Remember a few months ago when I bragged about my cleaning schedule? Well, winter – and its onslaught of long pants, heavy sweaters and pink tights (so many pink tights) – has ruined any domestic progress I may have been making.
I’ve never really thought about it before – perhaps because I’ve never had my laundry under control before. Winter is the worst laundry season at my house.
Did you notice how I said, “at my house”? I debated between that and “in my family.” But the problem isn’t really my husband and daughter. The problem is the weather, the resulting necessary clothing and my house.
I don’t have a laundry room. I have a garage with a washer and dryer in the corner. Despite what our real estate agent suggested about cute shelf paper, matching organizers and basic curtains to cover the storage area, it is not a laundry room. And for many months of the year, it’s not really a problem. Sure, it’s kind of weird to store my unfolded clothes in the same space that my husband stores his tools, mountain bike and charcoal for the grill. But at least it’s on the same level as our bedrooms.
No need for a fancy laundry chute in this tiny ranch! Just walk a few steps down the hall, open a door and hop down one step to get to the “laundry room.”
But when it turns cold, my laundry garage turns into a glorified covered porch. (And not the insulated kind that stays warm with a fake fireplace.)
I knew the sad day had come a few weeks ago when I sent my daughter out to the garage to toss a couple things in the recycling bin. Approximately three seconds after she opened the door to the garage, she screamed and my heart stopped.
“What?!” I yelled, imagining rabid raccoons, shards of glass and serial killers. [Yes. In my garage. Shut up. I have an active imagination.]
It turns out that she’d gone out there with bare feet and the garage floor was cold enough to startle her into screaming like a maniac. [Note to self: Do not assume your four-year-old will remember the rule about no bare feet in the garage.]
Just a couple days after the cold floor incident, I noticed our clothes hamper was overflowing. In the middle of the week. Now, being my usual homemaking genius, I didn’t think much about it that first week. But after a couple weeks of multiple laundry days made necessary by a full hamper just days after Monday-which-is-laundry-day, I realized something had changed.
Granted, pulling pair after pair of work pants out of the dryer and hearing my husband holler, “Do I have any clean long-sleeved t-shirts?” may have clued me in, too.
When the weather turns cold, my husband wears about 3.7 times more clothes to work. He drives a semi, but also works the dock for a few hours in the middle of the night, so it’s understandable. But it also means a whole lot more laundry! Add that to my long-sleeved shirts and sweaters and my daughter’s many pink and purple layers, and we’ve got full hampers all over the place!
But it’s not simply a matter of just doing laundry more often. [Okay, it is. But I’m going to complain and offer excuses for not doing it first.]
Shortly before Annalyn was born, we got a new washer and dryer. Nothing fancy, but they beat the 15-year-old hand-me-down machines we’d gotten from Mark’s parents when we got married. One of the main reasons we wanted to replace our old washer and dryer was the fact that it took our dryer at least two hours – if not longer – to dry one load of clothes.
Sadly, the new dryer has the same problem. I suspect it’s an electrical issue, although our friend (who is an electrician and would know) says that shouldn’t be the case. I’m familiar with the sketchy electrical situation that is our house, though, so I still have my suspicions. And, you know, the evidence of a three-hour drying cycle.
For some reason – and I have no hypothesis for this one, logical or not – the colder it is, the longer the dryer takes to get our clothes dry. So, not only do I have MORE laundry, but getting it done TAKES LONGER!
On top of that, let’s not forget the main issue. Baby, it’s cold outside. My garage is nearly as cold as the outside. And the last thing I want to do is go out there and handle wet laundry or take time to match socks and fold underwear.
Unfortunately – and you might not be surprised to hear this – ignoring my laundry does not make it disappear. And those laundry fairies I keep waiting for? They have not appeared yet! So I’m left trying to figure out how to manage this season of difficult laundry.
First of all, I keep the area in front of the washer and dryer covered with old rugs. Actually, the entire path from door to hanging rack is covered by rugs. (Of course, when our pipes get clogged and the washing machine overflows, those rugs get soaked. But – knock on wood – that hasn’t happened in quite a while.) I also plug in a space heater when it gets real cold. Second of all, I’m trying (trying!) not to let the to-be-folded laundry pile up outside. It’s much more pleasant to fold it on the dining room table than it is to do it on the top of the very cold dryer in the very cold garage.
And third, just to be nice, I’ve been bringing my husband’s hanging clothes into the house much more often. Sure, it shouldn’t be a special treat for him to put warm-out-of-the-closet clothes on after showering instead of cold-out-of-the-garage clothes. But it is. So hanging his clothes where they belong is super nice of me.
Last but not least, I’ve had to abandon my plan for one laundry day a week, and I’ve had to revert to doing about a load a day. It’s not a big deal if I stay on top of the whole folding and putting away thing, but that’s never been a real successful goal for me in the past. But hey, I learned how to [kind of] stick to a cleaning schedule, and that was new for me. Maybe this will be the winter I stay on top of my laundry!
Did I mention that sometimes my dryer shocks me? As in zings me with enough electricity that it actually hurts a bit (not surprises me with its ability to do its job and dry my clothes)? Yeah. It does.
I really shouldn’t complain, though, because that little shock is just enough to warm me up without curling my hair.
Do you have a handle on laundry? Does your family (or your house) have a “bad season” for laundry (or other chores)? And do you fold socks or just toss them in a drawer?
Resources: If you’d like to work on creating your own cleaning schedule, you might try Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule from Christine of I Dream of Clean.
LOL – your post made me laugh! My washer and dryer are in the garage as well and I HATE it!! One of the things I’ve most wanted in a house is a laundry room. When I see the beautifully decorated laundry rooms with the shiny washer and dryer in blog land I want to throw myself on the floor and have a two year old tantrum and say “I want one now” instead I happily walk over the car oil spots my husband has left from his truck and thank the Lord I don’t have to go to a Laundromat. My garage is usually just plain hot since we live in South Florida, so sometimes it’s a work out in itself do the laundry in the summer and yes my dryer also takes two hours to dry so you are not alone. I do believe some day our wish will come true :)
Have a blessed weekend,
Marie
Amen – a garage laundry “room” is way better than hauling it all to the laundromat!
Laundry is deffinately the unending task, I can never keep up with. There have been times when I managed to get it all washed folded and even put away . . . but those times are few and far between. Lately mountains have been monsterous. I can usually get it allo washed but with six of us the rest of it just doesnt seem to get done. I’m wondering if winter layers are contributing to my situation too. I’ve decided to fold one load and put it away before I go to bed and see if that improves my situation. I can’t imagine trying to factor in the cold situation you have to deel with. I have had dryer problems before and that deffinately slows things down. Hopefully you get that resolved soon.
Doing laundry for six cannot be an easy task to manage, that’s for sure! I think folding and putting way one load each night sounds like a great goal, though. The once-a-day tactic has worked pretty well for me and my dishwasher!
I feel your pain! We lived in house for 4 years that the laundry room was really part of a closet-style storage room which required going out the backdoor and into the second door, that was not in an enclosed-garage, but an open wall shelter style carport. Winters were terrible…cold and dark…and if it rained, you could forget having laundry done. We do live in Southwest Georgia, so we didn’t have snow to deal with and the temps regularly balance in the 40s throughout winter, but yick, it made an already dreadable job, even worse!
All right – doing laundry essentially outside in southwest Georgia in July? THAT rivals my garage laundry in December any day!
Such a fun post to read. I fold my clothes while sitting on the couch and watching tv. Just a thought. Plus, you have to put them away because they take up the couch and the dog stares at me wanting his place back. Yes, he’s allowed on the couch, but not every couch. Is there anyway you can write to Maytag or Sears and get them to give you a new dryer because you are an awesome blogger? I’d read your commentaries!
I wish! Several of my blogger friends have gotten large appliances as part of a blogging campaign. Maybe Maytag will knock on my door soon. Until then, I suppose I’ll force myself to fold clothes while I watch TV, too. :)
Thank you for sharing – It’s comforting to know that laundry isn’t only my issue, and I don’t have any of your excellent reasons for falling behind. My laundry is just off my kitchen, and I still don’t handle it well. Washing and drying – ok, but folding -that’s another story completely.
Ugh. Laundry is its own excellent reason for falling behind. It just IS. Especially that folding part!
Well…………the plan used to be 2 loads each day. Washed, dried and put away. Then I went back to work full time. Ack. I did get rid of all but 2 laundry baskets. If you don’t have baskets, the laundry can’t pile up in them. Our laundry is on the 2nd floor. Helpful because it’s close to the bedrooms. Not helpful when I want to flip a load while cooking on the first floor.
I wash each kid’s clothes separately so I don’t have to sort on the way out of the dryer. They each own 12 pairs of identical socks. I throw them in the drawer or in the waste basket depending on condition. They always have mates this way. I buy them black socks and dark undies so I don’t have to separate their whites/darks. They are not allowed white shirts! (stains and more loads) I do have boys though. It works for us.
I wash my daughter’s clothes separately from ours – and don’t separate into lights/darks. At least for now, I just dump it all into one load. I say whatever works for you is the best plan!
You’re right: laundry is never-ending.
But what stood out most about your post was your imagination of rabid racoons, shards of glass, and serial killers — truly classic.
What can I say? My imagination, it is vivid. ;)
I am NEVER caught up on laundry, and always shocked at the sheer amount of it that we have as a family of 5. All of our closets are full, the laundry room is full, it’s in baskets on the floor and on the couch. I swear it grows and multiplies. My laundry room is downstairs in the basement, so I absolutely dread lugging it all down and then back up the stairs. I would love to have a laundry room on the main level. Maybe that would inspire me to keep up on it.
My dryer takes forever to dry too, but I think it has to do with where the vent is located, and the fact that my washer will still have water standing in it after the spin cycle, lol.
Ugh – basement laundry stinks. Counting my blessings now that I only have to walk up/down one step to get to my laundry in the garage! :)
First off, LOVE your Blog! Second, please check your dryer vents to make sure they aren’t clogged! It can catch fire of they are! Yikes! Also, make sure the clothes are spinning out dry enough in the washer ( I am a pro at removing forgotten objects and baby socks from the washer pump!) I also think you should ask your electrician friend to see if the breakers have the capacity to run those machines ( Most are 220 and should not be shared :o) Lastly…I agree a load a day.keeps Mt Washmore away..and I love to fold it nice and warm right out of the dryer and put it away right away…makes me feel somewhat accomplished! We just moved and our washer is in an outdoor building and only has a cold water hose to it…no dryer hookup means I have to rely on the weather to dry my clothes…I would prefer a garage laundry!