Monday Motivation #7

What's this?  A Monday Motivation on Wednesday?  Yes, my dear readers...it has happened.  I have not been able to post since Monday.  The why?  Well, it's complicated and more than this little blog can handle.  Part busyness, part blow to the gut...(not mine but my hubby's, and I've decided for sure this time that I prefer blows to my own gut.  Watching someone you love struggle is far more painful).  God's grace is always sufficient, even in the messiness of this journey and I am THANKFUL to Him today for grace.  Grace, Grace, Marvelous Grace!

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:  TAME THE LAUNDRY MONSTER

This week I want to focus on getting the laundry under control and keeping it under control.  As you know, if you have been reading along, these challenges are born out of my struggles.  And if you were keeping up Monday you saw that laundry-ness is not always my strong point!  I try.  I really do.  I do laundry every single day and I do it all day long.  I start the first load in the morning before I go downstairs (our laundry room is upstairs with the bedrooms) and I am usually unloading my last load from the dryer before I go to bed.  My children regularly switch the loads throughout the day also.  Even still, the hamper overflows, the floor of the laundry room is covered, and baskets of clean clothes line up in my bedroom floor like a choo-choo train.  Part of the reason for my laundry quandary may be the list of characters I have here.  First, I have a hard working husband who wears dress clothes to work and casual clothes when he gets home and is responsible for at least a couple of outfits per day.  Then I have 3 sweaty teenage soccer players including one who doubles as a referee and they dirty enough stuff to keep the washer and dryer humming "son" up til "son" down.  Throw in a couple more children, and myself, plus a little baby, and you've got more than a bit o' laundry.  Babies happen to be little laundry monsters themselves with the throw-ups and blow-outs and leaking and such. 

Here's what I've got planned to get things back under control and maybe these things can help bring peace, order, and cleanliness to your laundry room. 

1.  I am designating one day a week to be laundry day.  (No, I can't just do laundry once a week but I am going to have one day that is for focusing on laundry and the other days will be used to maintain.)

2. I am going to use my friend, the timer, to keep me on track.  When a load goes into the washer I will set my timer to remind me to send a kiddo to put the clothes into the dryer when the washer stops.  I will also use the timer to push myself to get the laundry folded and put away (more on that later).

3.  On designated laundry day, each time I start a new load I will work on cleaning an area of the laundry room.  For example, wiping down the washer and dryer, sweeping the floor, putting away any clutter that has collected on top of the washer and dryer, etc.

4.  As I fold each basket of clothes I will weed out clothing that needs mending, or clothes that are out-grown, out of season, severely stained, or beyond repair, and put them in their proper place.  I'm starting a basket for clothes that need mending, already I have an item in need of a button and another with a broken zipper.  Out-grown clothes are packed away in boxes to save for younger siblings, and if something is severely stained or beyond repair it goes in the trash.  No more taking up precious space with things we can't use!

5.  Have you ever timed yourself when folding a basket of clothes?  It actually only takes minutes!  I'm going to race my timer and try to fold and put away laundry as quickly as possible so the baskets of clean clothes are not lining up in my bedroom.  I will set the timer for 15 minutes and race against it trying to finish before it goes off.  If I fold the laundry and put it away as soon as it comes out of the dryer we will not have the choo-choo train to deal with.

6.  I'm going to learn to love my laundry!  Weird?  Maybe, but that's what I am going to do.  I am THANKFUL for the husband God gave me, THANKFUL for the half dozen babies God has blessed me with, THANKFUL that I am home to tend to these things, THANKFUL that I am healthy and able bodied and can run up and down the steps and into each room and bend and stretch without any trouble and I am THANKFUL for my machines and detergent and easy to care for clothes.  Years ago women didn't have it so easy!

I hope some of my ideas for getting my laundry and laundry room under control will be of help to you.  This time of year I find it is really important to stay on top of the laundry.  With the holidays coming I like to keep the house clean and be able to decorate and cook and bake and do projects with the children.  All of these things are easier when the laundry is being kept under control.  Plus, fresh clean laundry is another way to bless our hubbies and kiddos and that is for sure something we all want to do!

I found this picture inspiring.  I mean, we can dream can't we???