No matter where you’re from, what you do for a living, what school you went to, religion you belong to, or political party you vote for, there’s one thing on which we can all agree: Laundry sucks.
I’m not sure what it is about laundry that makes it so universally hated. Maybe it’s the constant nature of it. Maybe it’s the tedium of it.
For me, it’s the fact that it’s a multi-step process that can’t be completed in one shot. I hate having unfinished tasks on my to-do list. And laundry is never done. Putting in the wash. Waiting. Drying. Waiting. Ugh. It drives me nuts.
Needless to say, I’m always looking for ways to make laundry easier.
There’s no way around the washing and drying parts. If you haven’t done those, you haven’t really done laundry. But… if I can make the rest of it a little bit simpler, I’m going to do it.
A few months ago I wrote about how the small adjustment of hanging hooks in my closet made a big difference in my evenings. That gave me another idea. What if I got rid of drawers all together?
So I did.
In my closet and in Miss O’s room all our clothes are hung instead of folded.
For my closet, nothing much was needed. I just picked up some extra hangers and that was that.
For Miss O’s closet, I ordered a hanging organizer and set it up so that her shirts fit on top and dresses and pants are on the bottom. I got child-sized hangers with clips on them (you can also order just the clips to go on your existing hangers).
So far this new way of managing laundry has been awesome! I’ve even found benefits beyond just saving time on laundry.
My clothes aren’t as wrinkled. Because I don’t have to do the dreaded task of folding, I just lay my clothes out in a pile, then hang them, they don’t lie around in a pile getting wrinkled. Also let’s face it, I don’t fold my clothes at home with one of those little plastic folding guides they use at the Gap. Folded clothes are wrinkly. Wrinkly clothes need to be ironed, and Ain’t nobody time for that.
I can see all my clothes. When my clothes were in drawers I could never see what I had. Things were hidden, buried, or fallen behind the drawers. There was a certain joy that came when I found a great shirt I’d forgotten I’d had, but it’s far better to not lose it in the first place.
I pick out my clothes faster. I can now see all my clothes, so I can easily pick out what I want to wear. It helps to have an order to things; short-sleeves, sweaters, etc.
Miss O can pick out her own clothes without making a huge mess. When she had to go through drawers to find clothes they ended up all over the floor (and bed, and chair…). Now that all her clothes are hanging up she can pick what she wants without throwing everything else out of the way.
What sort of small changes have had an impact on your life? Share in the comments.
On the first Monday of the month I write about small changes that have had a big impact. If you have a suggestion of a small change that you’d like me to write about, or would like to write a guest post about small changes, contact me at [email protected].
Linked up at Frugal Friday
