Day 2

Good Morning!  We are on Day 2.  Today we are going to tackle the piles of laundry laying around everywhere.  I was never all that great at Science, but I have discovered that dirty laundry has some sort of asexual reproduction while we sleep.  One pair of socks multiplies into 10 pair of socks, 4 pair of underwear, 3 towels and a sweater I forgot I had while I am not looking.  I don't really mind throwing clothes in the washer and then throwing them in the dryer, I mean, how hard is that really?  It's not exactly like we have to go and beat everything on a rock anymore.  It's the folding and putting away that generally gets me off track. I usually pile everything on the couch and tell myself I will sort the finished laundry by person and put it all away at once.  But here is the thing:  if it's something you don't like doing, and you find a way to postpone doing it for as long as possible, ensuring there is a lot of it to do, you won't do it.  So, today we are going to bite the proverbial bullet and just get it done.

Today you should have already done:

The Morning Routine
The Daily Quick Clean

For today you will need:

• Three Hampers, laundry baskets, Rubbermaid containers, cardboard boxes etc. large enough to hold a full load of laundry.  If you don't have anything like this, then find a spare piece of floor where your sorted dirty laundry will be out of the way.
• A cardboard box or large trash bag

Now lets jump right in.

1. If you have a load of laundry in the washer that's been sitting and souring, then go ahead and put that on a short cycle.
2. If you have a load of laundry in the dryer that sat and got wrinkled, then saturate a wash cloth and turn the dryer on for about 15 minutes to smooth out the wrinkles.
3. Go and gather all of the dirty laundry throughout the house.  Bring it back to where you plan to sort it. It helps me to dump it all out in the floor and then sort it into the corresponding hamper.  Pre-treat any stains as you go.
4. When sorting, I find it helps me to sort by: Dark colors (reds, browns, blacks etc.), Light colors, and whites.  For the occasional items that need to be washed alone or dedicates  I just set those aside in a corner.  
5. Start with washing all of the darks, then move on to lights, and finish with whites if you use bleach.  Bleach will help clean the washer.
6. Set your washer on the shortest cycle.  Most clothes with average wear only need the shortest cycle.  
7. Set a timer on your phone so you don't get distracted and let the washer and dryer complete and sit for too long.  
8. The average person over-dries their clothes.  Check the clothes in the dryer when the washer stops.  Some things can be transferred when still SLIGHTLY damp to a hanger and then hung on a shower curtain rod to finish air drying.  This will help reduce wrinkles and wear and tear on your clothes.
9. In between loads, take the empty cardboard container and clean out the closets and dressers.  Take out anything you know you aren't going to wear again, your kids have outgrown, needs repairs that you know you won't do.  You won't mind putting things away if you don't have to fight so hard to get them in the closet and drawers.
10. Once you have cleaned out the clothes from the closets and dressers, immediately put the box or bag in the trunk of your car to donate when you go out for errands.

Work on a project or enjoy some coffee and Internet time in between the rest of the laundry.  We will get to the rest of the stuff as we go along.

If you are doing the 30 day challenge, let me know in the comments!