This is deep stuff here... it involves the dreaded chore of laundry folding. I know. I hate folding laundry, I truly do. But clothes get worn and clothes get dirty and the kids can't do it themselves yet so here we are. I'm not one to let mounds and mounds gather up, I just wait till the basket is full and then I schlep it downstairs, which is usually every other day. But because I hate folding so much I want to spend as little time on it as possible. It's not rocket science here... But I just looked at a chore I hated and I thought now let's just make this involve as little time as possible yes?
So I've sort of got it down to an OCD system... Laugh if you will, it is mildly entertaining in a crazy way, I am well aware.
I usually fold laundry in the living room, the proximity to the laundry room and then of course the children is of utmost importance. I dump the dried clothes on the center cushion as seen above. I have a location on the couch for each person's clothing. Letty has the top of the left cushion, David the top of the center, Dominic the top of the right. My clothes go on the cushion to the left, and Matt's the cushion on the right. All like items get stacked together. There is a stack for PJS, tops, and bottoms for each kid. Socks and underwears get balanced on top of PJs. If you have to make stacks might as well make them count, yes? Then! This is where my excitement takes over.
When I put away laundry I go for path of least resistance. I walk up the stairs and the first room is Letty's, then David's, then Dominic's, followed lastly by our room, first our closet, then my dresser, then Matt's dresser. So how I work is is that the room I hit first, those clothes are on the top of the laundry basket. So I carry my basket full of folded clothes upstairs, turn right into Letty's room, and her clothes are right there, on the top. Not just that but I've stacked her clothes in the order they are put away. Socks, undies, PJs on top because they are in the top drawer, followed then by tops and bottoms that are in the middle drawer. If she happened to wear a skirt recently that would be on the bottom because her skirts reside in the bottom drawer. Insane right? I'm legit nuts. Any items that would require hanging in their closets are just resting above the stack of folded clothes because I would do that first in each room.
I work my way through the kid's rooms and then ours. Same deal. My socks and delicates are on top of the pile because they go in the top drawer. Then tshirts followed by leggings, working my way down the dresser. I must time it sometime but I think actually putting away the laundry once folded takes something like 2 minutes.
And it makes me immensely happy that that is all it takes.
Another little trick during all this? If possible the clothes are in the drawers on their sides. So when you open the drawer you see the entire contents. When I'm putting clothes away I put them to the back of the drawer, just like with milk at a grocery store. So the clothes in the front of each drawer are ones that have been worn the longest ago. This helps me with picking outfits for the kids, not only seeing all contents but knowing what was just worn or what hasn't been worn in awhile, etc. Everything gets to take a turn you know?
Okay now that I've officially scared you I'm done with this topic of laundry. I have a bachelor's degree! I made Dean's List ever semester! But yeah.... laundry, man.
