That. One. Thing. - February challenge

[GraemesMomma]

Whatever it is, for you, at this season. Would you like to join me in attacking it in February?

For me, it is laundry. For some reason, since we moved to this house, I cannot keep the laundry moving. (Okay, okay, Ive had this trouble in other houses too :giggle but I digress)

I have a place for the dirties. I actually DO the laundry just fine. It's the clean piles that stay in a pile for a week or more :bag

So this month, I am making a change.

Here's the goals:
-- I want to do this FIRST in my day. After I bathe/coffee/ breakfast, I will fold and put away the laundry. Do that one thing first, right? :yes
-- I will budget a new laundry basket purchase (we lost one in the move, definitely not helping my problem!)
-- I will pay the children to help me :shifty No, really, they need training in this, too, so it's a family affair :)

:think If you have any suggestions for me, shoot! :tu


So what is that One Thing you need to tackle this month? :cup

[BelovedDaughter]

Oh my word, this is so me! I will wash and dry laundry all day but when it comes to putting it up, I'm horrid! Our clean clothes sit in baskets until there's nothing left, which leads to wrinkled clothes and mismatched socks and the like. I work out of the home 8am-5pm most days, so I am soooo tired by the time I get home that I don't want to even deal with it. Perhaps I'll have some motivation soon!

[ozmummy]

I had a good system last year that has fallen by the wayside. Time to get it back happening.

What I WAS doing:
*put a load on every night to be ready for the morning
*assign each older child a younger child to get their clean clothes off the washing line each morning and supervise putting away (plus do their own, obviously)
*get my own clothes plus other items off the line each morning, and carry STRAIGHT TO THE CUPBOARD/BEDROOM to put away
*hang up washed load

This is probably tweakable for a dryer using family.

And I commit to getting back on track in this area for Feb.



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[GraemesMomma]

Keiren - I think the *taking it out and directly to bedroom* is the part I need to do. :think :tu

[Domina]

It's laundry for me, too. I was sorta thinking I might bag it all up and throw it away. :giggle Does that count as a strategy?

[MercyInDisguise]

I need to commit to putting the laundry away this month. :yes I'm good about keeping up with washing and drying, but I just can't get around to putting them away. :doh

[Starfox]

It's a laundry kind of month. Ours is washed and dried and then couch. To be folded at an unknown date. To be dug through, jumped on and thrown all over. :banghead

I have a serious block when it comes to folding/ putting away. :sigh

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/31/qare2udu.jpg

[GraemesMomma]

It's laundry for me, too. I was sorta thinking I might bag it all up and throw it away. :giggle Does that count as a strategy?

:jawdrop:jawdrop:jawdrop

Genius.

---------- Post added at 08:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 AM ----------

It's a laundry kind of month. Ours is washed and dried and then couch. To be folded at an unknown date. To be dug through, jumped on and thrown all over. :banghead

I have a serious block when it comes to folding/ putting away. :sigh

]

Yes!! :phew I'm glad to be in such good company...I was beginning to think everyone else in the world must have a little laundry secret :giggle

Ours spent a lot of time on the couch. Currently it is dumped in a mountainous blob on our bedroom floor :hissyfit

[Little Forest]

Brilliant idea to attack Mt. Laundry in Feb. I am glad too I am not the only one who has a hard time with it!
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[blondie]

My One Thing is to finish my organizing and decluttering. I had tons of momentum then I came up on the harder parts and slowed way down.

[GraemesMomma]

So after posting this thread, you'd think I would work on the laundry today, right?

:no :snooty

It's not February yet :snooty

:shifty

[ozmummy]

Ok. It's feb here ;)

I put a load on last night, ready to hang. Let's see if I can get the load on the line put away.....


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[Domina]

I'm not kidding about the tossing. I am gonna take this fine opportunity to purge our laundry. At least some of it. :giggle

[cro]

Dishes. I need to run the dishwasher before I go to bed and EMPTY it in the morning.

And I need to actively declutter. I have lists of what needs to be done, but it's tough finding the motivation to actually DO it.

[Two Little Birds]

Mine is related to laundry. Putting clothes in their proper places the first time. Whether they are coming off the body or out of the dryer. :yes

Also, I'd like to finish moving into our bedroom. Putting away all those little things that haven't been put away yet. Putting up artwork. :heart

[GraemesMomma]

I'm not kidding about the tossing. I am gonna take this fine opportunity to purge our laundry. At least some of it. :giggle

:rockon

Have fun.

[StoryOfGrace]

I also suffer from Laundryitis...mine gets stuffed into a big chair in the living room, and then spreads to the nearby recliners as I work at hanging and folding...where it sits for days and days, effectively occupying all surfaces in the living room. :doh
I'm not kidding about the tossing. I am gonna take this fine opportunity to purge our laundry. At least some of it. :giggle

Ha! I actually told DH yesterday that I am going to make Feb my month to purge our closets. If it hasn't been worn in a year (excluding special stuff) it's gone!

[GraemesMomma]

I also suffer from Laundryitis...mine gets stuffed into a big chair in the living room, and then spreads to the nearby recliners as I work at hanging and folding...where it sits for days and days, effectively occupying all surfaces in the living room. :doh


Ha! I actually told DH yesterday that I am going to make Feb my month to purge our closets. If it hasn't been worn in a year (excluding special stuff) it's gone!

Mine's going to include special stuff! My DH hasn't worn a suit in years. And he has like 5 dress coats, a few suits and lotsa dress shirts in there. :rolleyes

[Starfox]

I washed 3 loads today... and threw them on the couch. :doh

Folding tomorrow.... maybe. :shifty

5 year old and MT. Laundry

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/01/e9e7adem.jpg

[Niphredil]

I'll join you in the laundry challenge. We were getting buy with about 9 loads a week, and all of the sudden it is *not* working. Maybe we just have more or maybe the washer is smaller, but two loads a day are now required.

Add in the fact that our dryer takes to cycles to dry things instead of one and we have a real conundrum here.

[Two Little Birds]

Some day I will own two dryers. :yes

[Starfox]

Some day I will own two dryers. :yes

Me too. :yes

[Niphredil]

Ooooh, that sounds like heaven.

[StoryOfGrace]

:giggle I just emailed about a (like) new washer and dryer set on craigslist. My dryer does not shut off on it's own...that scares the dickens out of me!
:nails I hope we get it...it's a nice set.

[AdrienneQW]

Laundry is the only (and sadly, I do mean *only*) area of homekeeping at which I excel. I do sometimes let things sit in the machines longer than they should... including occasionally having to run a washer load a second time because they sat for two days :shifty ... but 99% of the time I'm completely on top of the laundry. :yes

My "one thing" is decluttering. We need to reduce our belongings by AT LEAST 25%; more would be better. We just flat-out own too much stuff. :shrug And no matter how many times I put it in neat piles, or containerize in boxes and bins, it's still TOO MUCH STUFF. I really, really need to downsize.

On the one hand, I am getting better. :yes On the other hand, it's not unusual for me to pull out a huge bin to declutter... and end up keeping all but 2-3 items. :doh I feel like one of those crazy people on Hoarders, clinging to every piece of junky trash the helpers try to throw out. :giggle

[jmom1984]

Laundry is the only (and sadly, I do mean *only*) area of homekeeping at which I excel. I do sometimes let things sit in the machines longer than they should... including occasionally having to run a washer load a second time because they sat for two days :shifty ... but 99% of the time I'm completely on top of the laundry. :yes

My "one thing" is decluttering. We need to reduce our belongings by AT LEAST 25%; more would be better. We just flat-out own too much stuff. :shrug And no matter how many times I put it in neat piles, or containerize in boxes and bins, it's still TOO MUCH STUFF. I really, really need to downsize.

On the one hand, I am getting better. :yes On the other hand, it's not unusual for me to pull out a huge bin to declutter... and end up keeping all but 2-3 items. :doh I feel like one of those crazy people on Hoarders, clinging to every piece of junky trash the helpers try to throw out. :giggle

I'm with you. Sometimes I let the clean laundry sit too long in a basket before putting it away, or have to rewash a load I forget in the washer, but for the most part laundry is always "caught up" (as caught up as laundry can be, anyway).

My Feb goal needs to be twofold. Continuing the great purge/declutter I started in January (we really have gotten rid of a lot, but still more to do!), AND really getting ready for these baby boys! I'm not officially 40 weeks until April 17, but with twins I know there is more of a possibility of them coming early, or me being on bedrest or restricted activity at the end, or just plain completely overwhelmed by exhaustion, even if I am otherwise healthy. I am already so very tired and uncomfortable at nearly 30 weeks that I know I've got to get my head out of the clouds and really make sure I have everything ready for them. So much to do!

[staceylayne]

Bbl to commiserate about laundry and talk about what has helped me.

My one thing is to finally "do" the girls' room! D is in a bedroom that is a mishmash of leftover gender-neutral nursery decor, my old day bed, and hand me down dresser and pink polka dot sheets she picked out. I have visions (and a pinterest board) of a cute-but-not-frilly little girls' room for her and C to share. I finally picked bedspreads so now I just need to DO IT!

Part of the girls sharing a room plan will include somehow figuring out how to convince the two year old to sleep somewhere other than our room. :shifty But the main priority is having a place for her to go...when/if she is ever ready.

[MercyInDisguise]

I'm going to add finishing the playroom to this list. :yes Today I want to get in there and declutter a bunch of stuff (the play room used to be our bedroom).

Dh threw some stuff in the wash before he left for work this morning and it's in the dryer now. It WILL be hung up/folded before 4pm today. :snooty

[GraemesMomma]

Story - ooh, hope you get the washer/dryer! :pray4

Adrienne - so after 5 moves in 4 years, I'm pretty good at decluttering. But I still give away stuff at least monthly. :yes It's amazing how stuff accumulates! :hug Some piles I've had to go through 3-4 times to really get tough with myself ad re-evaluate whether this is something we truly need.

[GraemesMomma]

Jmom - congrats on twins! Enjoy your nesting :hearts

Stacey - cant wait to see pics of your finished room :popcorn

[MomtoJGJ]

:( I'm going to go through baby clothes and give away anything 0-3mo or less

:( I'm going to go through cloth diapers and give them all away (P doesn't do cloth)

:( I'm going to take down the bassinet and move the toddler bed in our room. P outgrew the bassinet.

I don't want to do these things, but I guess keeping the stuff will not make her magically a newborn again...

ETA: My only issue with laundry is that P sleeps an insanely large amount of time. In our room. Where half the laundry goes. I COULD go in there and put it up, but I don't want to mess with her sleep.

[jujubnme]

I think February is going to be my month for organizing my kitchen. It's very small and hard to keep looking orderly, because we have too much stuff, and too much stuff that doesn't have an out-of sight home. So my goal is to seriously declutter, reorganize and deep clean.

[GraemesMomma]

Confession time.

I woke up with the crud my ds2 has had this week, sat on the couch much of the day, and did not. one. scrap. of laundry.

:impouting

That's usually enough to make my perfectionistic self say, "well nevermind that goal - PSHAW!!" :snooty

Seeing as I started a thread on this, I am determined to start fresh. :shifty I can do this.

Right? :shifty

[Starfox]

:cheer You can do it!!!

I folded MT. Laundry *and put it away* this evening. :rockon

[peekaboomama]

It's funny everyone struggling with laundry - I'm the weirdo who finds folding therapeutic. Especially cloth diaper laundry. My one thing is floors :blush I have a serious floor problem... as in, they just don't get done. Ever. Until my DH decides to haul out the vacuum (thankfully he doesn't mind :rockon). I can't even tell you the last time the kitchen was mopped :blush

So... my Feb challenge is to 1) Sweep at least the kitchen every night before bed and 2) Vacuum and mop on Mondays. The house isn't huge, it isn't like it takes long, I just have a SERIOUS mental block against it.

[ozmummy]

Confession time.

I woke up with the crud my ds2 has had this week, sat on the couch much of the day, and did not. one. scrap. of laundry.

:impouting

That's usually enough to make my perfectionistic self say, "well nevermind that goal - PSHAW!!" :snooty

Seeing as I started a thread on this, I am determined to start fresh. :shifty I can do this.

Right? :shifty

Of course you can do it. Maybe think in terms of *improving*? don't know if that helps or hinders.

I only got a load put away yesterday, left the washed load in the machine.

But I have put that washed load in the dryer today (it's raining), and put another load in the machine. I need to go and hang out the things that can't go in the dryer. :shifty

[jmom1984]

It's funny everyone struggling with laundry - I'm the weirdo who finds folding therapeutic. Especially cloth diaper laundry. My one thing is floors :blush I have a serious floor problem... as in, they just don't get done. Ever. Until my DH decides to haul out the vacuum (thankfully he doesn't mind :rockon). I can't even tell you the last time the kitchen was mopped :blush

So... my Feb challenge is to 1) Sweep at least the kitchen every night before bed and 2) Vacuum and mop on Mondays. The house isn't huge, it isn't like it takes long, I just have a SERIOUS mental block against it.

Me too! I actually use the phrase "laundry therapy", lol. And my floors, same mental block! Hubby does ours most of the time too, and they are not done nearly enough. Usually the reason he's doing it is because we have a party coming up, and that's as often as they get mopped.

Weird how those two things go together. Someone should psychoanalyze us. :giggle

[Niphredil]

We found the laundry room floor on Friday and I can currently still see (most of) it. :cheer The closet isn't quite as good, but I only have 2 loads to put away.

[jujubnme]

I'm the oddball working on my kitchen, but I think I made good progress this weekend! I got caught up on dishes, cleaned the stovetop, :shifty and got a good start on clearing stuff out and finding homes for some of the long-term counter residents. Still a work in progress though. Realistically, I'm planning on keeping up with dishes, counters, etc. during the week and then coming back to doing more organizing next weekend.

[GraemesMomma]

Great to read the updates :cheer It's encouraging :yes

All the currently clean laundry has been put away, here :rockon

Still need to get my second laundry basket. That will help things.

Oz - :ty for that thought. Perfect is always my goal, and I have a hard time accepting "improving", but I know that's where I need to work AFA self-talk :yes Making smaller goals helps with that.

[ozmummy]

I got sick a couple of days ago, and had to spend a couple of days before that working on a homeschool curriculum summary of the past two years for court. Managed to do a little but fell behind.

Then my mum came up to mind my children while I was in court and did like 3 loads. i will put them away tomorrow. And then I will be as caught up as I need to be, if I continue to do a load a day....

[MomtoJGJ]

If my family would stop getting sick every couple of days (literally!!) things would be much better...

I cannot do big "unnecessary" things while I'm trying to keep people running to the bathroom, getting up a million times at night, and having even more laundry and dishes than normal (because our dishwasher is also trying to stop working... I will NOT allow that.. COMPLETELY unacceptable behavior! :))

[GraemesMomma]

Seeing as I've only done one load since Saturday, I'm doing great :haha

If I just don't DO laundry, than I won't have any to fold! :woohoo


:shifty

[MomtoJGJ]

Seeing as I've only done one load since Saturday, I'm doing great :haha

If I just don't DO laundry, than I won't have any to fold! :woohoo


:shifty

I think you should invest help on all areas of laundry ;) All three of my olders can do all parts of laundry. It's much much help when I actually have them do it :) If I'm slack on having them do chores, it means way more work for me, and everything gets backed up.

[BelovedDaughter]

I did all the laundry yesterday and put it all away! :cheer I'm fairly proud of myself! Now if I can do it again tomorrow with the laundry we've accumulated...

[GraemesMomma]

:highfive

[BelovedDaughter]

:) Thanks! Another one of my "things" is dishes. I have a dishwasher, I just don't like unloading it, putting the dishes away, and reloading it. I get frustrated when I have too many dishes to fit in there and end up having to do another load. *Sigh*

[staceylayne]

So...my Thing was the girls' room. But my comforters *still* haven't shipped. I can match paint for the walls and headboards or buy/make accessories until I have those in hand! :hissyfit

In the meantime I've gotten to a couple clean-out projects.

My pantry (forgot to take a before pic):
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/parkers0426/C96619CC-42EE-436B-9464-39C231C44B2E-229-00000042EEB74AF8_zps45114751.jpg

My junk drawer before:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/parkers0426/4AA67595-A09E-48D5-B3AD-B7B7B0658364-229-00000042E40DD217_zps1b10aefb.jpg

And after:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/parkers0426/407AE5BB-FFAF-4659-A0FD-7453890D4CB0-229-00000042CABDF008_zps5af8277d.jpg

[GraemesMomma]

So you're coming over to my house tomorrow, yes? :shifty

Seriously, WTG! :cheer

[MercyInDisguise]

My one thing was our (future) playroom. Dh and I got in there and packed up a ton of stuff in the attic and gave a ton to goodwill. I vacuumed the nasty floor where our bed used to be, and dh will wash the walls down when he gets off work tomorrow. We're hoping to paint on Monday. :rockon

[GraemesMomma]

My one thing was our (future) playroom. Dh and I got in there and packed up a ton of stuff in the attic and gave a ton to goodwill. I vacuumed the nasty floor where our bed used to be, and dh will wash the walls down when he gets off work tomorrow. We're hoping to paint on Monday. :rockon

Ooooh, fun! :rockon