Cleaning the House After an Illness: Catching Up on Laundry

After just 6 days, my master bedroom was finally presentable again.  I was so happy.  My laundry room on the other hand, was overwhelming me.  It was time to do something about it.

First, however, I had to be sure I didn't lose any of my success in the bedroom.  Every day I start out the same way:

I make the bed.

I get dressed (with shoes).

I check all the surfaces and floors for clothes (dirty and clean), trash, toys, and other things that do not belong there.  I put them in the rooms where they belong.  

I don't get crazy, I JUST pickup.  I don't vacuum, dust, or declutter.

And after 5 minutes or so, I moved on to the laundry.  

I had been doing okay at running a load everyday, but I hadn't been folding anything.  It was certainly backing up.  

That day, I decided to run a load that needed to be hung to dry instead of dried in the drier, so I got that started.  Then, I decided to spend 20 minutes folding clothes.  

The laundry room itself was quite cluttered, so there was nowhere to fold clothes.  I took a basket into the bedroom and folded them on the bed.  I was able to fold about 3 baskets worth of clothes before my 20 minutes was up.  

When I was finished, I called each of my children to come and get their clothing to put away.  

At that point, I decided to add folding one basket of clothing to my daily routine.  If I alternated and did one day of drying in the drier and one day of hanging to dry, I could get caught back up.  My indoor drying space is very small, so the loads that could be done on those days were small.

I would start my load right when I got up each day, before I made my breakfast.  By the time I was done with my morning computer time, the load would be finished.  I wouldn't put it in the drier or hang it up, however, until I was finished with my picking up for the day.  One load washed, dried, and a basket folded was something I could commit to each day.  

I will be honest that if the laundry wasn't also the entry way to the house, I may not have made it a priority.  But, since it is, it got top billing :).

Other then the laundry, my plan was to clean up my house in order.  Next to the master bedroom is the master bath, so that was my next area to tackle.  I'll explain that one next.

God Bless,

Lisa

If you'd like to read my house recovery from the beginning, start here.