fold and put away all my laundry as soon as it gets out of the dryer

Here’s the bribe. If the laundry gets folded, see yummy Reese’s chocolate that goes in my mouth.

So after avoiding doing laundry for way too long, possibly since my last entry, I finally got off my ass and schlepped out to the laundromat. I was expecting it to be super busy right after work on Monday but it was empty when I got there and people were starting to trickle in after my first load of washing. Still I didn’t have to wait for a dryer or anything.

I ended up leaving behind my whites because I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough money for them. I also did super small loads this time, since last time I tried to cram in way too much and my clothes were still dirty afterward.

So I took a picture of the laundry after I had sorted it into my piles. The next step is making sure it ends up folded. I even matched and folded my socks. Yes they are all short black socks, so they’re the same but different. And the ultimate “I’m being organized” is that I even folded my underwear :)

And yes I realize that the piles don’t look organized. But basically it’s socks and underwear, towels and sheets, hang up clothes and T-shirt / PJs and sweaters in the back.

Right now I have this giant pile of it sitting on my floor in a heap. The last three or four times had ended up with it in the basket lurking in the middle of my room, slighly neater than what it is at this point.

The problem is that I will live like this until it is time for the next round of laundry, creating mini piles of dirty, semi dirty, semi clean and clean stuff.

In good news, I found a friend who doesn’t mind that I use his kickass awesome HUGE machine. So I end up shoving a pile into my backpack and doing it there. At that point I’m not limited by the size of the machine, but more the size of my bag. Saves me time and money because I don’t have to walk out to the laundromat in the freezing cold.

Well at least I folded it at the laundromat.

Some of it is still sitting on the bed, but it’s the baby steps that count you know!

Really, Really, REALLY need to do laundry today.

Let’s see if I can do it right down to the folding again this time.

I did this the last time I did laundry, down to the underwear, which I generally don’t fold, just junk into my drawer. But it made me feel so organized and I had a better idea of when I needed to do laundry because I could see at a glance how many pairs I had left.

Here’s how I control the laundry. Only two baskets – same color and shape – hold clean items. I never have more than that. Once those are filled force yourself to fold and put away. To make tough loads, like whites, easier I separate them by person first. Might sound like handling twice but once I fold one person’s stuff I can put that away, or have them put it away. Then I have more room and I know I won’t be back-tracking. That might not work for everyone but you might give it a try.

so I’m going to move this to my “Finished” goals. I will say that it certainly cuts down on the difficulty of finding clothes when they are put away where they belong.

Actually, at least half of the time I already do this. However,
when I do let the laundry sit warm in the dryer, it gets wrinkled. It’s so much easier to put everything away right when the dryer cycle ends.

this is just NEVER going to happen. i’ve managed to fold towels directly out of the dryer and put them away, but not the clothes. i’m taking this one off my list to make room for something else that i really want to do.