cloth diapers. IMO, it's a great way to deal with laundry. It's a task that is never complete since people are always changing clothes, drying hands, etc. We also have the divided laundry hamper – 1 side for whites, the other for darks, and I have a basket for light colors and another for towels. I keep small bathroom trash cans in the bathrooms and kitchen for dirty washcloths and rags. We use thin baby wash cloths in place of tissues. When I do a load of dark laundry, for example, I pull out DH's pants and work shirts to wash together. They comprise 1 load. It makes it easier to put away since it's all his clothes hung in his closet. Everyone (DH and the boys) throws underwear in the darks so they get washed together with pj's and socks – again easier to fold and put away. I usually wash my things together, too. I agree with using warm and cold water. I almost always keep the water level at its highest since water pushing through the laundry is at least as important in getting it clean as soap. Blue Dawn gets out all the grease stains, even on pillowcases. I dissolve 1/8 cup in the laundry. Dryer balls (wool is best) are great for static and fabric softening. White vinegar is also a great fabric softener (and gets rid of the smell of vomit!). I don't use anything with scents or dryer sheets due to extreme skin sensitivities and allergies. Really, the test of clean laundry is if it smells like "nothing," rather than being masked by fake scents.Laundry is never "done," but it's always under control. I often throw in a load before I go to bed. Put it in the dryer when I get up and throw in the next load. I fold in the afternoon during "rest time."
Adele says
Leila,
How do you bleach things with a septic system? I grew up with a touchy septic (in my high school years we had it all dug up and redone) and we never used bleach for anything. Now I have a family and I need to bleach somethings and doing it by hand is not my favorite. Any thoughts?
Adele
Leila says
Adele, that amount of bleach (1/4 cup for one load of towels once or twice a week) is really nothing. We’ve never had a problem. You can always check with the experts in your area, but here the septic system has to be up to a certain code and can certainly handle that little amount of bleach!
Emily says
I have a very small contribution: replace all of your towels with turkish peshtemals. They are lightweight cotton that dries so fast it does not get mildew. Only downside is that they come with these annoying tassles that I cut off and rehemmed. I wash them and then just put them on the kids hooks in the bathroom and they are normally dry a half hour later. HUGE time and money savings. Think I spent $10 on each. I no longer use any of the normal towels.