Climbing Mt. Kil-a-Mom-Laundry

by Cary Farrell

July 22, 2019

Do you have to climb Mt. Kil-a-Mom-Laundry every week to look for clean clothes for you or your family? Are you afraid to even go into the laundry room for fear that the laundry piles might begin to erupt? Clothes are something we wear every day so if you can systematize your laundry routine, you can eradicate the mountain altogether. I will admit that when I had five little ones and two adults to do laundry for, I wished for a no-clothes day just so I could catch up on the laundry.

A couple of big differences between my generation and my granny’s generation include the invention of the washer and dryer (thank goodness!) and the amount of clothes we have.  My dad and his siblings had very few changes of clothes to clean and many people today have at least enough clothes for a month before they need to do laundry.  I have even had some clients tell me that they just go buy more clothes instead of doing laundry!  First world problem--too many clothes.

The issue of laundry starts with your mindset about clothes.  A client recently sent me a blog post from Danaye of the Dallas City Moms blog entitled “Why I got rid of my wardrobe.”  I don’t have time in this article to cover fashion and your wardrobe, but her article is food for thought. Once you have determined how many clothes are right for you and your family members, then it is time to come up with a gameplan to get rid of Mt. Kil-a-Mom-Laundry!

Here are three boulders to climb over on your way to conquering the mountain:

Boulder #1 – How to QUICKLY tackle a huge mountain of laundry

If I ever got far behind with laundry because I had sick kids or the washer broke down, I would sort the laundry into bags and take it to the nearest laundromat to get caught up. If you are behind a few dozen loads, then I would recommend you do the same.  You can do in a few hours at the laundromat what could take you several days to get done at home.

Boulder #2 – Tackling the mountain of clean clothes

You managed to get the laundry washed and dried but you didn’t finish the job by folding, hanging, and putting it away. You might have to take a day to get caught up.  Always put clothes away immediately after you finish so you don’t just keeping adding to the mountain.

Boulder #3 –Storing all the clothes

This brings us back to the fact that you really can only wear one outfit at a time and if you have clothes hanging in your closet or stuffed in your drawers that you don’t wear, you don’t have room to put your clothes away.  Take the time to decide which outfits you really love and look and feel good in.  Decide what outfits you will actually wear if they are clean.  Give these clothes prime real estate in your closet and evict the rest.  If you have clothes that you LOVE that are the wrong size, pack them up and put them in storage until they fit.  But remember, if you get back to that size, you will probably want to celebrate with new styles so donating may be a good option.  If you have a lot of seasonal clothes, consider packing up the most extreme of those seasons and rotating those clothes in and out of the closet and drawers. It’s kind of like leaving Christmas decorations and beach toys out all year.  They lose their excitement when you look at them all the time.

If you need more help in organizing your closets, read my post for steps on "Spring Cleaning Your Closets."

Take time to tackle your boulders!