Homeland Laundry Advisory System
Laundry has always been kind of a problem for me. As a child, when my mom would tell me to clean my room I'd take everything off the floor and throw it down the laundry chute (sorry mom). During college, I'd bring my laundry home to do a few loads before heading back to school. I've been known to wear a swimsuit under my clothes when I ran out of underwear. Before I was married, I only did laundry when absolutely necessary. I hated folding and putting away the clothes, and would often have a basket filled with clean laundry (all wrinkled and bunched up) that would have more clothes in it than my dresser drawers.
Since Marty and I were married and our two kids arrived, things have totally changed. I do more laundry than I ever thought possible with only four people living in our house. Not only do I DO the laundry practically every day, but I also fold it and often put it away in the SAME day. I throw in a load during breakfast, toss in another over lunch, rotate another load after dinner, and wrap it all up at night.
I've been daydreaming of creating an elaborate spreadsheet to track loads of laundry. Compare month to month, year over year, pie charts, line graphs, maybe even a tab to track how many loads I can get out of the jumbo container of detergent. But the worst part is, I can't bring myself to start it mid-year. I think I'll wait until Jan. 1 to implement the new plan. So, to tide me over, I'm instituting the Homeland Laundry Advisory System as a means to disseminate information regarding the current laundry in the Nelson Home.
SEVERE: Clean clothes levels are so low that we may not even be able pull together enough clothes to go to Target and buy more underwear. I'll wear my swimsuit if I have to.
HIGH: The tower of clothing in the laundry bag is so high that it may actually touch the bottom of the wall-mounted TV, and certainly poses a risk to the safety of children running by.
ELEVATED: The baskets are practically full, if I start at the beginning of the day and keep up I may be able to reduce the level by bedtime.
GUARDED: I may be able to skip a day, but it might be in my best interest to just throw in a load anyway or risk moving straight past Elevated and right to High overnight.
LOW: No loads in the washing machine, maybe a load in the dryer, but everything else is put away. A pair of socks in the basket is perfectly acceptable. Even I won't start a load with just a pair of socks.
I'm hoping this System will provide me with enough motivation to get me through the end of the year without my spreadsheet. Don't get me wrong, even though I've improved greatly over the past few years, I don't expect this System to bring about a complete transformation. Yesterday when I saw Marty at the office I had to laugh because his shirt was totally wrinkled. Not just sort of wrinkly, but old-day-pull-it-out-of-the-basket kind of wrinkly. It's not so much that this in and of itself is funny, but honestly, I have no idea where our iron is even located.
Today's Status:
Since Marty and I were married and our two kids arrived, things have totally changed. I do more laundry than I ever thought possible with only four people living in our house. Not only do I DO the laundry practically every day, but I also fold it and often put it away in the SAME day. I throw in a load during breakfast, toss in another over lunch, rotate another load after dinner, and wrap it all up at night.
I've been daydreaming of creating an elaborate spreadsheet to track loads of laundry. Compare month to month, year over year, pie charts, line graphs, maybe even a tab to track how many loads I can get out of the jumbo container of detergent. But the worst part is, I can't bring myself to start it mid-year. I think I'll wait until Jan. 1 to implement the new plan. So, to tide me over, I'm instituting the Homeland Laundry Advisory System as a means to disseminate information regarding the current laundry in the Nelson Home.
SEVERE: Clean clothes levels are so low that we may not even be able pull together enough clothes to go to Target and buy more underwear. I'll wear my swimsuit if I have to.
HIGH: The tower of clothing in the laundry bag is so high that it may actually touch the bottom of the wall-mounted TV, and certainly poses a risk to the safety of children running by.
ELEVATED: The baskets are practically full, if I start at the beginning of the day and keep up I may be able to reduce the level by bedtime.
GUARDED: I may be able to skip a day, but it might be in my best interest to just throw in a load anyway or risk moving straight past Elevated and right to High overnight.
LOW: No loads in the washing machine, maybe a load in the dryer, but everything else is put away. A pair of socks in the basket is perfectly acceptable. Even I won't start a load with just a pair of socks.
I'm hoping this System will provide me with enough motivation to get me through the end of the year without my spreadsheet. Don't get me wrong, even though I've improved greatly over the past few years, I don't expect this System to bring about a complete transformation. Yesterday when I saw Marty at the office I had to laugh because his shirt was totally wrinkled. Not just sort of wrinkly, but old-day-pull-it-out-of-the-basket kind of wrinkly. It's not so much that this in and of itself is funny, but honestly, I have no idea where our iron is even located.
Today's Status:
Downey Wrinkle Remover. Kids spray Dad, Dad dewrinkles, iron stays lost. Jennie has free time to throw in another load.
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We're currently at level High. But I'm so lazy we'll all just go commando.
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