This is my loveseat today.
This was my loveseat before last night.
Now in my (lame) defense, that was not a current before picture. That was a day-after-Christmas before picture.
We had come home on the afternoon of Christmas Eve after spending two days with my family. We baked cookies (and more), opened our family gifts, awakened on Christmas morning to find what Santa brought, and left by 11 a.m. to spend Christmas Day and evening with the in-laws.
I’m pretty sure this picture was taken AFTER the two-hour nap we took when we got home.
The point of the picture is the laundry pile. And how it was there the day after Christmas and was still there last night. Last night, we finally had a lovely Family Folding Time and cleared it off.
Wait. Haven’t I shared/bragged about how I don’t make Clean Laundry Piles anymore? How my world has been rocked by the Put It Away Immediately Out of the Dryer method?
Well, yes. I have.
It’s just that my family hasn’t quite caught on to that life-changing concept yet.
And when things get crazy and Hubby offers to run a few loads of laundry so we’ll have non-stinky clothes to wear to Grandma’s house, I’m not going to complain that he doesn’t do things exactly how I do them.
I might have had to bite my tongue a little, but I didn’t complain.
I saved my self-righteous speech-giving for later.
At the furniture store.
See, I’ve been noticing lately how our family is growing. Not in numbers, but in size. I have one who will be a teenager in LESS than a year (yikes!) and another close behind that. Even with the loveseat generally sit-on-able, our lounge space doesn’t really fit the family. So I’ve decided I want to get two small recliners to replace the loveseat.
As we shopped over Christmas break, my daughter exclaimed in alarm . . . “But where will we put the clean laundry?”
(Breathe from the diaphragm. This allows for long and passionate sentences.)
“Well. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed that we almost never have clean laundry on the loveseat anymore. I don’t put it there anymore. Nope. I fold it straight out of the dryer and put it away immediately.”
I was surprised they hadn’t noticed and they were surprised to hear of this thing they hadn’t noticed.
Whatever.
If you need help getting laundry and clutter under control, my books will help: How to Manage Your Home without Losing Your Mind and Decluttering at The Speed of Life are available at your favorite bookseller!
--Nony
Oh…this is good! Ha! But truly…it is the worst when you mend your ways and no one notices! So funny that your daughter would think about the laundry pile when furniture shopping!
Oh, I so enjoyed this post! LOL I need to do start folding our clothes immediately out of the dryer too. My couch currently looks like the before picture of your love seat. Except I’m sure my couch also has a few clothes stuffed down in the cushions from being sat on with said space-stealing-laundry in it. Your blog is so encouraging!
I’m pretty sure we’ve had people in our church home group pull out a stray sock or two before!
We had a guest come to our home when my husband and I were newlyweds. My sweet husband noticed something and reached between his legs to pull a foundation out from under the couch where I sat to fold laundry. A bright purple foundation garment. My sweet husband then blurted out, “It’s not like we were doing anything in here or anything.” I could have died.
Haha I love it! I usually dump clean laundry on the bed to put away – the goal is to put it right away, but if I get sidetracked I’ll remember it when I want to sleep. Hey… It works for me.
I love seeing your love seat and after Christmasness of your living room. Thank you I feel MUCH better!
Our laundry closet is on the second floor. I have the best luck if I fold it right on the floor as I pull it out of the dryer and put each pile away. Otherwise, it can in a laundry basket for days. .. like the basket of clean towels that’s been in my bathroom since Friday.
Well I have been in the same boat. Except for my hubby and kids noticed the laundry piles. Lol. We have just recently moved into a brand new home and well I am so proud of myself. That long lost love seat is no longer used to house piles of clean laundry. Although this may be due to the fact that I am truly happy in our new home and I have a laundry room solely designated for that job. Before our washer and dryer was in our kitchen. Yikes. Imagine the laundry piles there. Our new home, the living room stays immaculate. My hubby is fearful that this is gonna be short lived because I will return to my old ways. I try my best to stay on top of the laundry now and attempt to fold and put it away in a much quicker manner than before. Also we can use our love seat now. No more sitting on the floor for the kids because we all couldn’t fit on the couch. I am proud of my accomplishment. Just hope I can continue on this path.
This is exactly what makes housework the pits! No one notices if you do a great job. They only notice if you do poorly. sigh. It is just SO unmotivational.
Too funny.
Have to agree with Ronda. They only notice if you DON’T do it.
I dump it on our bed too. That way it HAS to be put away before I go to bed. Once my husband suggested moving it to the floor and dealing with it the next day. I got so indignant he never has suggested that since. Also I don’t require the kids to fold their clothes. Just put them in the chest of drawers.
Myom used to use stackable baskets in the laundry room. One color for each of us. She would fold straight out of dryer and put into our baskets. It was our job to put the clean clothes away.
I have to admit that I also have a chair in our living room that is the “clean laundry” spot. In fact, the chair is one that we were given, that fits in a corner of the room not conducive to TV watching. And, it is one that we have considered giving to a new mommy in our life (it’s a rocker). Maybe we will surprise her with it…I have been thinking about it, and to my great chagrin, one of my most pressing concerns is wherever will we put the clean laundry, if we give it away????
Hello, I am a long time reader, like over a year but not sure I have ever commented. I just wanted to take the time to thank you for your e book sale. I k now I purchased your 28 day e book before but couldn’t find it to save my life. So I bought the two book bundle and I will succeed in de slobbing our home. I wanted to share with you to give myself a bit more accountability I went through and wrote the first two weeks tasks on my calendar in the kitchen so now Iam not the on l y one who in knows what mom needs to be doing but my husband as well. Anyway I am on day two of this process and wanted to say thank you for the sale.
Thank you for this comment!!
I learned my laundry method from my sister- mother of 7-
she hangs up all shirts, straight out of the dryer, no wrinkles, no drawers full of squished T-shirts
The rest is quickly sorted into individual baskets (each kid has there own 1/2 size basket)
pants folded neatly, socks paired, undies sorted
The idea is that the kids will come and get their laundry and put it away, well even when they don’t it is all neatly taken care of.
I love this method because it is easy to tell which clothes no one wears, if a shirt stays on the rod for a few weeks it’s obvious- and into the goodwill box it goes
I have been using this method for 20 years, and I never ever have a pile of clothes to deal with.
Well, we’ve made the break from dragging the full clean unfolded laundry baskets into my bedroom before Christmas. Of course it was immediately replaced by 2 large bins of wrapping paper and accessories still lounging in my clean space. The laundry has moved to the living room where I thought I was making progress by making the kids put heir piles away each night. However, I AM living with floded laundry on the couch all day every day, and even with the dreaded unmatched sock basket. (Though I confess that’s moved to the hall between our closets.) Cotton headed ninny muggin. Really thought I’d been doing well. Pssssshhhhttt.
Okay, this hit home. I have been sleeping on the couch because of the clean laundry monster. But the laundry monster sleeps on my side of the bed, and he is huge! I’m not sure what to do about him. If I put the laundry away, I put it away, but then NO ONE else will EVER put it away. E.V.E.R. Help!
Reduce your clothing! I know it sounds crazy, but that has helped me so much!
Oh my, should I even admit that I have a huge pile of laundry sitting on our love seat right now. I think they have been there for a week or two. And it was me who put them there, not my husband. In fact when he helped me with laundry he folded and hung up the clothes straight out of the dryer. His mother was not a disorganized mess of a housekeeper like I am. I clearly need this blog 🙂
You have a loveseat to put it on how fancy lol. Ours goes on the floor in front of the dryer. Thats how I know its clean lol my 30 day goal is majorly reducing the amount of clothes our family has. I love your site btw
That laundry monster is just as big as the dishes mind t we in our house. Since we have new furniture, I swore that it would not be the home of laundry. Just like some of the other replies, I have a method to my madness. I have several dish tubs that each child decorated so we know whose each is. We, err, I, fold up the little ones and put theirs in their containers. I also fold hubby and mines. The older children’s clothes get tossed in their containers unfolded. (What am I? A slave to lazy teens? Think again!)
I make the little ones fold the towels, washcloth and match socks while I fold the hard stuff. If the lazy teens don’t come and get their clothes by bedtime, their containers disappear under my bed till next laundry day!
(They are now eager to help since one of them had no clean pants for a week!)
But seriously, cutting back on the amount of clothing they have has helped tremendously.
Good luck, Troopers!
Never mind the typos-this darned Kindle screws up my good English!
This? Cracked me up! I can totally relate! I’m trying to get a handle on the kitchen and asked the family to please stop putting trash and dirty dishes on the kitchen island. The kids actually asked, “Where else should we put them?” in this really exasperated tone like I’ve asked them to do this crazy thing! When I told them that the trash should go in the trash can and the dirty dishes in the sink, they just stood there looking at me. I thing I totally blew their minds! Ha!
So funny! And yes, I understand completely!
I tossed a chair that always caught the “used but not dirty” clothes. Coats and jackets, pants and shirts, sometimes even socks landed and never got picked up, only sat on. Now they pile the tiny wooden rocker with such things and I constantly empty it. Its just a habit I can’t break hubs from.
I have embraced the “fold and put away laundry right out of dryer” practice. However, now, I am so at begin in my laundry I feel like I’ve spent months doing it and still there are mountains. Realistically what happens is, I spend a day trying to do laundry and only get about two loads done. I them get busy for twit or three days with business outside the home and end up with the whole “step forward, two back” deal.
I am so far behind in my laundry…..stupid phone changes my sentence sometimes!
Did you ever share your Lucy shows with your kids? My daughters, ages 15 and 19, have been Lucy fanatics for years. We own all of the Lucy shows -DVDs, not VHS 😉 and they have been watched oodles of times! Just plain old fun!
I’m on day 7 of keeping the dishes done 🙂
Oh yes! They are big fans! And go you for keeping up with the dishes!!
I have been making huge strides since buying your 28 Day book! Your blog posts, podcasts, and Facebook posts have really helped as well. However after a massive (failed) yard sale for my mother in-law, a train wreck Laundry Day, and a whirl-wind parade/band competition/club work day weekend I’m so off track I feel like I’m drowning again. The worst part is that my family dosnt see the MESS!!! My husband actually brought a person to the house today! When I asked him why he said “Its not that bad, the house always looks like this”. I was (and still am) crushed! I came home today after a birthday party and club work day and put the house back into a rather neat state and asked him what he thought. He still didn’t see a difference.
That’s so hard! It really does take a while for the people living there to see the difference. But you’re doing great!
Nothing helps you get rid of 12 tall kitchen trash bags full of laundry like a pipe bursting while you’re away for a month and friends having to clean out your house. Yes we got rid of between 10-12 bags of clothes. Nothing… I mean NOTHING is coming back into our house that isn’t staying. We’re still in the crazy putting-the-pieces-back-together process. And if it can’t be donated and we don’t want it we’re trying to be in a “just throw it away” mind set.
To clarify- a friend washed all of those clothes for us while we were gone. This past Tuesday when we got back we started sorting through clothes. We donated that many bags of clothes! There were always more important things to be doing rather than sorting through clothes. We also gave some baby clothes to a couple of different friends. 🙂 Now that it’s done we’re glad to have that excess stuff out of our place. Once we’re completely done my husband and I will see what clothes from our drawers that we never wear and pair those down once again. Our son’s room (he’s 6 1/2) didn’t get any water in it so it’s safe for now. But he will soon enough have less toys when we go through his stuff.
Oh what a nightmare!
Oooh. My recliner usually has stacks of clean laundry. I get interrupted a lot. I figure it’s better than baskets and baskets of clean laundry…
We fold right out of the dryer…and pile it on the love seat and back of the couch. Then it falls and we sit on it. Then I do it over because it’s covered in cat hair and I tell them how I am wasting my life doing laundry. Then I threaten to let them go out looking “like that” because I am done doing their laundry. And then I do it and we do it all over again. I need to stop the cycle and get them to put it away when it has been folded. I’ve told them I’m going to pick five of everything and leave it for them in their rooms and donate everything else. Not sure how that will work, but I know we need to get everything together at once and see exactly how much there really is, between the drawers, closets, loveseat, couch and laundry baskets…I know it is all just too much. But…I really want to be able to sit on furniture WITHOUT clothes. We learned to do this when my husband worked nights and slept days. We couldn’t go upstairs without waking him up, so we started leaving it downstairs, just in case we needed to change clothes. Now he’s working different shifts and sleeping at night…sometimes, on the clothes. Ugh. I need to be the catalyst of change.
It did make me laugh. I do have to say though that I never have piles of laundry. I have other disastrous areas though. I try to keep the house clean and decluttered and even with cleaning two to three times a day, toys still litter the hallway, goodwill pile is next to the exit door and the suspicious smell reminds me that I have a litter box next to our kitchen (thank you open house concept,)