Me vs. The Laundry

The mountains of dirty laundry in our home are planning an attack. They know that I want them washed and put away (or set on fire, because, really? I have 4 pairs of pants. 4. I am not the one that wears all of this crap and if I can make do with 4 pairs of pants perhaps other people in my house could make some sacrifices as well. WE HAVE TOO MUCH!) and they are formulating a sinister plan to take me out before I get to them.

They have sent in scouts to find out when would be the best time to attack. I can't tell you how many nights I have fallen asleep, the bed completely devoid of any extra clothes, to be awakened in the middle of the night by a stray t-shirt or sock entangling it's way around my leg or arm. It's getting a little creepy.

I am formulating a plan of attack of my own. I am devising strategies to de-clutter my house, my closet and to lose the dirty laundry mountains (and I think they are on to my plan).

The Game Plan

1. Lose the socks. We have a 3 and half foot tall laundry hamper that is filled with socks. I am going to go through that basket and any pairs will be matched and put away. Any socks with missing matches, holes or stains  will find itself unceremoniously discarded. On July 3rd (Hubs' birthday) and Christmas everyone in the house will receive all new socks. No one can open the new socks until all of the old socks have been thrown away. Then I will know exactly how many pairs of socks I am trying to locate and match. These will be the only 2 days of the year that anyone will receive any new socks. 


2. If it is out of season or for occasional wear, it goes into the office closet. Our bedroom closet is brimming at the seams with too many clothes. If it is a dress, skirt (we all know how often I shave) or a suit (the Hubs works in construction) or clothes for another season, it is going into another closet. I need to be able to see what is taking up so much room. 


3. If it is too small for someone in this house - send it to someone else. This morning, I took two bags of clothes and shoes that have been outgrown by Z to church for some of her playmates to wear. I need to do the same thing with some of my old (pre-baby) clothes that I have long since outgrown. The Hubs needs to do a lot of this, since we have t-shirts that he wore in high school hanging around. 


4. If it is in a box, either from our move 4 years ago or from my father's death 3 years ago, we will probably never use it and it should find a new home. It's not doing us any good to keep all those "momentos" if all they are doing is sitting in a box in the closet taking room away from other things. 


I am sure that there are more things that I can do. These are the first 4 steps that I am taking to de-clutter and organize our space. 


And hopefully keep the evil laundry mountain from suffocating me in my sleep.