Tag: housework

How I’ve Streamlined My Laundry Process

How I’ve Streamlined My Laundry Process

When it comes to laundry, I think most of us can relate to this meme:

the-never-ending-story-as-an-adult

Of all the chores, laundry seems the most overwhelming to me. There are just so many steps – collect it , sort it (I’ve heard – we skip that here), wash it, dry it, fold it or hang it, and finally put it away.

Getting all that accomplished when you’re out of the house for 10 hours a day without saving it all for the weekend is all the more challenging.

Streamlined Laundry

When we were cloth diapering, on diaper washing days, I would do the 20 minute rinse right after we took Leah’s bedtime diaper off. By the time she was finished getting dressed and ready, the rinse would be done and I would put the detergent in and put it on the correct settings and then choose “Delay Wash” so that it would finish around the same time we would get home. That way the clean diapers wouldn’t be sitting wet in the dryer all day waiting to be dried. Then first thing I would when I got home is transfer them to the dryer for the first round of drying.

A couple weeks ago, I realized I could use this same concept on our regular laundry. Since Leah is using less diapers now, we aren’t doing cloth diapers loads every other day anymore which opens up the washer to be used for other loads more often.

My new process is to load up the washer and get it ready to go before I go to bed. Then I set the “Delay Wash” so that the load finishes before we leave for work & school in the morning. Then before we leave, we move the load into the dryer and get it going. Even if we need to do another fluff to get rid of the last bit of dampness, it will be done in plenty of time for us to work on folding after the girls go to bed.

We’ve only been doing it this way a few weeks but so far it has been really nice to have both the washer and dryer working so that it’s ready when we are as opposed to trying to get to it when its finished doing its thing and not letting it sit there because we’ve forgotten about it.

How do you keep the laundry monster from taking over your house?

The Problem With Equal-Opportunity Chores

I’m very blessed to have a husband who doesn’t balk at the idea of throwing a load in the washer or cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. As a working mom, I’d be a wreck if housework wasn’t shared between us.

But there is a downside…

There will come a night when you clog up the sink. With food you’ve left in the fridge too long. And you’ll be up to your elbows in gross and struggling with pipes trying to fix it.

photo credit: spierzchala

In your frustration, you’ll be silently cursing your husband for leaving you with this “man’s job” while he’s in the bedroom.

Then you’ll remember that tonight that same husband did a load of laundry, emptied and loaded the dishwasher after dinner and vacuumed the majority of the floors in the house. And isn’t just vegging out and watching TV but actually folding laundry in the bedroom.

So you take your frustrations out on the stubborn pipe and it will finally come loose and you finish unclogging the stupid sink.

In the end you decide that being left with gross “man jobs” occasionally is worth it to have the support of a man who doesn’t bat an eye at “woman’s work” and does what he can to keep things running smoothly every day.

Do you ever find that you don’t always give your husband the credit he deserves for what he does? What has it taken for you to realize that you might be taking him for granted?

Working Mommy Wednesday – Weekend Warrior

Good Intentions

I start every weekend with them. I have a mental list of all the housework I can tackle: rooms tidied, laundry washed, dried, folded AND put away, meals prepped and frozen…


photo credit vincent0849

Then I have the mental list of all the fun activities I can do with Brooke: play outside, paint, cook & bake, play games, build puzzles…

Paint Brushes.
photo credit ohdearbarb

The reality? By the time I get breakfast made and cleaned up, I look at the clock and realize I need to start thinking about lunch. Lunch is thrown together and I try to get Brooke to eat faster, faster, faster so her nap doesn’t start crazy late.  In a nutshell, my weekends are gone before I even realize they’ve come.

Since moving here to Tennessee, the weekends have gotten better.  We’ve made a real effort to do more during the week so that we aren’t bogged down when the weekend rolls around.  I still struggle with balancing the things that need to be done around the house with spending quality time with both Brooke and Keith but I feel our situation has improved and will continue to do so as we continue tweaking our new routine.

What are your weekends like? Is it a time of relaxation and reconnecting or do you cram your days with chores and catch-up?

This post is linked to Working Mommy Wednesday