I explain Slob Vision as my inability to see incremental mess.
Edit that: my tendency to not see incremental mess.
Edit again: my ability to move around incremental mess like it’s not even there.
Seriously, y’all. I have a gift.
I got a new washer and dryer last year. I love love love them.
One of the “features” I talked about when I got them was the slant of the top of the dryer. And how that slant would surely prevent me piling things atop this ever-so-pilable surface.
Surely.
Except that this is me. And I’m the queen of piling. And the queen of piles not bothering me the way they’d bother other people they should totally bother me.
And obviously, I’m also the queen of being able to pile things on slanted surfaces like they’re not even slanted.
Note: If you need to think I’m perfect because you read my book (or, obviously, skimmed if you still think I’m perfect), you should probably stop reading this post now. Because I’m so far from perfect it’s ridiculous. I don’t want to burst your bubble if you happened to come here from one of the places online that refer to me as a Cleaning Guru. (Don’t worry. Typing that makes me laugh as hard as it makes you laugh reading it.)
ANYWAY, this is what the top of my dryer has looked like for a while.
A long while.
I fold right out of the dryer. It’s the laundry management method that rocks my world. Doing that prevents piles of clean clothes from sitting on my recliner for weeks on end. As I fold, I make stacks on top of the washer and dryer and then go put the clothes away immediately.
Or, obviously, MOST of the clothes.
I truly believed in my heart-of-slob-hearts that this build-up of random clothing on top of my dryer was made up of mostly things I had decided to donate when I took them out of the dryer. And I kept meaning to put a new Donate Box in the laundry room.
The pile had grown high enough that a full body lean/contortion was required to reach the controls on the top of the dryer.
I gave it five minutes. I was sure the pile was made up completely of donations, so I thought five minutes would be plenty.
Here’s what it looked like after five minutes:
So I gave it five more:
Aaaaahhhh. Much better.
Not perfect, but better. Yes, I also see the hanger and the white thing shoved in the corner.
It took more than five minutes to “put these donations in the Donate Box” because this is the sum total of what went into the Donate Box:
- a pair of jeans
- a shirt
Really. Me and my assumptions. Me and my Slob Vision.
Whatever. I got it done. In less than ten minutes. And I’m hoping those delusion-breaking fewer-than-ten-minutes will keep me from re-piling. I did this last Saturday, and there’s not a stitch of clothing on there from Monday’s Laundry Day.
So maybe.
--Nony
Just curious what the hanging clothes are all about? I have a dream to have somewhere to hang clothes that I can’t put in the dryer but is it a procrasticlutter trap? Right now I use the towel bars and two little towel hooks which sort of forces me to put the things I hang on them away when they are dry because my laundry room is also our second full bath and the towel bars and hooks are used by my dear hubby. Thanks!
I’m honestly not sure WHAT they are all about! I hang Hubby’s and my clothes there when I take them out of the dryer. And then they never make it to our closets! I automatically look there if something isn’t in my closet, but I’m thinking this is also a case of Slob Vision!
We have a garden tub in our master bathroom that we never use. We mounted a $15 tension rod over the tub so I can hang items that can’t be put in the dryer. Works great!
Great idea!
Loving that you are sticking with the 5 minute Fridays! Good for you! Consistency is the key to everything.
My most recent, “Why do things get dirty again?” moment was when I’d cleared out the utility room so my daughter (age 6) could steam mop it till is sparkled. Then I put everything back, and promptly spilled oxyclean powder on the floor. Why does it never last?
My husband and I are both retired. We have hardwood floors throughout the entire public area of our home. He is very gracious about mopping the floors as long as I ask him to do it. The last time he did them, he asked me in all seriousness, ” Why don’t we stop getting them dirty?”
Nony I love your book and your podcasts – both make me laugh out loud as I see myself in what you say and write. I don’t use a dryer but hang outside to dry, and discovered a year or so ago the amazingness that is FOLDING STRAIGHT OFF THE LINE. So I can relate to your folding out of the dryer joy. But why do you have those clothes hanging all around your dryer? do they live there? Surely not waiting to be ironed?
Not waiting to be ironed. Those are my and Hubby’s things that I hang there as I hang them out of the dryer. But honestly, looking at the picture, I’m thinking, “Ummmm, why are they ALL there??!?” Slob Vision I guess!