I love cleaning routine loopholes.
Love them, as in I use them at every possible opportunity.
Don’t love them for what they do to my house in the long run.
Like this:
Fine. These loopholes are pretty much excuses.
But most are so legit as REASONS that it’s easy to justify them. So I’m calling them loopholes. Confusing enough?
See, things that don’t go in the dryer really do have to hang on this handy-dandy rack to dry. So even though I really have accepted that the only way to prevent Clean Laundry Mountain is to fold clothes straight out of the dryer and put them away immediately . . . hang-to-dry clothes CAN’T be put away immediately.
And the total justification that I CAN’T put away those bathing suits, beaded beach t-shirts, and avalanche causing unmentionables . . . gives me a smug feeling of slob satisfaction.
Ha! I showed that routine that I DON’T have to do everything it says.
Seriously. I have issues.
Because the reality is that when something doesn’t get put away immediately . . . its hanging place becomes its new home. Like, forever. And then I am stuck using the dining room chairs as hanging spots for future undryables.
In my defense, most of the stuff on that drying rack has been there since BEFORE I grasped the laundry concept that has rocked my world.
Actually, that defense would be the thing that got me convicted in Slob Court. But whatever.
And all the stuff hanging on hangers at the bottom? That’s the stuff that I did hang straight out of the dryer, recently, but didn’t put away.
Which means I wasn’t following through completely on my put-it-all-away-right-away resolution.
It’s just such an easy loophole when it feels like I put it away since it’s not piled on the couch.
But I did empty the drying rack. Once. No guarantees when it will happen again, but I’ll enjoy it for now.
No profound solutions in this post. I’ve written about this issue before, and I’ll mostly likely write about it again.
*FYI, Laundry Day probably won’t work for you if you’re on a septic system, as it may overload your system. Sorry!
That Amazon link is an affiliate link to a similar drying rack. Anything you purchase on Amazon after following that link earns me a small commission.
But I think I actually got my rack at The Container Store, so be sure to go enter the giveaway I have going on right now for a $100 giftcard to The Container Store provided by Ebates.
Wow, I have bathing suits hanging on my drying rack too! Now that I realize they are there I wonder how long it will take me to put them away. I really need to try your new laundry system…because my system is always on the verge of catastrophic failure (I dump the clean clothes in the owners bedroom… but I am the one than needs to put it away it is an unpleasant surprise every night)
I have found it a wonderful help to have a place to put the suits away once they’re dry – which, for me, is hanging above the dryer. There’s a basket on a shelf that’s just for swimsuits, so once I brush past them four or five times in a row & they’re really all dried out, I do actually have a place to put them. 🙂 It works for now!
Keep up the good work, and that nice clean drying rack!
Emily in Michigan
my one little word (ali edwards’ project) for 2012 was laundry. after reading your laundry post about folding and putting it away, i can finally say that i have mastered it! it took 11 months, but i’m there. i hang dry a lot of things. i’ve set the rule for myself that when i’m folding stuff in the dryer, i must grab the dry hang-to-dry items too. i don’t let anything go more than two days (i do a load almost every day). it works.
I want one !! like you I let my hang dry stuff sit around on hanger between the slats of my dinning chairs maybe having that hanging off the back of the bedroom door will help prevent clutter in the living room dining room areas …. and mess stays contained in the bedrm hmmmm ..
I put my air dry items on (plastic) hangers and hang them on my shower bar. They have to get put away the next morning before I can shower.
I try to empty my hang-to-dry spots on the next laundry day before adding new items to dry. It’ up there for a week or so, so you “don’t have to do it right now” and that’s OK, but you do have a set time to do it again, so you don’t have to remember to go back and check if the clothes are dry 🙂