I whipped it!

Laundry used to be my nemesis, my mortal enemy. Anyone who knows me, knows there was always, ALWAYS laundry hiding in mounds somewhere in my house. Always. No matter how clean my house looked at first glance, there WAS a pile of clothes somewhere other than where it should be.

Usually it was clean. Oh, I have no problem stuffing into the machine and pressing the right button. Most of the time, I'd even fold it. No, my achilles heel was getting it put away. Then the kids dig through the basket, it hits the floor, someone scoops it into the hamper, and there we go, I'm washing "clean" clothes all over.

Well, I've finally whipped it. I've exorcized my laundry demon. And I am so proud of myself. How did I do it?

Well, my breaking point came after watching the Duggars (you know, the lady with 18 kids), and hearing her say that she does 10-15 loads of laundry a week. Hey, wait a minute.....I did that much laundry a week!!!!! (Well, that depends on your definition of "doing" laundry, as I explained above.) If I had as much laundry as a lady with 18 kids, and I've only got three (four if you count the husband, and sometimes I do)......what is wrong with this picture?????

So after a 2 week debate with my husband who would rather NEVER get rid of anything, I finally won (or maybe I just ignored his argument) and I spent a week going through EVERYONES clothes. I got rid of stuff that doesn't fit, stuff that was the wrong season (although I kept the winter stuff in tubs in my closet--I knew we were going to the mountains for spring break), and stuff that was ugly or stained. Then I further refined the stash by only keeping what would fit in their drawer.

I know that seems like such a no-brainer--why in the world would you have more clothes than will fit in their drawers in the first place? Well, for starters, my wonderful mother-in-love goes yard-sale-ing regularly and frankly gives me stuff faster than I can keep up with. Add that with my love for a good sale, the fact that my kids grow way too fast, my husband is a packrat and fakes a heart attack evertime he sees me with a trash bag.....well anyway.

That week, I also moved CJ's room down the hall to share space with Casey's office, and the guest bed into CJ's old room, which is now Cole's. This moved Cole and Maddy's clothes into their own space (and out of mine). (Bonus: Cole has slept in his own room for a week and a half!)

So this is the second week in a row that I was able to wash, dry, and fold ALL the laundry, and it is sorted and waiting for my little minions to put away in their proper place. THAT has to be the best part of the whole thing--even Maddy can put her own laundry away. And CJ miraculously learned (finally) the proper way to hang clothes in the closet, so his school uniform and church clothes are no longer squeezed into his drawers. It makes my heart happy for everything to be in the right place.

But that doesn't mean that my house will be clean if you come over. It just means I don't have laundry hiding in the corner! (o: