Buried in Laundry? How to Take a Load off (and maybe even enjoy it!)
Shooooot! My husband is completely out of clean underwear. I have to do laundry! I want to respond with a my-dog-ate-my-homework type excuse. Thankfully, I don’t go there because I just simply ain’t got none.This may very well be your favorite chore. But if its not and you’re more like me, then this article is for you! Everyone seems to have different views on the subject.
My children like to think of laundry like leaves in the fall—a big pile of colors to nestle in or toss about.
My dog likes to think of laundry like the clean sheets that the kind maid turned down in a hotel.
I liken laundry to a game of Monopoly—an exhausting, everlasting game in which I can never seem to get ahead.
Thankfully, the Lord has shown me in recent months a new perspective and some new strategies. And would you believe I’m actually learning to like it? Or at least that I’m keeping an upper-hand on it with a cheerful disposition? It’s my joy to pass these on. Maybe you’ll learn a new trick or two and learn to like this chore too.
Some Fresh Strategies on Laundry:
1.) Do a little at a time. One load a day is MUCH more manageable than one marathon 11-load day. (Learned this from Love the Home you Have by Melissa Michaels… Highly recommend it! Link’s at the end.) It takes a little while to get into the new mindset if you’re a one-day-marathoner like me, but try it for a couple weeks and see. Suddenly a little laundry a day is a simple habit. Not a full-day chore once every few weeks.
2.) Get smaller baskets. They’re easier to carry, less can pile up, and that means less to fold at a time.
3.) After folded, do not stack in to baskets. This forces them to be put away sooner. Otherwise, clean clothes can camp out for a month folded up in a basket in our house. (Another brilliant idea from Melissa Michaels.)
A New Disposition on Laundry:
- Pray for your family as you fold. Miss Jane told me stories of praying over her husband’s health and body as she starched and ironed his uniform. Imagine all the prayers sown in to our family over the years ahead as we practice a prayerful disposition while doing our laundry.
- Tell God thank you. Thank you God for giving me strength to even do this today. Thank you that I am physically able to serve my family in this way. Practice gratitude for these little pink socks, big manly tan shirts, and all your pajamas. Thank Him for this home too and these precious people you get to care for.
- It’s not all on you. Delegate. Kids actually do love responsibility. As young as two can fold hand towels and a four or five year old can put clothes away in appropriate dresser drawers. Talk about a load off! (Sorry to use that one twice! Couldn’t help myself!)
All these little habit changes and mindset changes (over time) have bought me a whole day’s worth of time. Instead of a full blown laundry day, and then another full-blown folding day later, I can now go and play! I just spend 5 minutes during the night loading it up and then move it over to dry in the morning when I wake up. Then it takes maybe 15 minutes to fold and I am learning to delegate the putting away part (the hardest thing for me!)
I write this with a couple folded loads in baskets that have been there over a week. So I’m not saying I’ve perfected this here. But after just a few weeks of trying to learn this new routine, I’m feeling soooo much better about laundry. It was such a daunting chore and now I can actually be cheery about it.
Maybe laundry is your favorite chore, but if you’re like me and it’s not, I pray you find something you can glean from this. And if you do, please let me know how it works out for you. It totally makes my day to hear from you.
love,d
Oh, and here’s the book I mentioned…It’s fantastic!
