Is Laundry Basket Zero Ruining Your Life?

Laundry basket zero Paper ed“Inbox zero” is the bane of the digital world, but in the domestic sphere it is “laundry basket zero”. Are you, too, chasing the impossible dream?

I have a dream. A dream where the washing machine is silent. The tumble dryer is still. The airers are folded. The radiators are clear. The doorframe is hanger-free. All the clothes in the house lie peacefully in their correct drawers.

To have a day when I can have a break from the laundry without it beating a hole in my psyche. A day when I can go to bed without that sinking feeling that I haven’t hung the wash out and it’s going to pong in the morning. A day when I can laugh at the children’s bath splashanigans instead of rueing all the towels I have to use to mop up. A day when I no longer deter overnight visitors at all costs because if I have to wash another lot of bedlinen it will break me.

A day when I can wear whatever I like from my wardrobe. As it is, while my family waltz around in spanking clean clothes, I am in my last pair of pants and jeans that could walk to school by themselves.

A few weeks ago, I thought I’d done it. The laundry baskets (I have five – yes, five! – one for each family member), were stacked neatly in a pile. I’d been putting clothes away for 48 hours straight and there wasn’t a pair of school trousers being “ironed” on the radiator to be seen.

And you know what? I didn’t feel a thing. I didn’t feel triumphant. I didn’t feel exultant. I just felt a bit…loose-endy. The day that I have no more washing to do is the day my children no longer live at home.

But before I got too maudlin, I saw it.

My husband’s gym kit stealthily stinking in the washing machine.

And I knew that it was going to be OK. The impossible dream was still just that.

 

 

9 Comments

  • Yummyblogger says:

    I hear ya! Last few weeks I’ve had to re-wash stuff because it’s gone musty without the heating being on to dry it aaarggh!
    I moan about laundry a lot but read a quote the other day along the lines of ‘be lucky you have laundry to do, it means you have clean clothes to wear’ 🙂 x

  • Ha ha, I totally get this! Washing is a never-ending mission (not that any of my family either realises or acknowledges how much work goes into it), yet on the rare occasions when I don’t have any, I feel a bit lost! Putting clothes away is what I do and if I’m not doing it, I lack purpose!
    Sarah MumofThree World recently posted…Hotter Shoes #hotterfeelgoodstyleMy Profile

  • Candace says:

    I don’t think I would know what to do if there wasn’t any washing to do. I’m quite sure if start washing clean clothes as it just isn’t a home without the whirl of the washing machine on every day
    Candace recently posted…Adding A Little Glam To Our HomeMy Profile

  • Annie says:

    Oh yes, me too! I’ve taken to stashing my husbands shirts behind the immersion heater. So, when I go in there to fetch the day’s ironing, I can’t see his crumpled, stinky shirts. He’s about 7 shirts down so far & has no idea. I’m aiming for 50% lost shirts this year!

  • @loftiemummy says:

    O my goodness! I was just saying this to hubby the other day! I will never reach zero because at the Bottom of my laundry basket, crumpled in the bottom is a pre pregnancy dress (that I will not get back into) that is… HAND WASH ONLY. I always pick it up and think, ‘ I’ll do it another time I think.’ It’s been there months!

    My husband also uses the Landry basket as a ,’ if I can’t be bothered to put it away now and it just looks messy there.’ Place! I swear I have washed my clean pajamas a hundred times because he doesn’t like them under the pillow!!!

    • Wry Mummy says:

      Ha ha, I have one of those hand wash only dresses too, shoved down the side of the washing machine never to be worn again! My husband is exactly the same, too!

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