I do laundry almost daily. (I try not to wash clothes on Sundays. But Jesus did good works on the Sabbath, and sometimes I have to run a laundry load of mercy for my family.) If I don't, I get buried by an Everest of dirty clothes that takes days to scale, especially since the mountain continues to grow as I climb it.
I've got certain things I do on a somewhat weekly basis, like bedding and towels. Otherwise, I just sort clothes by type and color (e.g. underwear and pajamas all get washed on hot no matter what color they are -- my kids aren't completely potty-trained at night, and sheets and towels make their own loads and also get washed on hot) and when I have enough for a load, it goes in. In summer, I sometimes get to skip a day because the clothes are smaller and it takes more to make a load. In winter, I get a whole load when everyone changes into pajamas at night!
I'm really good about washing and drying clothes, normally. The occasional load gets forgotten in the washer and thus needs to be rewashed to remove the stale, sat-too-long-damp smell. But the need for clean clothes keeps me from forgetting this task too often.
But folding? And putting clothes away? Those are much tougher to finish. I learned recently that if I fold the clothes as I pull them out of the dryer, they are MUCH more likely to get put away before Sam emerges on a hot July day in a long-sleeved shirt and corduroys because that's all he has that's clean.
But there are still days when I'm washing clothes in between errands or someone is screaming at someone else or a child is waiting on the potty for me to wipe their bottom (we have a rule now -- you can't get up until Mom or Dad has ensured the cleanliness of your rump). So I just dump dry clothes in a basket and run.
Putting clothes away is a major process when you have more than a few members of your household. Since we recently added a person, I'm adjusting to a new influx of clothes into the system. Babies don't just add their own clothes into the mix... they spit up and blow out and snot all over yours too! So suddenly Mom and Dad are going through multiple outfits some days (though if I'm not going anywhere, I just wipe it off and keep going -- I've seen it all now and the extra laundry is just not worth it!).
Anyway, I'm still getting over the shock of having another pile of clothes on my bed or on the couch or on the floor...wherever it is that I'm folding and sorting. Every time I've done laundry since Luke came home, I have to sit and think for a moment about why I have four piles of kids' clothes. Then it hits me. Duh. I have four children!
Perhaps I'm so slow because I have to fold and sort clothes during nap time or after bedtime. Anna is a master unfolder, born with a black belt in the sport. I quickly gave up trying to maintain order over my neatly folded clothes and clearly-delineated piles for each person when she's around. So I'm usually propping my eyelids open with clothes pins, trying to stay awake long enough to get through One More Basketful.
Thus the challenge of putting clothes away. Once the clothes are folded, I can only put away the adults' piles. Because children are usually sleeping in their bedrooms. Sam can sleep through me puttering about, but his door pops really badly when you open it. And the girls don't sleep through it at all.
So neatly-folded piles of clothes for each person get neatly stacked into laundry baskets. Where they sit until I need the basket for the next round of laundry.
Or until someone complains that they have no more underwear and I grumble that I just did laundry so they MUST have underwear and then I realize that all the underwear is in the laundry basket in my room where they aren't allowed to go.
Or sometimes I try creative ways to make myself put things away. Like piling our folded clothes on our bed so that we have to put them away before we go to bed. Except that Scott doesn't think that way, so he doesn't understand my code unless I specifically say, "I put those there so we'd put them away tonight." If I don't explain myself, he just moves them to the floor (probably wondering why I walked past the dresser to put them on the bed when I could have just as easily put them away.). And there they usually stay until worn or trampled on by runaway preschoolers.
I can't complain -- I have my own piles of clothes too. Currently I have maternity clothes that I need to give away or return. Maternity clothes I can still wear...but don't want to. Pre-maternity clothes I keep trying on in hopes that I can fit into them... but find I still can't. Nursing gear of all sorts.
I started teaching Sam how to put his clothes away awhile ago. He enjoys it and does a good job of his. So that gives me hope. Maybe soon, with a little more... or maybe a lot more... I'll have some help doing the laundry. Anna doesn't understand her dresser yet, nor does she grasp the concepts of "top," "middle," and "bottom." So she can't follow instructions like "put these in the middle drawer...the one with all your other tops... no honey... the middle drawer!"
Meanwhile, I have to keep reminding myself that I really should have four piles of kids' clothes and that it really does save time to fold clothes as I pull them out of the dryer!
