When the girls were infants, I was a nutcase about most
everything…including laundry. I treated
each and every stain (and there were a lot of those!)…including stains on
washcloths, burp cloths, and bibs.
Eventually, as we were nearing the point of needing a second
mortgage to finance our OxiClean consumption, I began to let the burp cloths
and washcloths slide. And later I even
began to let the bibs go. [I have always
maintained a laser focus on all outerwear, though!]
Once the laundry was done, I had a complex system for sorting,
folding, and putting things away. The
craziest one was probably my washcloth classification.
On average I had six or eight different brands of
washcloths. I sorted each brand into
piles. And then I organized the piles by
preference. My very favorite washcloths
were on the top of the pile, followed by my next favorite…the bottom of the
pile was home to the washcloths I didn’t like very much, the ones that – if I
did laundry frequently enough – I wouldn’t even have to use. Score!
It’s only been within the past year that I abandoned my
washcloth classification system. It’s
actually made a positive difference in the time it takes to fold the girls’ laundry!
Over the past few months, I’ve been having the girls “help”
me in the house from time to time. It’s
still much easier to fold laundry after hours, when they’re in bed, but I do it
during the day occasionally so they can have a hand in it.
I’m so proud of myself for turning over the washcloth
stacking duty to the girls. The pile of
washcloths is now a far cry from its heyday three years ago, but it works.
The washcloths are stacked…not very neatly…and not even
facing the same way…and certainly not grouped by brand. Baby A did sort them by color one day last
week, though, and I couldn’t help but beam.
The next frontier is the girls’ sock bin. Baby A has just learned to “ball” socks
together. By three-year old standards, I
think she does an excellent job…but there go my beautiful, uniform rows of
socks.
Deep breaths. I can
do this. One day, I might even turn over
the silverware drawer. Maybe.
5 comments:
I let Cam and Gray fold towels. I didn't even think about socks. I'm teaching the girls how to ball socks tonight! I'm proud of you for relinquishing control.
Just wait - it gets harder... Cam and Gray love to make their own bed. Is it up to my standards? No. But I'm proud that they want to do it. And when I have people coming over, I secretly go back and fix it. :)
I love how you embrace your OCD-ness :)
Let them loose, Mandy, I dare you!
You should see Connor sweep and Kendra make her bed... I'll try and remember to take pics and email you.
A MESS but they feel good about themselves :) :)
Oh, I'm so envious of your organization!! I'm one of those mommas that has to re-wash a load about 3 times before I remember to move it to the dryer. Sigh. Trying to get better but it seems like the girls and hubby wear a gazillion outfits per day!! I love how your girls help, though! Mine aren't yet interested in laundry (except to wreck my piles :)) but they love to sweep!
You haven't let them try silverware sorting yet? There are nice neat rows for them to drop into! Go wild! Let them unload the dishwasher and give them their own base cabinet to organize their stuff!
I admire your bravery, but my linen closet is off limits- TO EVERYONE! I need those nice, neat stacks with everything folded the same way and sorted by set!
I think I let go of my silverware drawer first. Fortunately, it's very easy for the girls to match the silverware into the appropriate section of the drawer, so that goes well. I tried to let them help me fold clothes, but I'm just too OCD about how they are folded. So instead they help me sort the clothes by picking out all of their underwear and socks and matching their socks. This works well for all three of us.
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