posted
Is one of those chronic facts of my existence. Do you have one?
Steve cooks, and I care more about clean clothes than he does. He'll cycle them through the washer and dryer for me occasionally, but folding them is entirely my domain.
I actually had it disappear yesterday for a brief period of time. Our house was getting appraised for a refinance, and while it shouldn't make any difference, you'd hate to have clutter be the reason why the place was appraised lower than you wanted. But as of last night, it has returned.
Mt. Washmore currently sits on our loveseat. I drape the folded clothes over the back and arms of the seat and they occasionally spill over to the coffee table. Maybe if we get the utility room fixed up, I could have a large table that I could fold clothes on eventually. But right now I don't think using the dining room table for the purpose is quite right. Then we'd be having socks for dinner.
posted
I don't see the pile of clothes waiting to be folded much. It's all the clothes waiting to be ironed that get to me.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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It took me two days, but I demolished it. I also folded(yes, folded, not rolled) ALL THE SOCKS in the house. Every one. Well, not every one, but I threw out the nonmatchers.
(There is no room for all the laundry when it is folded, by the way)
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I have a pile of clean clothes in front of my dresser. They usually get picked up and worn before they ever get the chance to go back in the drawer. Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I have a "sock bucket" one of those giant red 40 gallon tubs. I hate turning socks, so they all go there to begin with until I'm in a properly foul mood. Matched socks go from there to the "sock basket" which may or may not be put away in the closet. There are only two of us so it isn't like I have to have a sock distribution system for kids.
posted
Pffft. One laundry basket is dirty. The other is clean. They live across the room from each other. No problem.
(I do hang up my nice clothes. Sometimes. And occasionally dump socks & underware in drawers. But fold? Nope.)
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
We don't iron either. I know it's a huge waste of electricity, but we throw whatever is to be dewrinkled into the dryer with whatever needs to be dried.
I think I might have given my ironing board away...but I'm not sure. I haven't looked for it in ages.
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Clothes that you don't want to be wrinkled should be taken out of the dryer while they're still slightly damp. Then you gotta pop'em before you hang them up.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Not a problem with clothes, really. But I'm thinking of seeing if I can get a geologist interested in a study of my "tobefiled mountain range" - real sorts of interesting stuff going on with it. Occasional quakes, slides, etc. And I think that developing an understanding of "pile tectonics" could revolutionalize the lives of disorganized types everywhere.
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We have that problem...compounded by being in the process of converting a double back to a single and moving upstairs. Who wants to carry clothes upstairs when your bed is still downstairs? Anyway, my wife is under orders from this guy to weed out the clothes that don't fit/are in bad shape. Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
I believe I've seen Mt. Washmore - while visiting A.J.....
At our house it is the dirty clothes basket(s) that are heaping. I try to get a load or two in every night, but it never seems enough to keep up with the family of five in the house. Clothes, towels from daily showers, bedding...it is endless.
and many mornings we hear "Mom! There aren't any clean socks!"
I know what your thinking - and I agree with you -- I'm somewhat of an environmentalist myself.
but my retired mother lives with me so I can support her, and she has this quirk about clean towels..... it isn't worth my arguing with her over it. Since I'm at work most of the day, I don't have a lot of say in the matter.
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Actually, I don't mind laundry so much. When I was a teenager, my first job (at age 14) was working in a laundry of a geriatric nursing home. Doing mega loads of laundry, 8 hours per day, most of it soiled because the patients were incontinent.
I promised myself I would never ever complain about laundry again after I moved on past that job...
posted
Which reminds me, I need to buy more towels from Sam's or Costco... puppy poo...
The flip fold sounds like a cool idea but I don't have one. And yeah my biggest problem is actually getting the piles put away once they are folded. With the appraiser coming I put my foot down and made Steve help.
But now that everything is put away I can't find anything either...
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I am determined to make my world organized by the time I get back to work next fall. If I can just get those systems in place...
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I think I just need lots and lots of cabinets. We don't have enough right now. Problem is that even the Ikea stuff adds up real fast. My plan is that when we remodel the kitchen I will take all the old cabinets that are in there now, prime them, paint them white, and put them in the laundry/dog room. Then top it off with a couple of IKEA storage racks and I should be good to go. But we have to have the $$ to remodel the kitchen first...
posted
0) Install a horizontal bar hanging from the ceiling over the dryer to an easily reachable height. 1) Immediately* after the dryer stops, hang all clothing which can be hangered**; including Tshirts, shorts, pajamas, teddys, etc. 2) Fold towels and sheets. Place in laundry basket. 3) Throw socks into laundry basket. 4) Layer hangered clothing over socks. 5) Throw bras/panties/briefs/boxers/etc into laundry basket. 6) Transfer bras/panties/briefs/boxers/etc into appropriate drawers. 7) Transfer hangered clothing to closets/wardrobes. 8) Pull towels and sheets out from under socks and transfer into linen closet 9) Dump socks from laundry basket into clean lidded basket kept beside the chair/bed/etc of the most-often-watched tv***.
* If you let the laundry sit in the dryer, everything gets wrinkled.
** Enjoy the zen of ironing, but my tastes dictate that ironing is rarely necessary: I detest leg/arm creases on my pants/shirts. Creased clothing is worn for only those occasions upon which creases are "mandatory" by social or business etiquette. For regular wear, I flatten pants along the outside and inside leg-seams, therebye overlapping the "zipper"seam onto the back-seam, fold in half along that "zipper"&back-seam, and match the legs so they overlap completely. Then just hang them from the pants' cuff using a double-clamped hangar. Similarly, the shoulder-seams are matched to the hangar. Don't do anything about the sleeves.
*** Television viewing always allows time for matching socks. If one feels a compulsion to pay close attention to a show,
quote:[Per hour of] network television...time used by commercials [during]...[primetime] was 16:43minutes...daytime rate was 20:53minutes...network news showed 18:53minutes...and late night news aired 19:06minutes...
allows ~17to~21minutes per hour for sock matching.
posted
You know when you fold a shirt and soert of smooth it down with your hand, Sndrake? It's kind of like that.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote: You know when you fold a shirt and soert of smooth it down with your hand, Sndrake? It's kind of like that.
Hmmm. Familiar with the "folding" thing for shirts, but must know more about this "smoothing" thing...
::am now wondering if I'm on the receiving end of an enlistment spiel for some strange sort of laundry cult::
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
There are two piles in my room. Clean and Dirty. I am moving again in about a month so I have no necessity to buy a dresser.....or a bed....or a light that turns on when I flip the wall switch.....or a tv.....or drapes.....wow, My room is sparse. If it weren't for the two piles of clothes there would be nothing there.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I learned to do laundry when I was six. But then, I am half chinese. In order to make your kids do their own laundry, they can't have more clothes than fit in a load of laundry. They each have to have their own laundry basket.
At the age my kids are, they can wear the dirty socks because it's not like they are going to be in those shoes for more than six months anyway.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I learned to do laundry at 5 or 6, but then, I was the household Dobbie.
Hey, those of you who would like a system . . . have you heard of FlyLady? Check it out. I don't do everything she says, but I have adopted certain principles for use, and it works for me.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Unfortunately, I neglected to look on the table, where there were three syrup-sticky plates from the morning's pancakes.
Actually, now that I am home and addicted to Home Organization shows, Imight resign up for The Lady.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote: I know it's a huge waste of electricity, but we throw whatever is to be dewrinkled into the dryer with whatever needs to be dried.
Yep. Guilty of this as well. I pick out what I'm going to wear the night before (because my sister is usually asleep when i get up and I can't find stuff in the dark). Then in the morning, I usually pad into the laundry room and throw my pants/skirt in the dryer while I'm getting ready to go.
I try not to buy shirts that need ironing. Polyester is my dear friend. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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quote: I actually like folding clothes. I stick in a movie, and do it on the couch. It's fun.
Raia, does it actually take the whole movie to fold all the clothes? That's a lot of clothes...
My dad and my step-mom got married when I was 10. With six kids in the house then, they just taught us to do our own laundry. We also had "laundry days." My parents had the weekends, and then each kid got a weekday, except my little sister and I shared a weekday because I had to do her laundry in addition to mine.
Posts: 486 | Registered: Feb 2005
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At least you learnt sometime. Too many grown-up people, are totally clueless when faced with a washing machine. When a friend of mine and her father are left alone in the house, they don't wash their clothes or even eat well, because they're so used to someone doing it for them, and not allowing them to help or learn.
Luckily, my friend was forced to learn when she came to University, although I despair about her father. It's not that hard, people! There's no great mystery!
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Agreed. While 5 seems awfully young ( ) to do laundry alone, my kids certainly started putting away their own clothes at that age.
I need to teach my now-11-year-old to do laundry. She's old enough. (She already helps load the machine sometimes.
I am disgusted when my HS students claim that the reason they're missing some component of their uniform is it was dirty and their mom was too busy to wash it. I tell them they are certainly old enough to do laundry!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I wear dirty uniform stuff sometimes, partly because most of it needs to be drycleaned, and I can't dryclean during the week because I would need it for the next day.
I can do laundry, but mostly just leave it to our housekeeper; that's what we pay her to do! (Plus be my chauffeur, and my brother's nanny)
Posts: 459 | Registered: Dec 2004
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In order to make your kids do their own laundry, they can't have more clothes than fit in a load of laundry. They each have to have their own laundry basket. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
) to do laundry alone, my kids certainly started putting away their own clothes at that age.
