For those of you who have been with us for a while, you know that we started things with a right good will, blog-organization-wise. I had all those posts about laundry and such, and they were somewhat indexed on the sidebar in order.
Some of you never looked at the sidebar and didn't know that all this fruit of my labor was there.
Some of you counted on those posts being there, because we didn't have a menu bar and you wanted to direct others to the posts that had been helpful to you. Some of you even tell me that you would go back and re-read those on occasion!
Well, then we got our new blog, and then we made the giant leap of commitment to the menu tabs (oh! the commitment!), and then we took that sidebar away.
I know, trauma.
Unless you never looked.
Anyway, all of which to say, I've been working hard at trying to do something more there than just the category archive being linked, which I know is vexing because the posts load backwards and aren't all necessarily super germane. In my mind it's all to be replaced by something very classy with little thumbnail photos that take you to the relevant posts, all in order.
But when your posts are old and have been migrated with resulting wonkiness in formatting, all that takes for. ever. I have to at least try to make them a little less funky. Not all the coding is the same over here, so it does take a bit.
But I've done the laundry page! Little by little, I got it spiffed up! And then, what do you know, at my brand new HomeGoods store I found new hampers! I've seriously been looking for years — since before I started my laundry posts!
So I'd been living with broken-down-plastic hampers because a) whatever; b) couldn't find two (one for lights, one for darks, just like I tell you) that were the right size and not c) incredibly expensive but it doesn't matter because d) not available at any cost or e) are made of actual wicker which, sorry, will get mildewed here, and don't even talk to me about those cute cotton liners because they wouldn't last even a month in this dampness.
But there they were! Two lidded wicker-like yet plastic yet sturdy hampers, looking exactly the way I wanted, on clearance. Yes.
Now, not to belabor all this, only, I am truly excited about these hampers — they are in the upstairs hall and thus, impossible to photograph.
What you see is all you're getting. If you study the picture below, which was taken at Bridget's fiddle camp, hence, all the youngsters with fiddles and people watching them, you will see where this is that I'm talking about:
There is no lighting there — it's just a narrow hall with those two windows on one side and the wall of a room on the other and a bathroom at one end and more hall at the other, and I'm telling you, it was sunny when I took the (bad) photo of the items in question. That part of the house is shaded by a tree so large you only see the very tips of it there at the top of the picture. I don't know what else to say.
So, to recap: Two new hampers, $22 each, in their rightful place, somewhat in the dark. They are perfect, I love them. Hampers are important. Laundry is important. I have many posts about laundry, now all nicely organized in the menu bar. Working on the other tabs — thank you for your patience, “system processing”!
And! I've updated this post about Paul Jernberg's Mass and CD/score giveaway to let you know that it's going on until Wednesday night; and now there is a code for a discount if you would like to just straight-up purchase the music. Just enter the code leila at his site and you will get 10% off the already discounted price! The scores are hot off the presses, so do see what you think! Leave your comment on that post (not here!) to win.
Also, this offer still stands for the discount on David Clayton's Way of Beauty course — this course is online and gives you a solid grounding in an understanding of beauty in many dimensions. Use the code LMLDFIFTEEN for your 15% discount until October 16!
I hope you are as excited as we are about these opportunities for more beauty! Please take advantage and spread the news far and wide! I'm not getting anything for any of this except the satisfaction of promoting real beauty as best I can.
Mary Catherine says
Love the hampers, and happy to report that my parish has already purchased 20 scores of Jernberg’s Mass — it’s lovely! (I’m hoping our director can call and retroactively get the discount.) And I’ve forwarded it to lots of other musicians. What a gift to the Church!
Patty says
Your hampers are pretty. Laundry is one area of life I feel like I manage fairly well. I have a 3-bin laundry sorter in my laundry room. Everyone is *supposed to bring their laundry from their rooms and put it in the sorter (cold, warm, hot) but usually what happens is I call upstairs, “I need your laundry!” and a deluge arrives all in one day. Each kid has a basket in the bedroom to hold laundry until they bring it down, but yeah, not used as intended most of the time.
Thankfully we aren’t that many people or that “system” wouldn’t work very well, would it?
I like my laundry sorter because it fits in my laundry room and we are used to it but the canvas bags are starting to fail and who knows if I’ll be able to replace them. Someone with a sewing machine and some skill would be able to patch them but that person would not be me. Maybe I can beg a friend. 🙂
Kathy@9peas says
I love the pretty hamper idea and one day plan to implement it. We are nuts and bolts while laundry remains on a institutional level due to all the people to clothe in this household. I use a very sturdy sorting system purchased at a store for gym supplies. This is actually one for basketballs, baseball bats, or any other sports equipment but it has stood the test of time and remains very durable. If it ever starts to break down, unless I have fewer than 6 children at home, I’ll just go with this again. It may not look pretty, but I keep it in a dark hall and pretend it isn’t there, LOL!
Anna says
I just read somewhere that most modern fabrics are color fast so we don’t need to sort our laundry anymore. I’m too scared to experiment with mixing darks and lights but was curious if there was any truth to it?
Laundry makes me crazy. I read about how people in the past made do with a few outfits and rage when I see clothes in the laundry basket that have been worn for an hour. Dummy question – are there rules for what must be washed? Say you wear a sweatshirt to walk the dog in the morning. Do you put it in the hamper or wear it again? And if you don’t wash it, what do you do with it? I can’t bring myself to put it back in the dresser because it’s not *really* clean but it seems like a huge waste to put it in the hamper and wash it.
Margo, Thrift at Home says
I also get furious when I see non-dirty clothes in my hampers!!! I am teaching my children that if there is no visible dirt or obvious smell on a piece of clothing, it can back in the drawer/closet. I have told them that smells are more of an adult thing anyway, so what they are mainly looking for is dirt/stains/griminess. Plus, I make my kids fold and put away all their clean laundry, and when they complain, I remind them that THEY are in control of how many clothes they dirty!!! It sort of works. . .
Rachel K says
We have a row of hooks under the window in the little ones room for sweatshirts/PJs that have only been worn one night, etc., and a set of over-the-door hooks for DH and I for things that aren’t quite clean but aren’t ready to be laundered. The system works better for the little guys, mostly because they like hanging anything and everything, and because I’m actually too short to easily reach the ones in our room, but that’s how we approach it in our house, if that helps!
Susan says
I don’t sort by color. My only exception to that rule would be something new and red but, actually, my son has a new bright red shirt and it didn’t bleed at all. I do sort by fabric type a bit. I read recently that this is more important. I wash swim suits separately and towels separately and we only wear cotton clothes. For my mental health right now it is easier to sort by location. The hamper can then be folded in the room where the clothes or whatever will be put away.
We have sets of hooks in our bedrooms for clothes that were worn once, for pajamas to be worn a second or third night, and for the rare time when my kids have kept their clothes stain- and odor-free for an entire day. The clothes air over night (or during the day in the case of pajamas) and are then worn another time or put away.
Leila says
I do stand by sorting for lights and darks — AND for fabric type — and I explain it all here:
http://www.likemotherlikedaughter.org/2009/01/washerwomans-paradise-with-another/
I just think that after a while, looking at dingy t-shirts that have been washed with jeans is going to get you down.
I also discuss the issue of clean/dirty mixups in the post about Laundry Problems Start with Too Many Clothes! Check out the series there in the menu bar!
Anna says
Thanks. Right after I wrote my comment, I remembered that you’d discussed it before.
My problem isn’t the kid though. It’s my DH. He has way too many clothes. He’s one of those “what if I need it?” types. We went on vacation last year and had to pay a fee because his bag weighed too much. And we were just flying to see my parents!
I made an executive laundry decision yesterday. DH doesn’t like his t-shirts and sweatshirts to be put in the dryer. Sweatshirts take about 2 days to dry on the rack that sits in our one little bathroom. DH wears said sweatshirts for an hour or two after getting home from work and then puts them in the hamper. They build up in the hamper because I dread washing them because they will go on the rack in the bathroom. Sweatshirts are bulky so after a few days, the hamper is overflowing and I’m feeling that our laundry is out of control.
So yesterday I did the laundry and dried his sweatshirts and t-shirts and put them up in the dresser. I’ve decided that going forward the only items that will be excluded from the dryer are things that are nice/expensive and there is a legitimate fear that they will shrink.
I guess I’m a bad wife. Oh well. I’m just glad there are no sweatshirts drying in our bathroom right now for the next 2 days.
Donna L. says
Oh, yes, I call barely worn clothing I find in the washroom “Fake Laundry”!
Thank you for the conversation about hampers…we too have quite a bit of moisture…{maritime Northwest} so I cannot hang up towels after showers, because they are NOT DRY the next day…so, I do a lot of laundry!
Ginger says
“Fake Laundry” That made me LOL
ann says
I don’t know scientifically, but when I look at the laundry my boys bring home from college that they have not been sorting, I really do think that the whites look awfully dingy. White dress shirts matter, I suppose that underthings really don’t.
That being said, I am reminded of what David O. Selznick said to Olivia de Havilland when she posited that he could save money on the petticoats when making Gone with the Wind. She said they needn’t really be silk, because no one would ever know the difference, as they would not be seen. He responded that she, the actress, would know the difference and that made the extra expense worthwhile.
And so, it is probably still worthwhile to sort laundry, because we know. Still, those college boys just really can’t be bothered, and they don’t have many (any?)white shirts.
Leila says
Ann, I’m appreciating your resounding evidence in favor of both sides. 😉
A. says
I have to comment on the laundry post today because last night we got our washer and dryer (new house did not come with them) and I am simultaneously overjoyed and overwhelmed at the amount of laundry I will be doing this weekend 🙂 Anna, I do 2-3 loads of laundry a week and for something like a sweatshirt or fleece that gets worn regularly but isn’t truly dirty, I try to get it washed every ten days to two weeks. It doesn’t need to be washed every time it is worn, unless it actually has visible dirt or stains (this rule also applies to blue jeans, husband’s shirts that are always worn over undershirts, etc) but my goal is to get it washed slightly before it NEEDS to be washed, you know? Hopefully this admission isn’t too scandalous; I may have a somewhat warped perspective on what constitutes “dirty” because I lived in Guatemala for a time and washed all my clothes by hand in a sink (when there was water available). That experience will make you not want to wash clothes until they need it, even if you have clean water always available and a machine to do it for you!
Margo, Thrift at Home says
I had no idea you struggled so much with dampness! My mother-in-law tells stories of growing up in India, where in the rainy season, her school uniform would get mildew between the pleats as it hung in the closet.
I have cloth hampers on sturdy wooden frames, and generally people remember to hang damp dirty things over the sides until they are dry enough to go down in without mildewing everything. Not very attractive, but these hampers are not in our public rooms 🙂
Robin says
What about when you go to fold said washed laundry, only to discover that the 7 year old *boy* has one pair each of underwear and pants, and one shirt. When asked, the answer is “Mom, I was performing an experiment of how many days in a row I could wear the same outfit”. I’m having to work on these people to redefine ‘dirty’ in another direction! Po-tay-to, po-tah-to!
Leila says
Robin, this is why I think mom folding the clothes is so key! How else would you have discovered this crazy idea of his!! 🙂
s says
I want those hampers….Mine have fallen apart. Where did you find them…and on clearance? Laundry is the bane of my existence right now as I am using the laundromat…but my kids are being very conscious of what they throw in the hampers as I can’t turn around the laundry as I used to. On the plus side, 30 minutes and I have whites and darks washed using the quad or triple loaders. If course it is pricey!
Sue says
I love your hampers!!! Apparently, though, your dampness problem is not quite as bad as Japan, because I could never have a hamper with a lid! Boo!
Karen8 says
Please pick me! I’d love to hear the music and then share it with our parish choir! Thanks for the giveaway!
Lauren says
I can’t believe it. I have the same exact hampers as Leila Lawler! I purchased mine also at Home Goods a few months ago. I always go back to revisit your old posts on laundry, dinner, order and wonder, and cleaning. I need that inspiration every so often. It really helps me.
Katie says
I think the new laundry-tab page looks really nice. The narrative/pictorial arrangement is easy to understand, and it brings the category archive back to the chatty, many-photo’ed, good-advice vibe of LMLD. I realize how finicky such a job can be. Thanks for persevering! It’s a great update!
Mrs. B. says
Ah, hampers! Ah, HomeGoods! Ah, those little red stickers with clearance prices for just what you were looking for! My problem is that sometimes I’ve fallen in love with their hampers and bought some (I use them in the kids’ rooms for toys, not just for laundry), only to discover a few weeks later that they were selling even prettier ones!!
Stephanie says
I am one of those people who reread hour housekeeping posts often. You are so thorough and I just love your humor. I have not been able to implement everything in my home BUT there is hope and I just love your…if I can do this so can you motto…slow and steady. Def got my showers going first thing, I can blitz a room pretty well and I know what my family will eat before 10 every morning. Thank you Leila!!!!!!
Ginger says
Yes, laundry is important!
Have a great day…..