I realize that many of you have no idea what you are looking at. Those of you with children, especially ones with 7 or with a lot of girls who change clothes a few times a day, or even those of you who have 1 little boy who changes 10,873 times a day, will recognize this as a pile of laundry. If you have never seen laundry like this, do not judge. Just be glad it is not your house!
The saddest part about this pile of laundry is that it is actually CLEAN laundry. Or was. See, in our house laundry has a cycle this is how it goes…
- Buy clothing from store.
- Sometimes it gets washed before it is worn, but mostly not.
- Child #3,5 and 6 wears it, not once, but usually a MANY times.
- Child #1,#2,#4 and #6 wears it for a few hours and then finds something else.
- Clothing is thrown on the floor for a few days.
- Child/ren is yelled at for another few days to clean up room.
- Older children run out of clothing and finally do their own. Only to leave them in the wash until they smell or in the dryer until another child tosses them onto the floor so they can put theirs in the dryer.
- I finally gather up clothing to wash when the 3 year old is out of underwear and has to wear his sister pink ones. Or when we finally realize that he has been going commando…
- I wash 17 loads in one day and because I am doing them in between baseball, cleaning the kitchen, blogging, cleaning up bathrooms, paying bills, etc. I start tossing them on the love seat in hopes that someone will fold them later onto the couch.
- They never get folded.
- People start grabbing clothes off the couch for the next few days. In my head I try and make time to fold clothes.
Finally, it is raining and lightening and I come home from work hoping to curl up on the couch with a good book and relax. Instead, I wonder if the pile has finally started to come alive and fold itself! It’s a Christmas Miracle! No, it is actually the dog who has made himself at home on my clean clothes that he pulled off the couch and apparently wants me wash again!!
Then the cycle starts all over again!
Please tell me for your sake that I am the only one who hates laundry, and has to see something this horrendous in my home on a weekly basis?!!!!
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
I definitly hate laundry as well! It took me three years after my first daughter was born to actually get into a laudry schedule that worked. But occasionally I definitly still get a large pile of either clean or dirty clothes 🙁 I hate it! And btw I only have 2 kiddos and 1 husband and I’ve had bigger and worse piles before so no worries it happens! 😉
I find it disturbing that my husband feels the floor NEXT to the hamper is an appropriate spot to drop his clothes… Or when I do laundry for 3 days straight and the pile never seems to end!!! And I only have us 4! I can’t imagine the amount you have 🙂
Oh lord, another one! How is it that a seemingly intelligent full grown man can’t take the extra half second to put his clothes IN the hamper.
Well, he does think he should get brownie points for “throwing it in the general direction.” LOL …
I can’t complain too much though because it’s just us two living in an apartment. (I don’t know how you ladies with large families keep your sanity!) But if you want to talk about various pairs of shoes and socks being left just wherever, that’s a whole other story!
What I don’t like about laundry though is having to pay $1.75 to wash, and $1.00 for every 15 minutes of dryer time I require. It’s nice that I can do 3 loads simultaneously, but it’s a hassle to cart everything back and forth 10 stories – and to NOT be able to do the laundry on a lazy day when you don’t want to look presentable and just want to stay in your jammies. 🙁 That, and I’m stuck in the laundry room keeping an eye on things so that no one steals any of our clothes (yep, that’s an issue) so I can’t multi-task and do other things while the laundry is in the washer or dryer. 🙁
Laundry is a punishment chore at my house for the two teenagers. When they pop off, they get to fold clothes. Very very effective!
I knew exactly what I was looking at. So glad it not just us that has this problem. We have 9 children. 5 still live at home and the others are here everyday. I keep coming home from work hoping that the Laundry..Housekeeping…Dish Fairy has blessed us. Hasn’t happened yet! I will let you know when it does. Until then ……… I don’t have any answers. I will pray for you!
Please tell me when you came in my home and took a picture of my laundry pile? LOL My son came in the room the other day and told me I needed to buy him new clothes. He didn’t have any clean ones to wear. I asked him if he put the dirty ones in the laundry and he starred at me with that blank expression on his face. ~sigh~ Needless to say I did 11 loads last weekend. LOL
Right now, I have 6 laundry baskets of clothing to fold. And that is just from the 4 week old, the 2 year old, my husband and I. The 12 and 14 year olds do their own laundry.
When the oldest 2 were toddlers, my cousin was staying with me for a while and she would refer the the pile of clean clothes as the ‘child eating pile of laundry’ and she joked with her friends and told them that I had a 3rd child that had wandered into the pile to find socks and disappeared, never to be seen again.
Yep… I hate laundry.
The teen cleaned his room today……….. I started washing clothes and found clothes that had been on his floor, or the bath floor… cat hair… dog hair……………………they were folded….. FOLDED…. and tossed around his room and then stuck in the dirty clothes pile………..unworn…~sigh~ glad I am not the only one
Haha did you take a pic of my love seat this morning?? I drive my husband crazy with this… I do laundry for a whole day and pile it up on the love seat… then for the next couple days it sits and sits until the pile is either worn again or my husband nags me to get it put away 🙂 thanks for sharing… glad I’m no the only one…
Here’s the motto in my house this time of year… “Kids, no Santa until ___ gets done”. Maybe that would help? LOL
There are only 4 of us and we have had piles that size, but not on a regular basis. You have my empathy! 😉
Hi, Idon’t have problems with my laundry.
I load thw machine at night and turn it on when I get up. By the time the kids leave for school it goes in the dryer. After I dropped off the little one at daycare, the laundry is dry and I fold it right on top of the machine and put it in the laundry basket.
I wash every other day so it doesn’t become overwhelming. The Laundry basket stays in the laundry room until it is ful.
Before I had kids, I would put my washing machine on a timer so it would be done when I came home from work and I could toss a load straight into the dryer.
Good luck ladies.
P.S. How do I motivate myself to clean the showers? I hate it, hate it, hate it 🙂
If you don’t say something bad about laundry you won’t have any friends! Unless you tell us how dirty the shower is… 🙂 haha j/k
lol funnyy:)
Those are totally still clean clothes. No different than your children getting dressed and then hugging the dog 🙂 Our dogs LOVE piles of fresh, clean laundry!
I LOVE laundry. (just look at my stockpile 99% of it is just laundry) HOWEVER, I only enjoy it because there are such strict rules on laundry in this house that I don’t have to look or worry about anything. As someone posted earlier my boyfriend when we first started dating (in highschool so he’s broke in after 10 years lol!) thought that putting clothes beside the basket would get his laundry washed. I started hanging up signs that said any and all clothes not in the hampers and baskets will NOT get washed. After a few years, and some kids even the babies know the rules! I don’t allow others to fold though, sadly it drives me nuts when people don’t fold my towels correctly so I do it all myself. 🙁
Oh my! I actually laughed out loud with this one! I showed my husband and he was like, wow thats our house. You see my couch and loveseat are both full of piles of clean laundry that need to be put away and there isn’t a single place to sit! Haha! I feel your pain and I only have one little boy!
I finally found a good schedule. I am off on Wednesday so I throw in a couple loads for 2 and 4 year old and my husband and myself. Hard part is putting it away. I hate putting it away!!
Ahhhhhhhh! I knew what I was looking at but I wanted to just get in there and tackle that mountain. Over the years, believe it or not, I have learned to love laundry. Especially when it’s put away. It took me a while to come up with a system that works. I wash 2 nights a week. I get a couple of good movies and fold as I sit in the couch. I have a load in the washer and another in the dryer as I fold. And so the fun continues. I spent years in the military so everything gets folded. even underclothes. Good luck!
YOU ARE NOT ALONE 🙂
I love doing laundry and folding it…just hate putting it away!!!!!
OMG…This doesnt only happen at my house!!!!!??? Nice to know I am not the only one. 🙂
OMG! I thought you snuck into my house and snapped a picture. You’re not the only one. I’ve hated laundry since I was born:)
I bought those huge Electrolux washer and dryers hoping that it would help…u know the ones where Kelly Rippa snaps her fingers and the clothes put themselves away…only mine dont work like that. i snap and snap and snap…but the pile just stays there.
You poor thing. We have had a laundry mess like that in my house before and there are only 4 of us. I’m a little bit of a clean freak so I try to get it done but I have been known to”forget” clothes in the wash and have to rewash. I know one day, when my kids are grown I will look back at this and laugh. So hopefully you will too.
Mom of 4 and yes , up until a few days ago that is exactly what my loveseat looked like. Now I have two baskets full of clothes to be folded and put away. I Hate Laundry!
I do atleast 1 load a day to keep up. The night before I put the clothes in the wash and set the timer. So when I wake up I move it to the dryer. While girls are eating breakfast I put dry clothes on the couch. Take kids to school. While kids are napping I put them away. One load is easier for me to manage then all at once. However we are a family of four.
I have 7 children . I could have just about written that word for word. dang Eve. just think.. we could be all running around… well, nevermind.
Ok here is the silly question of the day!!!! Why is it just the moms that have to do laundry and fold it? My husband complains and it drives me nuts! I tell him if the pile on the couch drives him nuts then fold it. Between cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, paying bills, etc I have no time until next week. Everything in my house is on a to do list and until it is the next one to cross off it is left where it lands. HAHAHA
Thank you! Everything I do is on a to-do list, and my significant other does not seem to realize that when I ask about something he needs to be included in, “do we have to talk about this now?” is not a suitable answer! I like to tackle one thing on the list, cross it off, and move on to the next! But if I push it, I’m just nagging… If I don’t, then I have to wait around until it’s important enough to be dealt with… And part-time job (hopefully soon to be 2 part-time jobs!) or not, cooking, cleaning, shopping, couponing, doing the budget, etc. takes time! So in essence, it’s like having a full time job, but that doesn’t really compute…
My husband does the laundry…he then dumps it onto the floor into a huge pile. Mind you it is not the children that do this. I then get the “joy” of folding it, and I get to count the number of spiders that have made their home in the pile as I fold. Great right? I counted 3 this time. I feel your pain:(
Four kids ages 20 to 13 and they do all there own laundry and husband does his also but someone always leaves something in washer dryer or in a basket or on the dryer needless to say I have had that pile before.
OH MY! My laundry used to look like that, but I found these LOVELY HUGE laundry baskets so my clothes just sit in there! LOL I’m a SAHM of a 4 year old and 3 year old. I really have the time to do the laundry, it’s just the putting away that I HATE! I try to do 1 load of laundry a day so it isn’t overwhelming. I do my daughter’s one day, then my sons,mine and my husbands and then towels. That way it should all go to the same room.
My daugther wears PJs to bed, gets up changes for Pre-K, when it is nap time she has to change into a clean pair of PJs, then when a new outfit to play in and then, YEP, another set of new PJs!
My couch looks the same and we have the same sort of cycle – but it’s 3 girls who change & dress each other up 27 million times a day!! Thanks for keeping it real!!
I actually love doing laundry….i didnt see that pile when i was over today…if i had i would have folded it for you.
I will send my 13 year old over. She does a great job. I don’t do laundry any more. She does it all. Dad helps too.
Hey, I am with the others. Hate laundry. I really feel for you because we’re in the same boat here.
I was just thinking it was just me thank god it’s not. I feel your pain hate laundry too
I’m just happy to see that someone else has a piece of furniture that’s only purpose is to hold the clean laundry 🙂 At least you have 7 children, I’ve only got 2 to blame it on (unless the husband counts as a third).
Our new house has walk in closets, so my three year old daughter finds herself walking into it many times a day to walk out in a different outfit. It get maddening. We have an extra bedroom and that is where the clean clothes end up all week until the weekend and I can fold and sort into four individual baskets for each of us. And I don’t work outside the house, so that is true, I ignore the laundry.
I found this great way to guarantee that the laundry gets folded and put away. I drop the clean load on the kitchen table. No place to eat dinner til it’s picked up! Sounds mean, but highly effective!!!
I am so glad it isnt just me!!! I thought I was the only one except instead of a dog it is my cat that always makes clean laundry his bed. He never does that with the dirty clothes, maybe he likes the fabric softner.
What I get scared about is the amount of my electricity bill and water bill each month with my never ending laundry. There’s about 6 people in our house.
This is kinda what happens in my household except there are only two of us and the husband actually does the laundry and folds it and leaves it in the laundry basket for me. I’ve taken to just putting the basket ontop of the dresser since it has all the clothes I wear most.
I’ve trained all my kids, even the 9 year old, to do their own laundry. I monitor to make sure it’s done in a timely manner, but they still do it themselves. Including folding and putting it away. My boys will wear their clothing over and over, my girls will change at least twice a day. So there isn’t any way, with all that I have going on, that I am doing all their laundry anymore. My job until now was to nurture and do everything for them, now my job is to train them to live life on their own. Which includes laundry 🙂
I have come to the conclusion that if my family would quit wearing clothing and stop eating my life would become so much easier! Laundry, cooking and dishes rule my life it seems! That dark cloud that keeps circling over our heads!
My husband goes on a washing frenzy.. I’ve got 3 boys all under 8 and we go thru lots of clothes, as we are potty training the youngest and for some reason my 8 yr old seems to think he needs to change all the time. But my husband will spend 1 day a week washing EVERYTHING and dumps the baskets on our bed which then forces me to fold it. He’s learned if he leaves it in baskets it sits for days and he has to live out of baskets. Right now I’ve got 5 baskets waiting….. Weekend work. I fold, but I do make the kids put their own away.. 🙂
I am pretty on top of the laundry now. But for a while I had a huge pile of dirty clothes on washer side and huge pile of clean on the dryer side and would just get changed in the laundry room. Sadly it was before marriage and kids I worked two jobs and went out all the time.
We have the same life!!! I have 4 kids and a husband that I could count as two extra kids…. I get up at 4:30am Monday-Friday (I work full time 8-5)to wash at least one or two loads of laundry, which usually ends up on the couch or in one of my many laundry baskets and the kids get there stuff from there. I always feel like a terrible mother becuase I don’t have all their socks tied and put in their drawers. Thank goodness you posted this!!! This makes me feel normal. 🙂
Tied socks don’t make a good Mom:)
I’m just so happy to know there’s another house like mine! Thanks Tiffany for making me feel ‘normal’!
Tiffany, you stole my couch complete with clean laundry! 🙂 Except mine has two cats planted in the middle.
I thought I was the only one with a family like this.
I grew up with 5 of us, 3 girls 2 boys and let me tell you , you are not alone. My mom worked and my dad died when we were all very little. So my older sister and myself tried to help as mush as we could but that pile you pictured is an image out of my childhood….lol you are not alone. I am a stay at home mom and I only have one but I swear she is equal to 5!! lol I love her!! I have managed a system of putting things up higher , from her , my husband, the animals….if they cant find it they cant mess it up!!! so far it works. well at least until they find out where I put it. But at least that way when I finally get 2 minutes to put them away they are still clean , no animal hair, crunchy puffs and are still organized and folded. = )
here are my absolute best laundry tips (sahm of 5 – no pets, tho! lol)
FIRST, teach the kids (and husband, lol) not to leave a path when they undress. every article of clothing either gets rehung or tossed in the basket. this helps cut down on all the clothes strewn across the house.
SECOND, for the kids that scoff at rehanging, inspect each article as you put it in the machine, and just don’t wash it! fold or rehang without washing, and your kids will never know! spritz with febreze lol 🙂
THIRD, don’t fold the clothes! i buy a bunch of the same socks so i never have to match them, i just toss into the drawer. for my toddlers, i don’t fold their clothes either… they have a drawer for shirts, pants, etc and i lay the clothes across lengthwise.
FOURTH, i do laundry every night. basically i am only washing that day’s clothes (and towels every other night). i do all the sheets etc on the 1st and 15th of the month. doing laundry nightly helps me stay on top of it, AND ideally every piece of clothing is clean every morning and no one is complaining because the shirt they want to wear is dirty.
hope this helps, and remember, as the kids get bigger so do their clothes! lol 🙂
YEA!!! I’m not the only one!!! Thanks for making me feel better and that I am not alone.
I do the exact same thing as Paula above… and I hate laundry. The key for me is do fold and hangup straight out of the dryer.. I have a laundry butler that I bought at Bed Bath & Beyond to hang up the clothes with and I have a basket underneath to put the kids clothes in. I used to cover the love seat also and then I realized that folding straight out of the dryer is a lot less dreadful and easier to manage. When I get that pile on the love seat it seems so overwhelming and takes forever to get it folded and put away.
You are definately not alone in this.. Find a system for yourself that works. I’m having to do about 2 to 3 loads a day to keep up with my kids and hubby. Good luck!
I too have seen those piles repeatedly in my life…my kids are grown now and really now I miss those piles…LOL!…NOT! We are empty nesters-my husband and I-it gets easier with time! I never thought I’d ever have a tidy house again, but when the kids move out, the house gets tidy again…all the laundry gets folded and put away and you look back and laugh and wonder how you did it! Keep your chins up girls! Enjoy the kids while they’re young and step over the piles of laundry…you can always clean up piles of laundry, but you can’t rewind and spend time with the kids! Have a great weekend…go play and forget the piles!
touche beth
AHH yes that story is like reading my own. With only three young kids the two youngest girls. If anything gets on their clothes they have to change!! The oldest the boy I force to change cause he is filthy!! I have school and only have time to do laundry on Fridays so before that day they are usually Honey will you find me some underwear! Or I dont have any shorts or socks. I hate socks!! LOL yep mass chaos here too!!
I hear ya!
5 kids in my house are the same way. except it’s not the little boy that changes cloths and/or shoes 5 million times a day, it’s a 4 year old girl lol. They all like to wait for me to personally hand them the item(s) they are looking for or they, “can’t find it”.
thanks for the good laugh all though I know its not funny to you LOL
I have 7 kids to and we have the same problem, all that you mention only to familiar LOL and ecspecially ending with the dog our dog loves soft clean clothes and towels spots.
I totally empathize with you and the laundry. It is just myself and DH, and still laundry doesn’t get put away. I wash it, hang it up to dry or put it in the dreyer, put it in the clean basket and it starts piling up the wall like an ant mound of clothing. DH pulls his clean clothes from drawers and closet rather than pulling from the (now dry) items hanging up or from the clean basket. So not only do I wash and dry it all, I have to put it all away. –Now repeat same scenario for dishes, cleaning the rest of the house, the garage, and the vehicles.
I only have 3 kids, but totally understand. Can anyone explain why I have a huge basket of socks and none of them match? I remember that old commercial (Hanes, maybe?) where it showed aliens stealing one sock out of the dryer. Does anyone else remember that? I totally believe it!!! Where are my socks??
My aunt used to say that it was the sock demon and to make sure that we put our socks in the mesh bag so the demon wouldn’t steal our socks. It worked, we didn’t loose too many socks, but I have to say, it may have not been the best tactic for a 6 year old. I was terrified of the laundry closet. LOL
I have a laundry table(kitchen table) and a laundry couch! It mever ends!!!!!!
I only buy each member in the family one type socks. That way I never worry about having to match socks.
I HATE LAUNDRY!! Hope ya’ll heard me…my laundry goes like this….we have 2 boys 10 and 15 hubby and wife and 2 dogs of our own and 3 shelter foster pups…so laundry needs done for pups as well DAILY! Basket of pups blankets/towels in wash in am they get fresh and then changed later as well..jsut like a newborn baby! PLUS all of our laundry!! My oldest runs out of shirts and marchs through house every morning to get a clean shirt out of his clean clothes basket..hey kiddo put your laundry away and this won’t happen…he just brings more dirty laundry..I think it multiplies in his room! Kiddo 10 yrs…laundry?? Basket??? FLOOR BED everywhere!! Clothes??? I can’t find a shirt!! Wheres my socks?? WELL If you brought your laundry to the laundry room!! Did you hear me Laundry room? It would get washed and if you put your laundry away you would find your clothes.We too have piles of laundry..separated thankfully magically by hubby…SOCKs are the worse and my doggie LOVES clean towels and undies..what’s up with that!!
Wow! How refreshing and thanks for the smile. I thought I was the only one who never made time to put the laundry away. Thanks for making me feel “NOT ALONE” in the world!
I am so glad to know it’s not just my house..the endless cycle of clothes and yelling at kids!!! I find myself getting up in the middle of the night just to have alone time to switch laundry and fold another batch! LOL. I only have 6 people in my home but there are days with sheets and towels and clothes it feels like 27!
i find if i don’t put the laundry away the minute i get it home, i let it go a whole day sometimes – OY!!
I think you sneaked into my house and took a picture of my couch. I feel so much better to know that I’m not the only one that has fell into the couch clothes keeper. I’m sharing this with my husband so he knows it too! Thank you so much! Mom of 3 girls
I only have 2 girls, 3 and 5. My husband works 13 1/2 hours a day, 6 days a week. I am the VP of the PTO at the 3 yr olds preschool, and the room mother for the kindergartener. I have a sewing business, a house to upkeep, homework for the 5 yr old, I do a lot of homeschooling (even though they both attend regular schools), I coupon, I have to cook for the girls and myself and then again for my husband (who doesn’t come home until after the girls are in bed), we do lots of after school and weekend activities, and the list goes on and on. I load all my laundry into the van once a week and head out to the laundromat. The clothes makes it back into the house, sometimes not until the next day, and goes into my room, where all the dressers for the 4 of us are. Needless to say, I pick my clothes off the pile of clean off the chair where mine and my husband’s usually ends up and the girls laundry usually only gets put away right before I head out the next week to do laundry, as I’m gonna need that basket to transport back to the laundromat. I feel your pain, sister!
I too have seen these piles. Oh and how I hate them. I do know that the older one who is 17 does not have those piles anymore, and I am thinking the 10 year old twins may be realizing the piles are not a good thing. But the 11 year old boy, he thinks they are good clean or dirty. So yes I feel your anguish.
I was friends with a family who had a lot of kids and a lot of laundry. They solved a lot of those issues by #1 asking the kids to help fold stuff #2 keeping those plastic storage pull-out shelves near the dryer. Each drawer was for one kids undies and socks. Only folded when there was time. It was easy to pull out and see if there were any left to be worn. That helps some. I only have one, but if she’s home when I do it she stands by me, beside the dryer and I hang up as I pull out and she puts things in the appropriate closet….this started as soon as she could stand on a step-stool and reach the pole. No whining allowed….I washed, it was her duty to put up. Children are kids…..but we’re training them to be adults, not children. Enlist their help in this…they’ll feel important even if they complain. Just my two cents.
It seems as if your launry woes are the same as mine. We have 7 kids in the house, 5 of which are teenagers and change often ( 4 of them are boys!) We have ROTC an Sports uniorms that at last minute have to be hunte own, washed, irone to perfection ( for ROTC) The funny thing is, i was just sitting here on my computer thinking about how much launry has to be washed, hung an folde this morning an how much i really i not want to do it. The difference is, no one in my house will do laundry except me, hubby will occassionally throw a few loads in or hang a few loads if he is out of clothing, but other than that, it’s all me. I have consiere teaching them to do their own, but alas, i am unsure if that woul hurt or help me because how much launry soap would they really use, etc, etc. At one point we were running 2 washers an 2 ryers to try to keep up, but when one set failed it was back to just 1 of each, an that is where it has stayed, the non running ones, well, they are the storage for sheets, blankets, etc that i never get aroun to folding an need out of the way so i stuff them inside the old machines once they are clean. So, i feel your pain, an having a large family just triples what most o in a week, an 17-20 loas is normal in our house as well….if only the launry fairy woul coem once a week, because my worst hate chore…is laundry!
and it seems the “d” is not working correctly on my computer so not much of my comment makes sense..apologies 🙁
I am feeling very, very insecure at the moment! Why? Cuz here all ya’ll are with 5-8 kids and so there is an excuse right. Not me. Only have 1 little girl, a dog and DH and yup still can’t seem to keep on top of it! Your post is too funny!
Oh gosh no! I HATE laundry with a passion! I just pulled out my kids old clothes. I found my 8 year old’s baby clothes and couldn’t believe I still had them! Time to get rid of it. I wish they made dryers that folds clothes and have them ready to be put up! Uggh I feel your pain momma!
LOL…I just had the same big clothes-pile monster in our media room. Except, I wash our clothes on Tuesdays and Saturdays and I fold them when I get around to it, in between the other MANY daily stay-at-home mom miracles. The only difference between your situation and mine, is that we had to big cats curled up on ours…I normally keep the doors closed upstairs, but forgot. Now, I’m washing the clothes again. There’s nothing like white fuzzy cat hair all over your son’s navy blue school shirts. *Sigh* C’est la vie.
I meant two…autocorrect isn’t always correct.
I just fill up my baskets and pick out of them for about 5 days. after that i get annoyed and fold it all in one sitting then put it back in the baskets lol. But it is nice to know that im not the only one that doesn’t like folding. We are moms and we have other things to worry about than folding all the clothes! As soon as my 2 are old enough, f0lding laundry will be on their chore list as it was mine growing up!
Oh yes, house of six I know the feeling. But since I do the basket thing it looks just alittle better finally but there are still times it takes forever for that basket to get empty. Lol! But the worst thing I hate is when I think am done and then I go into everyones room or bathroom and tah dah, there’s more mounds. Its little fire ants when you think you go them all and then more appear. Sometimes it makes me want to cry … ok so maybe I have shed a tear or two but then I have to suck it up because after all, am Super Mom. Lol!
Tiffany, This is my life. It’s a pure blessing to see others live the same as we do with our 8 kiddos. You keep running your race with endurance. Soon enough, the clothes will stay on hangers neatly in the closet, and you will weep.
OMGoodness…the clothes do actually stay on the hangers at some point? Thank you! Thank you! I feel like I am constantly washing “clean” clothes…I hang all Sunday dresses and button up shirts, but they always seem to be pulled out and end up in the wash before I have seen any of the kids wear them! So frustrating! I am weeping just at the thought that someday they will stay on hangers! 🙂
I am the proud mom of a 15 y/o daughter, and 12 y/o quadruplets, 2 boys and 2 girls. Just this morning, I yelled at everyone, including DH, that my living room is starting to look like a chinese laundry drop off service! It is a terrible thing when you have to SNIFF the clothes to find out if they are clean or dirty. Or better yet, when I take the basket down to the basement to do laundry and when I get to a certain point I am now putting FOLDED laundry into the washing machine! OMG that is when I blow a gasket! My one daughter will wear the same pair of jean shorts for the entire week because they are SO comfortable but has to change her clean shirt that she just put on because it doesn’t match. So into the black hole of a pile it goes. Or better yet, the entire family goes out looking like walking accordions because we cannot fold our shirts before we put them in the drawer, we have to crumple and push and wad them into the drawer. Oh, and tugging on them and pulling on them will not get the wrinkles out. Well, softball games have been cancelled for the entire day due to rain so guess what, off to do laundry! So the cycle begins!
I sadly have the same pile on my couch! It’s an awful feeling! I am so glad to see that I was not the only one!!
Me Too!!!!! I have a rule that I allow myself to do this four times a year. I am single with four kids/four dogs and four sports! I would rather get to the kids games/meets/recitals/presentations….than do laundry( Truth be told, I would rahter eat raw snails than do laundry).
But four times a year I let it go for as long as I can stand it…and I am finding that my tolerance is growing!
Thanks for the laugh!
LMAO late at night you must have broke into my house and took pictures of my laundry pile.Girl I have 4 kids at home and thats my pile every day.You know what helps get a BIGGER round love seat.LOL 🙂
I have 5 kids, a full time job, 2 boys that play high school and travel soccer…this picture looks so very familiar I had to double check that it was not my dog…lol
relax and enjoy the journey!
WOW–I guess I must be odd man out–because I absolutely LOVE to do laundry. But I think it stems from a love for organization 🙂 Our family of six taught our kids when they were young how to sort their own laundry. We kept 4 baskets: colors, whites, lights, & towels–& trained them to sort their own –then when the basket was full, I washed it–so simple to just dump it in because it was already sorted. Then as I folded it, i put it away into the kids’ own laundry tote–the stacking ones with the opening in the front. They then take their own tote to their rooms & put away their own stuff. I have done it this way their whole lives (my oldest is 24 now) & it is just so convenient. It keeps laundry in baskets during the whole process. I LOVE DOING LAUNDRY–wish I lived closer–I would do yours 🙂 🙂
I too was feeling like the odd man out while I read the comments looking to see if my daughter put her 2 cents in about me. I Love taking care of laundry. It is very calming to me. I also love to iron. I iron all my outfits every day whether they need it or not. My daughter has not inherited this love and when she is sick or overwhelmed with raising kids, I know I can go to her house and do her laundry and it will put her back on top of the world again. Small things that matter!!! I just wish I had that love for doing the rest of my housework.
I need you!
Oh WOW, you have a small hill compared to my Mountain, I have 4 teenage girl and 5 boys, No No wait make that 6 with my hubby, laundry seems to never get done at my house especially with the girls it hard to keep things put away someone is always changeing so I know how you feel. But next time you want to relax and read a book go to the laundry room and make your self cozy I assure you no one will go in there looking for you…lol . Good luck and maybe one day we won’t have to do laundry everyday.
I cannot relate but I did Laugh. I am truly addicted to laundry. I never clean …hardly ever unless my parents are coming to stay…but I love to do laundry.. My husband even yells at me to stop doing tiny loads and wait a few days. I am crazy. I love folding it fresh out of the dryer, warm and smelling good. I also love laundry and stain stick products. I am pretty normal otherwise except for this small addiction to laundry. (OCD???)
Isn’t it wonderful to know that we are all just human and NO ONE is perfect. My daughter-in-law says, “If I have dirty dishes, it’s because I feed my kids.” “If I have piles of laundry it’s because I wash them.” “Don’t judge me.”
Amen sister… You are not alone
Thanks for the HONEST blog! I grew up as one of 9 kids so the laundry monster was alive and roaring at our house. I have two of my own and balance homeschooling them with being a single mom, and working a full time job. Laundry is the least of my concerns. We just bought our first house- and it has no closets so I’m still trying to figure out where to put everything. We wear clean clothes. As long as everyone has a pair or two of clean undies as back-up, it’s all good as far as I”m concerned. I’m no Martha Stewart, but then again, I really doubt I’d want to be.
I can sooo relate and yes I have a laundry basket of socks that I cant ever find matches for also and I hate mating socks!! You are not alone in this battle for sure lol
I absolutely HATE laundry! With 4 girls ages 5 and under I think I have finally found a system that works for us. I bought some bins from IKEA so each daughter has her own bin. They are stacked on top of each other like drawers. The girls each decorated their own bin and I wrote their names on them. Now, as soon as the clothes come out of the dryer, I separate the clothes into the separate bins. And they stay there until my daughters go dig through their bin for their clothes. It isn’t perfect but it is better than the baskets of clothes I dealt with before. I feel there is a little more organization than before. When my daughters are older I think I will teach them to take their bins of clothes and fold them and put them away. But for now we have many other more important things to worry about.
I have 8 children. 2 are grown nd going their own laundry.Thank God.Many of my clean pies are in the very small laundry room I have. I think the part I hate
most about the laundry is all the socks. There is no end to them. The white stinky socks have to be put right side before washing. Then the matching when they are done.Oh my goodness!I have one daughter who strows her dirty clothes all over her room.She finally gets desperate and gives me clothes to wash ,always about 10 pm and she needs it in the morning,If that is your only pile you are doing good.:-)
My piles not my pies,and doing instead of going. I don’t do a great job typing on my iPad.
Oh I feel your pain and no longer have kids at home. I have the DH and his friend living here. We live with 4 rescue dogs who have to sleep in the bed at night, (these are not small dogs). I have a laundry basket in my room so the DH can put his clothes away after I did the laundry, washed and dryed and folded, that same laundry basket( still full of clean clothes on the floor right near his dresser) Any closer and the clothes could just jump in the drawers. Well my little 5 month old puppy who weighs in at a whopping 80 pounds already sneaks out of bed at night and ALWAYS sleeps in the clean pile of clothes. I have considered making him wear the dirty clothes. What do you think?
You are not alone!
It’s called a laundry explosion in our house!
This just made my day! I only have two kids and a husband and our pile comes close!
Hey we have matching furniture! Who knew someone else had the same idea as me, lol! Yesterday I washed 15 loads, not one has been put away yet, and it’s not looking good!
My question is how do you work with 8 children? Much less, dress them in clean clothes and feed them . . . . if you work? As a 59 year old MIMI raising only one small 5 year old, I have totally lost control over housekeeping, laundry and grocery shopping. If you want a meal centered around hot dogs or peanut butter, great. Otherwise, I too am overwhelmed. This is darned hard work. Especially at this stage of the game. Ballet, reading classes, school, skating lessons . . . . . . yikes!!!!
I have piles on my loveseat that almost never go away as well. I am right there with you!!! I don’t mind doing the laundry it’s the putting away I HATE. And folding…..I am just lucky if they don’t look like it’s been rolled up in a ball for a week. My oldest can wear the same thing all weekend and go to his Dad’s and be told his Mom doesn’t take care of him…lol…whatever. My daughter changes clothes all day long and throws them in a pile on the floor…..my middle son is the easiest!!! And my cat or chihuahua will curl up in whatever is left on the floor…….lol
No offense but gross! 4 kids and each have rules to follow if they don’t follow there are consequences. Sunday, is an entire family participate day. Laundry gets done, folded and hung onto hangers. I could not even imagine living like that.
LOL! I couldn’t imagine ever having a perfect house. I prefer to play with my kids!
I love the laundry stories!! Some of them are quite similar to my household. The only time hubby seems to watch a load of laundry is when it’s jeans or when we need to wash the bird cage covers or our towels. I do about 90 % of the laundry!
LOLOLOLOL… thank you for this. I read it to the whole family and we all had a great laugh. There is a laundry mountain at my house too and one day when the kids learn to do laundry this will the punishment when they get out of line. LOL 🙂
Tiffany, read one of the response that was so rude, you handle it with class!!!
You are not alone! I currently have a playpen full of clothes that I washed but didn’t have time to fold and was afraid the twins would throw on the floor. I got sick of rewashing them so I plan to fold all of it tonight and put it away in the morning. I’ve been saying that for a few days now…lol
I am an plder woman w/ 1 son who recently married a “Woman of Class” who I am not, was given everything, when I have only known sadness, pain & rejection from his very birth. I have done all the things you described but never got any real love at all. Now as a senior, an only childw/family members gone pretty much, in a loveless marriage, I decide to try God for love before ending my life & find God has no place in his heart for me either. If any of your children love you at all, I’d trade places in a moment, If I were your neighbor I’d gladly offer a hand to help you in any way I could! That’s life, I guess!???
I HATE doing laundry! I have six kids so I have to do at least 5 loads a day. I am pretty good about getting it washed but I always have a HUGE pile that I need to be folded and put away. I just started using a long folding table and a hanging rack next to my washer. It makes it easier to sort my laundry. I can do a little bit at a time – whatever I have time for – so I’m not overwhelmed by the monster pile of clothes that need to be put away.
I understand. I just hate laundry.
I have 4 small ones and after I had #4 I decided that I was not going to fold the kids laundry anymore. My mother-in-law actually helped me come to this decision. I purchased a bunch of little round laundry baskets for less then a dollar a piece. We drew the kids names and a small animal (for the ones that cannot read) on them. When the laundry is clean we all sing songs and sort them into our own baskets (no folding required). And then they “deliver the mail” (their clothes) to their own drawers. I fold mine before they go in my drawers and my daughter decides she wants to fold her own every once in a while. I really don’t mind the clothes being not folded in their drawer. It sure beats the clothes being not folded on the couch, or in a pile near the laundry room, or on my bed. I really like this b/c when I would fold the laundry half of it ended up unfolded by the time it made it to the drawer anyway. I just thought I would share. I hope this helps someone that has a chance to read it.
I don’t have a washroom in my apt. So I use a public laundry matt. Which I like, b/c I can do my months worth of laundry in less then 3hrs. (Me and a little one). However, for those of you that HATE laundry…Most laundry matts will do your laundry for .80-.99 a pound (normally with a 10# minum.)
Just to let you know.
I think I am the only person in the world who LOVES to do laundry! LOL
My family actually pays me to do theirs for them in addition to mine on the weekends 🙂 great way to earn extra cash!
I really know how you feel! i have only 2 kids, boy-2 yrs and girl-4years. the 4yr. can change up to 10 times in one day. even if the clothes have been on for only 5 mins she still thinks they are dirty. now on the other hand the 2yr only changes 1 time. i am the same way as my son but some how my husband changes for everything! lol i do the clothes every day and when i wake up the next morning it all starts over again. 🙁 you think that that pile is bad come see the pile on my couch and the big basket next to the dryer and the clothes that are still in the dryer waiting on me. 🙁 it really is a full timejob in its self.
OMG! I hate laundry. I keep forgetting about loads, and a week later I will find the jeans I was looking for in the washer……..thanks to the laundry gods I found a husband who likes to do laundry. 🙂
there was a time in my life when I worked full time , left the house @ 6 and back 12 hours later…raising 3 kids and a hubby who doesnt pitch in, we found ourselves running to the store to pick up new underwear because there was no time for the laundry….now as a stay at home mom, there is still lots of running around with kids stuff, so laundry gets done, but not put away….I fold clothes out of drier, to avoid ironing and put it in different hampers, who needs drawers…c’est la vie