RRR Room by Room- Laundry Room backcasting

SNOW DAY TODAY!

Last night we were pretty sure school would be cancelled today. The snow was piling up, and there was no sign of it stopping. We woke up this morning, and sure enough, school is cancelled. At this very moment the boys are calling their neighborhood friends & planning to walk across the street to the school & build massive snow forts on the field. That way they'll have forts to play in when school is back in session. So. Fun.

 I jumped on the snow day opportunity to have the kids put their laundry away. I'm not going to spoil their stay-at-home fun by making them clean all day, but I couldn't pass up the chance to get the laundry room cleared out. The deal was, put away all your laundry (including hang ups) and you have the rest of the day to yourself. A pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

Tops cleaned off

I've been doing load after load of laundry since Monday. I've kept it going every waking moment. Literally. We have these giant capacity He machines, and I am thrilled to announce that the laundry is d.o.n.e. There is a start on a new load of darks, and there is a load in each machine right now, but that's it. I have officially caught up.

All the laundry that is left to wash

 

Rediscovered the floor

I haven't put the girls' laundry away yet, you can see it there on the shelves. That's because they decided to pull EVERYTHING, all the bins, containers, everything, out of their closets and dump it all in the middle of their room. Once that is cleaned up (hopefully after nap) I will have everything put away. Except the socks that I've washed since Monday's Sock Go Fish game. All those left socks you've lost? They end up at my house, I think. Still, to have it this close to totally done is unheard of.

I have serious doubts about keeping it this way, but greenness, cheapness, and cleanliness demands it. We have a TON of clothes. It's wasteful and silly. Once everything is put away, it's obvious that "I don't have anything to wear!" is completely untrue. I don't need to buy more, and if I keep the laundry up, I'll know when I do.

Beginning with the end in mind, imagining my ideal goal of a laundry room that looks like this all the time...how awesome.

~Backcasting~
The Dream: To have no more than a load of laundry waiting at any given time. To have no more than a week's worth of wash on the shelves or hanging up at any one time. To be able to leave the laundry room door standing wide open, even when company is coming over. To have a eco-friendly, organized, sustainable laundry system.

Steps, from last to first

• We need to put our clean laundry away at least twice a week. Wednesday night and Saturday morning might work. 
• I need to do each load from wash to dry to fold immediately.
• I need to wash a load of laundry every day, to keep it going.
• I need a bin for each type of laundry in the laundry room.
• I need to tell the fam the new routine, and enforce it until it is habit. 
• I need the dirty laundry sorted into towels/bedding, darks, and whites.
• I need the dirty laundry brought up and sorted at least twice a week. Let's combine this with the putting away of the clean, so as to minimize fights.
• I can make the run around during the day if I need more clothes for a load.
• Efficiency demands only running the washer/dryer when there is a full load.

I'm finding making a list of steps backward like this kind of confusing. At least for laundry.

Side Steps/Extras:

• When I get to the bedroom RRRs, I am going to switch us to the file form of clothing storage.
• I'd like to bring some things of beauty into the laundry room to put on the shelf behind the machines. No reason the room has to be a dungeon.
• I've put a bowl on the dryer to throw in the random pocket flotsam that appears in the wash (like erasers, little toys, money). 
• I have a bag for donations in the closet, for things that I'm not going to hand down.  

Green Goals:

• We have high efficiency machines, so that's great.
• We have blinds up on the window that the sun shines in. 
• We need to switch the light bulb to a CFL when this one burns out
• I'd like to try making my own laundry detergent. Keep thinking that, never get around to it.
• Switch back to line drying in the spring. There isn't time or room for indoor air drying all our wash.

This must not be allowed to happen again. 

It can be done. Oh yes. It can be done.