Weekly Column: Rage Against The Laundry

Though half of our family is made up of tiny people, our laundry piles are not tiny. They multiply their ranks overnight and threaten to march on my sanity by day. I’ve drawn up battle plans in order to combat this laundry uprising, but the plan is so simple that I’m astounded the enemy hasn’t caught on yet and staged a counter-attack.

My plan is this: Do one complete load of laundry every day. I used to wait for a certain day (usually the day we risked mortal embarrassment from having no clean clothes) before doing every load of laundry in the house. Wearing myself out with a full day of work was disheartening and exhausting, especially when the next day would certainly bring a new pile of dirty laundry. But with this plan, I’ve been freed from the grasp of the ever-growing laundry pile. It’s still a task to be done, but not a horrifying one. Breaking it down into manageable pieces has been wonderful.

And I’ve recruited some adorable troops to help me in my attack. My 4-year-old is at the perfect age to sort clean laundry (mine, not mine, jammies, pants, etc.), match socks, and put away folded items. She’s getting really good now at folding towels too, which is somehow – magically – fun for her. My 2-year-old loves putting her tiny socks into the hosiery bag (a sure way to thwart the sock-eating dryer-monster) and carrying dirty clothes to the washing machine. Her favorite though, is pushing wet laundry into the dryer. The fascination escapes me, but I try to hide it well.

Your family may differ in size, ages, and habits from ours, but this simple battle plan can be easily adopted into your household. You, too, can fight back against the terrorizing laundry pile.