Laundry, my way: Part I

I have had this laundry series brewing for a while. I like to share what's good and helpful, and I think I have been doing laundry for long enough that I have gotten pretty good at it. I have also read quite a bit about laundering (odd, yes) and I even have friends who call me and ask "how to get out such and such stain." Let's just say it's my thing.

When it comes to children's clothing, little girl's clothes 

are infinitely more "fun" to launder 

than little boy's and I never thought I'd say that.

The point behind sharing my laundry tips is not so your clothes can be clean. Obviously you wash your clothes and they are clean, at least clean enough for you. We all have different standards. The point behind sharing my laundry method is to help you keep your clothes in great shape for longer. Maybe you like buying clothes and you don't want them to last. That's fine. You may be excused from class. ;-)  I don't buy cheap clothes. Nor do I buy expensive clothes. I just buy good clothes. Good meaning made to last. I usually buy them on sale and they are made to last if they are taken care of properly. By helping them along in that regard, I stretch my dollar a far as I possibly can. Cheap clothes don't last and they don't look good. I care that my husband looks professional in his job, and I care that my children look taken care of. Cheap clothes stain, and twist, and their seams pucker. They never look good, so it doesn't pay at all to buy them. One quality item is worth ten cheap ones, and you can take that to the bank.

Taking proper care of clothes means they last a long time, 

and that means they can be passed down over and over.

It's not difficult to take good care of clothes, even if you wash for a lot of people. It just takes a method, and I think my method is good. I won't bombard you with my entire method all at once. We'll take it one step at a time, starting at the beginning.

 

 Choose quality over quantity every time.

Before we actually get to my method, I want to talk about the psychology of doing the laundry. For many, many years in my marriage I avoided laundry. I did it, yes. But I was always doing it as needed. When the whites piled up and somebody ran out of undies, I did the whites. If my husband was out of dress shirts, I did a load of colors. Essentially I was getting up every day and asking do I have to do laundry? Then one day I had a revelation. I decided that every day I do have to do laundry. Just like beds must be made and meals must be prepared every day, laundry must be done every day. At least for my family.

 

Some items can last for entire lifetime, or more, if taken care of properly.

If you don't have a large family, then you might be able to establish three laundry days in a week. But with three adult-sized children and two adults (plus a child-sized child), laundry every day is necessary for me. If you can get away with three days a week -- set those days and don't put it off. Laundry must be done. The only thing that happens when you put it off is somebody runs of undies, and that's never good.

Once you realize that you just have to do it, you'll stop running from it.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home. --Mother Teresa

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