Just a Friendly Reminder to Myself

 laundry

How I do laundry:

  1. Almost run out of clothes.
  2. Put clothes in washing machine and give myself a medal.
  3. Forget about laundry for three days.
  4. Completely run out of clothes.
  5. Remember laundry. Return medal.
  6. Open washing machine to discover stinky smells.
  7. Re-wash clothes. (Often, repeat steps 3-7)

 

My NEW Laundry method:

  1. Blog about laundry instead of actually do the laundry.
  2. Give myself a medal.
  3. Nope. I’m keeping that one.
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229 Responses to Just a Friendly Reminder to Myself

  1. Sarah says:

    yep. my system too… without the blogging…

  2. Lisa M. says:

    Me, too! Me, too!

  3. Steph B says:

    How do you keep getting in my house and seeing how I live without me knowing???

  4. Mommy says:

    LOVE this Laundry Check List….(thanks for the reminder…time to restart that load).

  5. Natalie B says:

    shoot, that reminds me, I gotta do the laundry ๐Ÿ˜›

  6. JoAnne says:

    Would you please stop freaking me out? I swear sometimes I think you have cameras in my house and are writing about my munchkins, not yours. And this? This is straight-up Me.

  7. Lisa Lutes says:

    What you need to do is store something important next to the washing machine- like a box of cookies. You’ll never forget your laundry for long if something that tasty and tempting is right next to it. Forget the medal, reward yourself with a cookie every time you switch the laundry….

    • Brandy P says:

      This is a rather good idea ๐Ÿ˜€

    • amber says:

      Excellent idea!

    • Erin says:

      This is brilliant! If I store the Oreos in the laundry room, not only will I get laundry done, I can justify the Oreo because I had to go down the stairs to get to it! LOVE IT!

    • Laura says:

      Now THAT is thinking! Bazinga. Will definitely be trying that!
      I mean, I’ll burn off the calories by running up and down the stairs to *do* the laundry, right??

      Seriously, buying myself some treats for this today. We’re out of clothes. Oh, and some for potty training DS. Anyone else experiencing the joy of pee sprays?! GAH.

      • westlakemum24 says:

        And there’s no telling how many times the laundry will need to be *checked* during the cycle… something might be going wrong, after all!! LOVE this idea!!

    • Mae says:

      Just be careful what treat you choose. I hid my chocolate in the laundry room to keep it safe from the madding crowd, and now my chocolate tastes like Gain. Sigh.

    • Dawn says:

      Great idea! I give my children “laundry bears” (gummy bears) if they happen to put a load in on their own volition, never thought of rewarding myself!! ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Ashley Newberg says:

      I’d probably eat the cookies and then not want to switch the wash cause my fingers are all crumby. Or switch the wash and spill laundry soap on my hands and not be able to eat a cookie cause my hands are all soapy. lol

    • Francesca says:

      Wow. This is inspired, and might work for other issues I have as well…

    • Alex says:

      I couldn’t do that without getting mice in the house. I guess I could keep cookies/chocolate/other incentives tightly locked up. That would prevent the detergent smell problem someone else mentioned.

    • Lisa Lutes says:

      I don’t need the motivation to do laundry… I kind of like doing laundry. It’s mount dishmore that give me trouble. I need some sort of reward system for that (aside from the reward of not living in filth and having no counter space to cook). Any ideas? I don’t think food would work, I’m already pretty full after dinner….

    • Anne says:

      Our beer fridge is next to the dryer….

    • Lauren says:

      this is my new favorite mom strategy! I’m so tired of having to shave my legs so I can wear a dress because all my shorts are in the wash

    • carley says:

      That’s awesome!! I think I am going to have to try that!

    • Jan says:

      BRILLIANT!!!!!! I think I’ll store some Guinness there, too!

  8. JennieB says:

    WOW…I thought I had patented that system!

  9. Joyce says:

    I swear you and I are like the same person… LOL. I will put the laundry in and then feel so accomplished that I got that far and then forget about it for a week before my husband announces he has no clean underwear. I usually just declare it no pants day (or week) if all our clothes are unlaundered (that sounds fancier than dirty).

  10. BrittVM says:

    When I basically have no underwear- that’s when I’m like- oh it’s time to do a load. I’ve purposefully bought more underwear so I could hold off longer…

    • Jennie says:

      Me too! I keep telling hubby I need more underwear…

      I have about 5 loads done, now I just have to put them on hangers. It would be lovely to have my bed back so that I can stop sleeping in the upper corner. I am starting to feel like a postage stamp.

      • Tarina says:

        LOL! My husband does that. I’ll load up the bed so we (read: I) get it folded before bed, and he will decide to lay down before me and just shove it all to my side and slip under the blanket underneath the pile and go to sleep. I come in 20 min. later like WTF!! Hahah

        • Tanya says:

          OMG. My husband does the same thing. As long as it’s off his side of the bed he’s good. Ugh….

        • EmpressMomma says:

          I think they ALL do that. Next time, I’m turning the damn light on and throwing HIS clothes back to HIS side. XD

        • Saraah says:

          Wow – i thought only my husband was that annoying! Why exactly is it they cannot put clean clothes away?

    • Erin says:

      I bought more everything so I could GO TO THE LAUNDROMAT one every 2/3 weeks. $2000 with of washing machines sit there, begging for ‘accident’ panties or an emergency load of towels. I got fed up and put it in the budget. Now every 2nd or 3rd Sunday I go BY MYSELF to the laundry and do all of it at once. I catch the dry clothes and hang or fold them, and the rule is: since I spent money for this ‘luxury’ I have to spend the 30 minutes when I get home to put it all away. It has made a huge difference!

  11. Melissa says:

    I might as well blog about my laundry if Im not going to finish cleaning it….one day its going to walk itself out of the machine because I’ve forgotten it there for the bajillionth time.

  12. Jackie Francek says:

    Thanks for the reminder….need to restart the diapers!

  13. Kelly A says:

    If only the washer and dryer were one appliance… I would save so much time, detergent, money, and energy! Not to mention those stinky mildew smells are tough to get out!

    • Jessica says:

      They do make combos. They’re very popular in Europe and you CAN find them here, but it’s rare.

      • Lauren says:

        And they are tiny and SUPER expensive!

        • Kal says:

          mine (in Australia) is a front-loader 9kg washer/5kg steam dryer, and there is also a bigger one in the LG range. it was a bit more expensive but it is BRILLIANT!

      • Erin says:

        My mil in the uk had one and it was horrible. It was tiny and too about a million years to wash and dry. I always ended up taking it out after the wash and hanging everything up in he back garden.

    • Julie says:

      I mean if they have a dry cycle on the dishwasher, which will eventually dry itself anyway, why not on the washer! ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Melanie says:

      We have a washer\dryer here and it sucks really bad.
      it does a bad job of washing and it does a bad job of drying. And you cant turn on the dryer without having washed a load. piece of *^%$ยฃ&%

    • Lauren says:

      if you find one that also folds, please let me know!

  14. Richain says:

    Thanks for the reminder… cloth diapers are in the dryer and need to be stuffed. (They were abandoned in the wash yesterday and were run again today.) I tend to leave things in the dryer until I need the dryer again or run out of clothes for which ever child’s clothes are left sitting alone in the dark, lonely, forgotten dryer.

    • Leslie says:

      The dryer is like an extra clothes drawer at our house. Whenever you can’t find what you’re looking for, check there before asking mom! And while you’re at it, turn it on again for another fluff… everything’s probably wrinkled (again) hehe

  15. Lene says:

    Would never happen to me ……..NOT

  16. Tiffany says:

    OMG – I do the same thing all the time. I am so glad I am not the only one, lol. Stupid laundry that doesn’t clean itself.

  17. Amy says:

    i needed this reminder…i have inserts in the wash that are finished & the baby is out of pjs! : P

  18. Rasully says:

    Nah I get hubby to do the laundry. It is his on going household chore! That and putting it away….. so we live out of laundry bags lol.

  19. Brandy P says:

    You forgot the step where you take all the laundry out of the dryer and pile it up on the laundry, I mean love seat, (or sometimes guest bedroom bed) and then never fold it and everyone just pulls their clothes from there and if it is too wrinkley they toss it back in the dryer for a little bit before they put it on.

    Or is that just me?

    • Joanna (@joclairey) says:

      Me and my husband sleep in the ‘spare’ room more often than ‘our’ bedroom as our bed is the dumping ground for clean washing.

      We have the opposite problem to the Crappy household though. I’m excellent at doing the washing, and ensuring it’s dried (it’s up there with Turning The Dishwasher On and Rearranging The Cushions On The Sofa as jobs I do to make it look like I have done some housework..). It’s the bits after that I am crap at. Folding and putting away washing is one of my most hated tasks. I’d say ironing is… but like Brandy we have a clean washing pile free for all and I never iron. Ever. I ironed for the first time in months before a wedding the other week because the dress I’d bought had fallen to the bottom of the wardrobe..

      • Joanna (@joclairey) says:

        And yeah.. putting something back in the drier for a few minutes.. or putting it on a hanger in the bathroom while I shower TOTALLY counts as ‘ironing’

      • Cher says:

        Ironing? What is that…? I thought that is why God invented dry cleaners. If it needs to be un-wrinkly that badly, then they magically do stuff to unwrinklify for me.

        I seriously had like a zillionteen dollar iron for years, in a box… gave it away. Bought a steamer instead. That box is just as pretty in the closet.

        Sigh.

        …Off to think about putting cookies in the laundry room…

      • Stephanie E says:

        What is this “iron” thing of which you speak? Never heard of such a device . . .

  20. I must demand that you immediately tell me where in my laundry room you have stashed the hidden video camera. :/

  21. Cassidy says:

    SOOOOOO happy to know I’m not the only one with this laundry system!

  22. Mona lisa says:

    Hah, this is so how we do laundry at my house! Come to think of it, I think there may be a load down there…

  23. Jessica says:

    What’s super funny is when you do what I did the other day:

    1. Put laundry in the washer and start.
    2. Start the dryer and pat yourself on the back that you remembered.
    3. Get puzzled when you hear the smart dryer turn off by itself.
    4. See why the dryer turned itself off: there are no clothes inside.
    5. Realize there are NO wet clothes to even put into the dryer (yet).
    6. Share on facebook so everyone else can get a kick out of your folly.
    7. Forget the clothes in the washer.

  24. Dena says:

    Have you been stalking me again? I forced myself to do a laundry day yesterday -nothing but laundry- since I swear the load in the wash was being washed a 3rd time, and the load before that 7 times; and actually did a TON of it. Then got depressed because while looking at my pile of clean clothes I sat and pondered two things: 1. How is it possible that a family of 3 owns this much clothing? 2. How is it possible that we are not all three running around butt naked? I really should donate…but then I’d have to do laundry more often….

  25. Ann says:

    Sounds like me!

  26. Tweety says:

    I like the method of waiting too long, washing ALL the clothes until I have a GIANT mountain of clean clothes. Then run out of time to put them away, the kids pick through them and walk all over them for days (alright, weeks) then have to re-wash them all again because they are wrinkled beyond belief!

    • Erika says:

      Hey that’s what I do too! Nothing like 5 baskets of clean wrinkled laundry to make me feel like I accomplished something, yet really nothing, at the same time.

  27. Fuchsia says:

    Thanks for reminding me! I desperately have to do some laundry if I want to wear clean clothes to work tomorrow. The kids all have laundry, as does hubby, but I have nothing to wear! I keep forgetting to add my stuff to the load. D’oh!

  28. Nae says:

    We have that many clothes in this house that they’d be spilling out of the laundry if I did that and it would take me three days once a month to do them all.
    It’s the getting it packed away I have issues with. Sorted is not a problem I’m so anal with it I sort it ONTO the line ๐Ÿ˜

  29. Cathy says:

    Thank goodness for the Febreeze wash additive. I use it at least once a week because I leave stinky clothes in the washer. Or I put said clothes into the dryer, but forget to hit the start button and get the clothes stinky again.

  30. Melanie says:

    I don’t have trouble washing or switching. It’s the folding. Egad. The mountain of folding. Just keep digging through the pile cursing, looking for what I need, until the pile falls over, crappy kid walks on clothes, throws them around the room and pets sleep on them. Then I toss them back into the laundry and repeat process.

    My parents worked hard at that ‘respect and take care of your clothes’ lesson. Apparently, it didn’t stick. Maybe will skip a generation. lol

    (Disclaimer- house is ancient and has zero closet space. I comfort myself thinking that if I had that illusive dream of a walk in closet I would be better. ha, not likely, but at least then I could hide the mountain. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  31. Sarah says:

    Gah, this happens to me a lot, I am swimming in laundry right now because I got behind on it last week due to the kids making a HUGE mess in the basement (spilling half a gallon of popcorn salt in the playroom and spreading it on toys, clean clothes, the floor puzzle/mat) that took 3 days to fully clean (because they had to do it-it isn’t my job!). I also ended up rewashing a bunch of laundry that they soiled and I KEPT forgetting about it and then it smelled…boo. I hate rewashing! Makes me want to get one of those combined washer dryers…

    • Joanna (@joclairey) says:

      Washer/driers are crap. Seriously.. i’m in the UK where they are pretty common and in my experience with them they do both jobs badly, and are more likely to break down than either washers or driers on their own. And it;s double the arrrrrrrrrgh if you have neither!

  32. Krystal says:

    This used to be my method too, HA! Now, I have too many kids for that, and also not enough clothes. I actually got rid of extra clothes so that i HAVE DO do laundry regularly! The bonus? Not as much folding to do or closet space taken up, and a smaller Mount Washmore to deal with–even when I DO revert to this method–LOL.

  33. Nicole says:

    Very similar to mine. I am pretty good about doing diapers (they maybe sit in the wash for half a day before I remember to switch it around), though they’ll possibly sit in the dryer (dried) for days before I remember that I’m missing part of my stash. I’m HORRIBLE about folding the laundry, though. My current method is to throw all the clean, wrinkled clothes on top of our cabinets in our laundry room and to just watch the pile grow while I fish out an outfit for me and for the kids each day. Then, once a month (or so), I’ll fold all of that stuff. Maybe even put it away.

  34. Ashley Drummond says:

    This is exactly how I do laundry. But, if your blog is Phase I, I would add Phase II:
    1. Find dried laundry in dryer (give self a medal for getting to Phase II)
    2. Put wrinkled laundry in laundry basket and bring it upstairs.
    3. Place basket on ledge in front of fireplace.
    Repeat steps 1 – 3 with multiple baskets.
    4. Look at multiple baskets every morning/night and think to self “fold and put away laundry”.
    5. Wake up one morning to discover cat has made a “nest” in one of said laundry baskets. Chastise self for not folding sooner and take picture of said cat because there has got to be some humor in all of this [I have said picture].
    6. Return Phase II medal and start Phase I again.

  35. Tracy says:

    LOL, I can so relate.
    Random bizarre thought….if it’s too much for us to get the laundry done in any form of timely fashion, how did they do it before washers? Can you imagine…..ugh.

  36. Reagan says:

    I am so glad I am not the only one that does laundry this way. I will now stop feeling guilty.

  37. Meghan says:

    I’m glad I’m not the only one. I actually remembered to swap out loads today. Mostly out of necessity cause I only have one pair of pants that fit. Come on, being big enough for maternity clothes…

  38. OMG I feel so good right now!! I thought I was the only one who did this!! LOL. Wow.

  39. Tracy says:

    This is the story of my life! In fact, just last night I rewashed a load that had been sitting in the washer since…I don’t know when…probably not more than 2-3 days…probably.

    It also seems that the clean clothes never put themselves away…they normally sit, folded, in the laundry basket until we’ve run through all of them and they’re back in the dirty clothes basket again…oh well. It’s a vicious, never-ending cycle!

  40. Mae says:

    There are paper plates for when creating more dishes is a bad, bad, bad idea. Why aren’t there disposable clothes?? I keep waiting for someone to invent them…

  41. Veronica says:

    Wow, that is exactly what I do! I better go restart the diapers while I’m thinking about it!

  42. Jen says:

    I had no idea that other people do this, I thought it was just me! I love your blog, always makes me feel normal!

  43. Laura B. says:

    This is exactly ME! How are you and I so similar? It is almost creepy!

  44. Marlene says:

    And this is why I don’t even try to wash my baby’s diapers. Thank goodness we have an affordable, and WAHM run, diaper service in my area.

  45. Lauren says:

    My husband often does laundry because this method drives him batty. The price I pay for his speedy laundry service is him teasing me in front of our friends about my inability to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. He honestly wonders how I ever had clean clothes before I met him.

  46. Kelly says:

    This is SO ME! Actually, I’m SO bad about it, that hubs will ask me to “start a load” rather than “do a load”… because he knows that if he doesn’t want his clothes to live in the dryer for a few days (or until i need it again), that he has to finish the task. I think of it as a training program. I start, you finish. 50/50. This is how our household works.
    -I pull out the ingredients, you cook it.
    -I cook, you do dishes.
    -I clean the table, you dump your pockets on it, I move it to your precious computer table, you will eventually put it away when you cannot Jenga or Tetris the pile anymore.
    -You do a 10 minute clean up in the family room, I then go through the piles that you made (that is not cleaning, that is relocating items).
    -You sleep like a living tornado, I make the bed look pretty again.
    -I throw things away, you take out the trash.
    -I start laundry, you finish it.
    -I raise the kids, you make the money.
    -We make a lot of piles, and we just stare at them hoping they will disappear.
    It works for us. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    • justine says:

      Bahahaha! Love this ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Beth says:

      This is great! I love the part ” that is not cleaning” my husband and I have the same conversation often. He will say ” I cleaned the house” and I will reply ” did you sweep or mop bc if not then you did not clean”

    • Lexi says:

      Oh yes!!

  47. Heather Bridges says:

    My house exactly. Where are your cameras installed?

  48. Missy says:

    Surveillance! How do you have surveillance on all of us! Hmmm…perhaps I’ve become sincerely paranoid since I started following (obsessing over) your blog. But, as my camera is broken, I appreciate your ability to capture our lives in such artfully crappy pictures. It’s fitting.

    Although. I feel the need to invite myself to do a guest post on the poop-ageddon that befell my living room today, because somebody needs to bear witness to the devastation… I mean, if child feces were a bomb, shrapnel was EVERYWHERE. On the 2yr old, on the 3yr old, on ME (without saying, right? Of course it’s on me. Between the toes, on my thigh where my 2 yr old was trying to cling and clean her hands, on my shirt even.) Ground into the braided rug. Tracked down the hall. In the grout in the bathroom. Smeared onto the bath tub. Tracked back to the kitchen, where the bleach wipes are stored. But bleach wipes aren’t designed for the havoc of three frazzled-fecal-Swampthings. OH, YES. I need someone to witness this, because, truly, I could not make this crap up.

    The smartest one in the house? The five year old. She locked herself in her room until the screaming subsided and the fumes of bleach dissipated. It was bad. I wish I could’ve locked myself in my room.

    So, all that to say…I won’t be procrastinating on my laundry today.

    • Chrystal says:

      GAH!

      I would have cried.

      Hope tomorrow is better!!

    • Dena says:

      While I giggle at this now….If it were happening to me, I’d be sobbing! Glad you survived!

    • Missy says:

      Thanks, ladies. My home is recovered (although the rugs are pretty beat up and faded in spots after all the dab/spray/scrub hoopla). But I will NEVER AGAIN attempt to change a diaper on a standing child. Never. Again.
      Dude…

    • Missy says:

      And I was absolutely hysterical. We all were screaming. I actually cried out “WHY GOD WHY!!!” My poor three year old, though– this kid is squeaky clean, eats toast with a fork type of person. Stepping in the two-year-old’s poop and having it gush up between her toes was probably the most traumatic thing that has ever happened to her in her whole life. That’s how the poop got transferred to the braided rug– poor kid was trying to get the sticky funky poop off her foot!

      • Stephanie E says:

        Oh you poor thing! We did master the stand-up-diaper-change in our family (figured this out while traveling) but it is absolutely essential to have two parents participating. Can’t even imagine trying it solo. You are braver than I!

    • Billie says:

      Grrl – start your iwn blog! Your storytelling was absolutely. Hilarious. Freakin’ hilarious!

  49. Ruth says:

    I do feel the only thing I would add to this is…
    8. Remove clothes from dryer and place on futon in the office
    9. Ask family to scavenge clean clothes from office futon. (Why would they expect them unwrinkled and put away?–That is madness)

    • Shelley West says:

      Yep, my husband’s clothes are piled on the guest bed…and he has to match his socks himself.

  50. Erin mommy of 3 says:

    Omg this is so my house too I have to say that the sorting washing and drying is the easy party he folding hanging and putting away is the tough part lol I usually get the fun job of re fluffing ( throwing in the dryer w a damp wash cloth and dryer sheet ) or ironing lol

    I also have to tell you I love your blogs they make me feel like phewww I’m not the only one ALOT!! And keep me laughing lol and I share them w my hubby who loves then and say crappy daddy needs a post too lol keep them comming !!!

  51. Sarah says:

    I have found that adding vinegar to the wash helps with the stinky smells. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Heather says:

      I just recently bought 2 humongous bottles of vinegar and put them directly in the laundry room for this very purpose. About 3 times a week I need to rewash a load with vinegar – it’s the only thing that works for that awful moldy smell.

    • Natalie says:

      That is FANTASTIC to know! I knew there was a reason I was hiding out in my room eating chocolates while procrastinating over the laundry and the dishes and the toys…

  52. Toni Adams says:

    So funny cause my girlfriend just told me the other day that her husband put a sign on the washing machine “if you’re not gonna hang it….. Don’t wash it” lol

  53. Liz says:

    You have a true talent, Crappy Mom. I relate to everything you write! Says Liz, who doesn’t have laundry that needs to be switched right now from the weekend. No, she does not.

  54. Tia says:

    I love this!

  55. Rachel says:

    I am doing laundry as we speak. Hubby says If I do one load a day it would never get behind. Now what was that again?

  56. Jordan McBride says:

    Totally my system also. Only, no blog, and chocolate instead of medals. <3

  57. This is reminding me that I need to get my clothes that have been sitting in the dryer all day. Of course, now I will have to “air fluff” them, as they will be horribly wrinkly. I find myself repeating these steps quite often as well!

  58. Rachel Blackett says:

    I am glad to see I am not the only one!! (Which reminds me… I have laundry to put out from 2 days ago… opps)

  59. Sarah says:

    Haha I thought I was the only one! Except the clean washing never gets folded either so even if there is clean stuff you have to spend half and hour in the spare room digging through ‘clean washing mountain’ . Yes, it has it’s own name.

  60. haha yup! If I manage to get the clothes into the dryer before forgetting about them, I consider that worth two medals. Then, worst case scenario, all I have to do is run a wrinkle release before getting dressed! lol

  61. Cathy says:

    As a kid I remember having a broken washer for YEARS that my father wouldn’t replace. My mom had to tote 5 kids’ worth of laundry to the laundry mat. If she didn’t have time to go there she would just buy new clothes (she had a point – laundry mat = boring. Shopping = fun!). Eventually you couldn’t walk in the garage where the laundry area was because there was 3 feet of clothes on the floor! Because of that I always try to stay up on laundry. You can barely walk in my house because of junk mail, groceries I forgot to put away, and toys everywhere, but darn it the laundry is done!

  62. Kelly says:

    Is there another way?

  63. Brandi says:

    Yep, I do this too. I just hate it when all my purple dresses are in the wash! ๐Ÿ™‚

  64. Rachel Blackett says:

    Oh I also have the issue of forgetting about the clothes going in the dryer too. Our dryer is broken so you have to actually remember to go put it on cool, and then go switch it off. I have lost count of the times I have forgotten about it and it is still going hours later. I now put the timer on, on my oven so I actually remember

  65. Shelley West says:

    My system is to not own many clothes, so that I always need them and will never forget about them in the washer.

    My problem is the dryer not getting them completely dry and forgetting to check…

    My DH likes to give himself a medal for just putting clothes in the washer. He doesn’t quite understand that there’s more to it, and he just did the easy part. Then, I have to remember that he put laundry in the wash…and of course do the folding/hanging.

  66. Michelle says:

    Haven’t even read your post yet, but as soon as I saw the picture I thought “CRAP! I forgot to switch the laundry!!!” and left immediately to go switch it. So, thanks for the very timely reminder ๐Ÿ˜‰

  67. Krista says:

    Glad I’m not the only one! My husband is going to laugh when he reads this!!!

  68. Lynn says:

    Aaaand this just reminded me to go put it in the dryer from this morning.

  69. Tina says:

    The worst part about it is I share the washer and dryer with my in laws sender I always leave clothes on the washer or dryer. And even worse is CD laundry with all the pre rinsing and final rinsing it takes me forever when I forget about it

  70. Mai says:

    That’s me! Only, add in the part where you have to wash everything you already washed and left in baskets around the house thanks to a flea invasion. Nice.

  71. Justine says:

    thanks for reminding me I actually have laundry in the washer right now

  72. Susie says:

    Mine laundry routine is:
    1. Run out of laundry.
    2. Put child in clothes he wore 2 days ago and hope the daycare lady doesn’t comment. Wear gym shorts under business skirt and hope the shame motivates me to become a dedicated laundress.
    3. Put laundry in washer before heading to out for the day.
    4. Forget to leave a note for the husband reminding him to switch laundry to dryer before he goes to work.
    5. Find laundry still in washer 3 days later and get mad at husband because he can’t read my mind.
    6. Re-wash laundry (also sometimes repeating steps 2-5)
    7. Place clothes on top of dryer for next load (because I’m on a roll). Clothes on top of dryer get pushed off and/or dropped on basement floor by ESP-free husband.
    8. Re-wash clothes on floor. I hate spiders and after I found one in a shirt (3 years ago) I’m convinced they lay in wait for my ESP-free clothes dropping husband and have taken over my underwear.
    9. Repeat steps 2-5
    10. If for some reason hell does freeze over and my laundry makes it upstairs it usually sits in the basket. At this point the ESP-free clothes dropping husband becomes an amateur dog bed maker. My laundry is taken over by the furry residents of the house and everything is covered in hair and back to step 2.

    • Chrystal says:

      Hilarious!

      I have a small in home daycare and one child’s mom always says “he’s wearing what he wore two days ago because my laundry is behind. You can change him into the spare clothes I left here if you want”. That, or he comes in pjs.

      Meh. As long as he is happy im happy! No one likes laundry.

    • Natalie says:

      I laughed out loud at the gym shorts under business skirt comment! Hilarious!

  73. Jess says:

    I have a problem with the dryer, why don’t those clothes just fold themselves and put themselves away!!!

  74. hrl says:

    UGH. Thanks for this post. I forgot that I had laundry in the machine for the past two days! Oops. Hopefully it’s not moldy.

  75. Jessi says:

    I leave the laundry light on as a reminder I have to switch it! otherwise I forget. I know, waste of electricity. But I hate stinky sour clothes left in the washer!!

  76. Joanna says:

    THANK YOU! for making me feel normal, my husband despairs at my tendency to forget the laundry and leave it in the machine/on the dryer/in the dryer/on the line/in the basket/on the couch will have to show him this post!

  77. Karina says:

    My method: let the husband do the laundry. Works great! ๐Ÿ™‚

  78. Christine says:

    Solution…teach kids (5, 3, and 1) to do laundry. Convince them it is fun. Teach them to fold it so they can put it away. Be careful not to start the dryer with them in it (hasn’t happened yet).

  79. Sandra says:

    I do the same thing to. And once it goes into the dryer it ends up on top of the dryer until the piles to high that its falling over then I fold it and put it away . I even put dressers in the laundry room for their play clothes and out of season clothes and know their just mixed up together so much for being organized .

  80. Michelle says:

    Ha ha! Me too! And forget about ironing! I will go as a wrinkling fool before I ever use the iron. I vaguely remember what one looks like….

  81. Raphaelle says:

    How glad I am to discover that I’m not the only one doing laundry this way…
    I also have to add some other steps:
    take clean laundry out of the dryer (or from the clothesline), put it on my bed, forget to fold it, put it on the floor when I go to bed, repeat…
    Sometimes I even fold it and leave it on my bed to put away later (because, well, I went through all the trouble of folding it, I am allowed to rest before I tackle the putting away part), and then before I go to bed, I will put it on the floor again. And usually go through those piles of clothes to find some clean clothes to wear…

  82. Elizabeth says:

    Figured out a solution I have started turning on the timer on the stove that will keep beeping every 30 seconds until I turn it off because lets face it if it only beeps once then I will either not hear it or remember but get distracted and forget. It works as long as no one turns off the timer!

  83. I tweak this method somewhat. I actually own enough essentials to stay in clean clothes through the next millennium. So I forget about laundry until DH starts wondering how often he has to re-wear dirty boxers. Then I start a load, forget about it for three days, lather, rinse, repeat.

  84. Naomi says:

    Ahhhhhh yes. The laundry. You can add a step there to when you finally get your act together and then find the washing machine has broken itself (because you certainly didn’t do it by doing any washing) and the repair person can’t make it out to you for TWO DAYS, so clothes are at critical level, to the point where even your six year old notices and asks if you EVER do any washing. Ooooopppppsssss.

  85. sandy says:

    I wish I had enough clothes to follow your system. With a family of 5, our system is keep the laundry almost constantly going! And delegating. I will toss stuff in before work n leave notes for my daughter or husband to switch it!

  86. maria says:

    Am I the only person who hangs clothes on the washing line? My washing is usually up-to-date, unless it’s been raining for a week.

    I do have piles of folded clean clothes around the house though. That’s where my efficiency stops!

  87. Jenn says:

    I work from home with my desk steps away from the laundry room. Washing and switching, no problem! Folding and putting away …………nope. No need for closets here. We pick clothes from the pile of our playroom floor that is the size of a small elephant

  88. Jill says:

    I love your blog, and all of the comments afterwards. It makes me feel better that I am not the only one!

    I went out of town last week and left DH a note to switch the diapers to the dryer and fold the laundry mountain. I got home and the diapers were still in the wash (eek!). Such is life at our house. The mountain pile got half folded today (seriously, it has been weeks) because someone was coming over who MIGHT have asked for a tour of our new house. Otherwise, the mountain just keeps growing until our drawers are empty!

  89. No joke, I have the EXACT. SAME. THING. going on in my laundry room at the moment. I think the clothes have been in the washer since…Saturday? Friday? And since we’ve been pulling clothes – as needed – straight out of dryer, it’s door is half open, with a corner of a towel hanging down to the VERY dusty floor. Sigh.

  90. NSmeds says:

    I just got off my butt and went and switched my laundry over! Thanks lol, now my husband will have fresh boxers tomorrow!!!

  91. That’s my system too. I was just about to blog about my laundry dilemma.

  92. Janelle says:

    So glad I’m not the only one!

  93. Bend mom says:

    My system works pretty well for the first part. Put laundry in, switch clothes over (within one day). Repeat until there are 8 loads of clean laundry in a pile. Leave it there for two weeks and grab clothes out of it. Then fold it when there is only about one load’s worth left.

  94. Where are all the steps about folding and putting away the laundry? That’s where the system breaks down most often in our house.

  95. Liz F says:

    LOL

  96. Nanasha says:

    My laundry process is as follows:

    1) Ask husband to do the laundry.

    2) Husband does the laundry

    3) We fold the laundry.

    4) Clothing!

    XD

  97. lisa says:

    OMG!! thats me.. only i get one load folded placed on our bed and daughters .. live off that one while all the above were done again.
    glad to know im not the only one out here stuck in that never ending cyle.

  98. Deidra says:

    What! I posted about laundry today too. That makes it official. We are in fact somehow linked via ESP. This is not the first time this has happened. Get out of my head!

  99. Sharon says:

    I seriously just reran the stinky laundry before sitting down to the computer. Glad I’m not the only one!

  100. deneen says:

    DAMN, Amber, you make me feel so NORMAL!!! (thank you oxox)

  101. Kathrin says:

    I kid you not, this popped up and I ran to check if I had switched laundry… I didn’t… Thanks for the reminder.
    ๐Ÿ™‚

  102. Kim R says:

    I do all that, too! Towels are the worst. My husbands nose must be broken because if he finds laundrry he just switches it. Soured towels for a week.
    I add another step though. Move laundry from couch to my bed if company is coming then back to couch at bed time until the pile disappears (you use it all). ๐Ÿ™‚

  103. Mercy says:

    If I don’t do a load a day, I can’t keep up. I put it to wash in the morning but don’t usually get around to hanging it until the afternoon. (No dryer needed here.) I do pile the clean stuff on the guest bed until my husband complains that he can’t find anything and he won’t go look in the pile for it. Usually I fold it once a week while watching t.v. – that way I am getting work done and I don’t feel like I am “wasting time” on t.v.

  104. Cara says:

    I have to do the baby’s nappies every morning or we run out. The problem is doing our clothes – that’s where I run out of clothes.

    I hang out the clothes each day too (but I’m in Australia, I’ve heard most people in the US don’t have clothes lines?) We do have a dryer though for wet days, although my partner would rather hang his damp clothes in the living room for a week, which drives me insane.

  105. nina sapir says:

    it also helps if you turn the machine on. i put in a load before i took my son to preschool this morning to hang up before i start working. got back from preschool, checked the machine and saw it hadn’t even started. i pressed the wrong button.

  106. sarah s says:

    I thought it was just me! and that something was wrong with me. my washer is crappy so a normal load has to be washed twice anyway and if the dog has peed on something it has to be washed a few times at the least. but then once something has been washed a few times i’ll forget it and have to rewash.

  107. Severine from France says:

    Hahaha this is SO funny! Thanks for making me feel normal (though I never, ever run out of clothes: I have too many clothes to ever run out of them. But my boyfriend does, and this is hilarious, he ends up wearing his swimsuit to work ’cause he has no underwear left).
    I never comment on your posts ’cause I’m not a mother and I never have kids-related stories, but I had to comment today!
    Love this post!

  108. ST says:

    Yes, I’m getting to that stage. Fortunately my husband will take over laundry (certain bits) when I’m busy settling Atilla.

    I’m still the one to collect dry clothing, folding/hanging clothing, putting my clothing (and sometimes theirs) away.

    Our drying area is in our dining room, in front of the heat pump. Husband still manages to have a blind spot even when he can no longer open our main porch door by the dining room.

    I don’t get it.

  109. Helen Neale says:

    Dam that reminds me, I put a wash on this morning….

  110. Ritva says:

    Totally how I do it. The last step in my list is that I demand the husband to take care of the folding and carrying them all in the cabinets, which means he will just leave the pile around somewhere with the excuse of not knowing which piece of cloth belongs to who.

    I’m quite sure he thought I’d consider it a compliment that he thinks the t-shirts that fit my 9-yr-old could be mixed as mine, and therefor not get mad about him actually not doing anything. No, I still do get mad, and as a payback “accidentally” leave all his clothes out of the next patch or two that I wash.

  111. Rachael says:

    I used to get behind with laundry, but now I have a nearly-two-year-old taskmaster who won’t let me. Procrastination is literally not in her vocabulary ๐Ÿ˜‰
    If she sees clean clothes in the washing machine, she pulls at the door of it and says “Mama, yeah, Mama, yeah” until I unload it. Same with the dryer. Then if there’s a basket of dry clothes next to the dryer, she tries to pick it up and drag it upstairs herself, which she obviously can’t, so I have to help.

  112. Kat says:

    So glad I’m not the only one who does laundry that way. LOL

  113. Jennifer says:

    Isn’t laundry the worst?! UGH!

  114. This always freaking happens to me…especially when I wash cloth diapers, making the situation that much crappier. Literally.

  115. I could have written this post, although you’re missing two steps:

    8. Remove clothes from dryer and place them in a basket in the corner of the bedroom/living room couch/dining room table.

    9. Eventually fold/hang/put them away in a few days. Or a week. Whenever it starts to bother me enough to actually do it.

  116. Erin OK says:

    I’m actually pretty good at laundry! Self-congratulation for unique talent. I’m apparently incapable of washing a dish or throwing away anything I’ve ever owned though.

  117. Lauren Foley says:

    I swear to god, every post you’ve ever written could be a page out of my life. You are hysterical, and reading your blog (and the comments) is seriously one of the highlights of my week. It’s good to know I’m not the only one like this out there!

  118. Jen says:

    Ha! I read this and thought, “Oh, shit! The laundry!”

  119. Esther says:

    that reminds me! i have towels in the wash from yesterday! thanks

  120. And I thought I was the only one. Funny how I never forget the diapers. Those are my babies!

  121. Crystal says:

    Glad I’m not the only one that does that. They need to make washers that beep like once an hour after the load is done so you are reminded.

  122. Crystal says:

    Also, I’ve been know to buy new outfits for my kids or a brand new pack of socks for myself to avoid doing laundry.

  123. Angela B. says:

    That’s SO me, except I usually forget it in the dryer. So then I refluff & refluff until I eventually remember it & fold it.

  124. Beth says:

    If you put a half cup of vinegar in the rinse water, you can take the stink out of the clothes without re-washing. I, unfortunately, have forgotten the laundry many times!

  125. Brittani C. says:

    I’m SO glad you posted this. Just peeked in my washer, God only knows how long that load’s been in there lol!

  126. Michelle L says:

    Glad I’m not the only one!

  127. Amanda Reed says:

    lol! So been there done that. That is why Laundry is now my husband’s job, or my older daughters’ jobs. I say, “reboot the laundry” to whomever needs to swap clothes to the dryer and put new clothes in the washer. Laundry, vacuuming and taking out the trash are now thankfully NOT my jobs. LOL ๐Ÿ˜€

  128. Jennifer Scogin says:

    This USED to be my system. Both hubby and I work outside the house and we use cloth diapers so there was always the waking up in the middle of the night remembering that we didn’t do the diapers and DS would not have any for school the next day! However we have come up with a system that has really helped and for the most part, we have been able to keep up with the laundry. I have the separate laundry sorter in our closet (1 for delicates (underwear and socks), 1 for towels, 1 for darks, 1 for lights), then 1 laundry bin for DS clothes (all together), then my diaper bin. That is 6 separate loads already sorted. Each morning I grab a load and start it before leaving for work. In order to put a new load in in the morning I have to put the one from the previous morning in the dryer or hang dry which then means I have to put the load in the dryer on the couch . That evening when hubby has play time with 2 year old DS he has to fold/stuff diapers, whatever is on the couch, while I am cooking dinner. Since the laundry is sorted already it only takes about 5 – 8 minutes in the morning to do this (we timed it). The thing that has helped, believe it or not, is I started hang drying everything (minus towels, diaper inserts, socks and underwear) from the wash I immediately hang on hangers to dry then I just have to put then in the closet. Of course this meant making sure everything was hung in closets and nothing is in drawers. It took some time getting used to it, but by making it a habit that every morning I start a load and by not really having a lot of laundry to fold it has made for an easier laundry duty and it is pretty much kept up. But before this – the above system was DEFINITELY my house and we still jump out of bed in the middle of the night if diapers where not finished. Diapers are the only thing we HAVE to finish the whole cycle before morning because he will have nothing for school – hoping he is potty trained soon so I won’t have this issue anymore! LOL.

  129. bringingupbugandbee says:

    That’s how I do laundry, too! And then of course you have to follow through…………………dryer………….keep turning it on to “refluff” and live out of the clean dryer instead of emtying and folding! ๐Ÿ™‚

  130. LeahM says:

    My laundry room is between the garage and the kitchen, so there is no avoiding it, since it is a main thoroughfare. That is probably why I get about 5 loads done every day. (Sorry if that’s rubbing it in!) Ironically, I have been complaining that the washer and dryer take up too much space in what I wish was my mud room. I want to move them upstairs to my closet. But, you just made me see why that might be a disaster. No laundry would get done unless cookies were involved. And then I definitely would not lose that 5 lbs.

  131. Melissa says:

    It’s like you stalk my life and blog about it!

  132. Patty says:

    Oh that reminds me!!! This is what I need to do today. LOL.
    FINALLY after the laundry is done someone has to put it away…. ehhhh who cares I just dress my family from the couch… it’s all good.

  133. Lauren says:

    Thanks for the post! I love your blog because I know I’m among friends

  134. mandy says:

    How I do laundry:
    Use your first method enough to piss off the Hubcap.
    He decides I’m an imbecile and can’t be trusted to do laundry anymore and takes over.
    THAT’S the way to do laundry.

    • Martina says:

      Love it… although my hubcap tends to wash new dark things with… white towels, so not only are my once white towels a eeky tinge of blue/grey but also the new dark jacket (I’ve waited so long for my son to grow into which is a lined wool which wasn’t even supposed to go in the washing machine at all let alone with white TOWELs) now has white flecks of terry towelling and has all matted the wool and of course its shrunk! hmmm

  135. Jennifer J says:

    I had a Facebook “friend” whose method seemed to be: Let all the clothes get dirty, not want to do laundry, go buy more clothes. She posted about the necessary shopping trip one day, wanting to know if this was a bad example to her four children. I said yes. She unfriended me. Oh well!
    Right now, with three of us, we let the average load sit in the washer for at least a week. But when we had nine people in our house, everything got washed and put away every week like clockwork. Maybe it is just less of a life or death thing to me, now. Or, maybe, since I’ve been doing laundry for 43 years, I am just sick of it.

  136. Julie says:

    This is only my problem in the winter, because in the summer, I get to hang my laundry out on the line (read: get to spend 15 minutes alone outside in the sunshine), so I often search for clothes to wash and my kids are like, “I haven’t even WORN that yet”!

  137. Melissa says:

    No time to read ALL of the replies, so I apologize if I’m repeating. I have the same issue, but I have started a new “system.” I have a different color laundry basket for each kid and Dad and I share a big white one. I don’t wash a load until that child’s basket is full. That way when the load comes out of the wash, the basket goes straight to that child’s room. It may not get put away immediately, but it avoids having laundry on my bed for 3 days until I have time to sort it and get it all hung up and put away. Plus this way, each child can help put away his/her own laundry. I was reticent to try it, but so far it’s actually working for me!

  138. Krista says:

    Oh my gosh! My husband and I were JUST talking about how I do EXACTLY this. Well, at least I now know I am not alone in this world!

  139. Kimberly says:

    Okay, you seem SO grown up and together, and YOU DO THAT? As in TOO? Gosh, I don’t feel like such a “child” mother. (I don’t know what it is, but I’m 31 and I still feel like I’m not yet a “grown-up”).

    So yeah…thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one!

  140. emily g says:

    Yes! It’s never “time to do the laundry,” it’s always “time to re-start the laundry.” Damn it. LOLOLOL

  141. Stephanie says:

    After step 4: Completely run out of clothes.

    Step 5: Buy new clothes.

    Ahhh, if I won the lottery, laundry would be so much easier…

  142. teagans momma says:

    Our washer and dryer were actually in a closet in our master bedroom in our old house, which equals MASSIVE amounts of bed laundry…I got tired of it and got rid of half of our clothes.
    That being said, my husband and I fight over laundry all the time. He complains that he runs out of underwear all the time. I tell him that I don’t wear his crap, I don’t know when he needs them, so ask me BEFORE midnight to do a load of undies. Seriously. We just had an argument about 30 min beforehand…

  143. Jenny says:

    I do this all the time! I discovered that if I add white vinegar with the detergent when I’m forced to rewash that the icky mildew smell goes away the first time and I don’t have to rewash 2-3 times… and if I forget again the white vinegar holds off the smell for days and days.

  144. Ashley Duncan says:

    Ok raise your hand if you’ve done this: you have the genius idea to put washed unfolded mountain on your bed to force yourself to fold it before bed. Then you get distracted by some fiasco, probably bc your 2 yo has painted the bathroom wall with toothpaste, anyway you totally forget about said pile…… Until you go to lay down in your bed for the evening. At this point I am so exhausted that I relocate pile to deal with later, pile ends up ofn floor and I am forced to rewash “clean” clothes…….sigh

  145. Taylor F says:

    I love the honest blogs!! They are real everyday truths and obviously so many of us can relate to you!! Never stop your blogs are amazing and entertain me so much.

  146. Bethany says:

    Love it! Keep up the awesome site, it’s keeping me laughing because it’s all too true. ๐Ÿ™‚

  147. Lesa Pinker says:

    I thought I was the only one with that system. I’m at step 1 right now!

  148. Rachel says:

    I do that (forget about the laundry, not blog a reminder…. but it is a good idea… oh who am I kidding it wouldn’t work anyway) and I’m the only one in the house!

  149. Janette says:

    YES! Laundry and dishes are evil. They are the dark force of chores and so hard for me to keep on top of. Yet, I just got back from vacation where they had a free, full-size washer & dryer. For some reason, I had no problem doing 4 loads of laundry in two days while going back & forth to the beach and swimming pool. While I am estatic that I have suitcases full of clean clothes (except 1 shirt & 1 underwear), I can’t figure out why it was so easy there and so hard here? Go figure!? No wonder my husband has stopped trying to figure me out. ๐Ÿ™‚ I think I will reward myself with cookies and not do laundry.

  150. Katie D. says:

    Yep. Restarted a three day old stink load this morning. ๐Ÿ™‚ I put white vinegar in my fabric softener dispenser to get the smellies out.

  151. Taryn says:

    This is a great article! I found this site Braided Rugs to be good if you are looking for Braided rugs for your home!

  152. JGo555 says:

    Shut up Amber!

    After 2 days in the dryer, after being DONE by my husband, the clean laundry is on the bed because I AM *insert seriousness that will fade with tiredness/lazyness* GOING TO DO THAT TONIGHT. I WILL FOLD IT.

  153. piratick says:

    ha-ha. our household pretty much follows the same routine.

  154. Zoe says:

    THIS WAS MY TODAY.

  155. Bridget says:

    So, if you put a couple of tablespoons of baking soda in the dryer with the stinky-in-the-washer-for-too-long clothes, the smell usually comes out. The baking soda goes to the lint filter. Better go put a box of baking soda by the cookies in the laundry room!

  156. Nicole says:

    Lol – this is also my method… I only actually ever get the cloth diapers done. Somehow in all of this I have managed to wash only the important things of mine (underwear)….always forgetting my husbands. instead of apologizing, I have managed to convince him that he changes his underwear multiple times a day and that he is on a 2 pair per day ration….. Do I get a medal for that?

  157. Miranda says:

    I thought I was the only one. This is my exact method for doing laundry.

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