Tips for Keeping a Clean House: The Laundry Monster

Laundry. *eye twitch*

It's pretty safe to say I HATE doing laundry. I mean.... I hate it. I hate laundry like I hate getting teeth pulled without Novocain. Like spinach in my teeth on picture day. I hate doing laundry like I hate running into my husband's ex-girlfriend and seeing that she looks way hotter than me.... ya know? I loathe doing laundry. I hate it. Did I mention I hate laundry? Yeah. I hate laundry.

But, it's a thing. It's a real deal, big girl, grown up, congrats-you've-got-your-own-life thing and there's no getting around it.

I don't have an Earth shattering, end all, be all set of "rules" to go by when it comes to doing laundry, only that it gets done regularly. I started doing my own laundry when I still lived at home with my parents, and it hasn't gotten easier over these past...... over these many years... let's not talk about how long it's been.

I have a little bit of a routine when it comes to doing my laundry, and so I thought I'd share it with you all today.

I love y'all. You know that? Right? The title of this blog is the "SIMPLE" life, not the "PERFECT" life. There is no such-a-thing in this world, so don't judge me on account of my super full closet, or my power cords hanging haphazardly underneath my shelf... I'm not perfect, and I certainly hope that you don't think I am trying to pretend I am.



With that being said, let's hop into it! (And you'll get a mini tour of my laundry room too!!)


Laundry for us starts in our closet. All of our dirty clothes get dumped here.

I keep our basket small, so that I don't overwhelm myself with clothes. When the basket (the one pictured was from Family Dollar about 4 years ago.) gets to this point (full) I know it's time to wash clothes. (When it's still filling up I like to wash my towels, rugs etc...) It fills up about every 3 days or so. This basket equals one "large" load of laundry, to me it's more like a medium though.


Here is our washer & dryer. It's a Kenmore Elite set that we bought in the fall of 2009 at Sears -right before we got married. They've held up so so well and I am super pleased with them.

I decided, when we started working on the house pre-wedding, that I wanted my utility room/laundry space painted a happy clean color, and so I chose this blue from Sherwin Williams - I'm sorry, I can't remember the name - because of how pretty the blue and white looked together, and it's the one room in the house that I haven't reconsidered the color on. We took this room from NASTY brown paneling to this and I love it. My ironing board cover is from Wal-Mart and I liked that it had the EXACT same color blue as the walls! ;) Again it's from Fall 2009, so I doubt that it's still available.


Organization is KEY and it's a huge part of keeping your laundry monster at bay. I have STRUGGLED SO HARD in this space with organization, and if you were to be standing in the room with me, you would know that on the opposite side of the room, it's all cray-cray. But the laundry side of this room has finally come around. I used these four white stacking bins (Dollar General circa 1997) to hold my stain removers (I don't need those a lot, so they go on top), lost socks, laundry bags (like for delicates) and then the top bin on the right holds extra mouse traps and D-Con packs.... old house, people. It maximizes all that vertical space we have in this room. The ceilings are easily 12ft tall in this room, as it used to be part of the carport, but it was closed in to make this room.

I LOVE this system, and I loved that thinking outside of the box helped me create this space using the bins that I already had. They had been in my Dad's workshop before he passed away, and when my Mom moved from that house, I laid claim to them.

Just because it's a laundry room does not mean that it can't be cute. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that this room is Pinterest Perfect (are those really peoples homes??? Like really really? Who lives that perfect?) But I wanted a little decoration in here so that I didn't go crazy.

This home has endless love and laundry.

So true. So so true.

I found this free printable on Pinterest and it's from a website called 247moms.com. I will link it for you HERE. And the lamp and lampshade I got from Dollar General a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I haven't seen the shade again there, but they still have the base (although now it looks more green than blue...) I framed the printable in an old black Dollar Tree frame and then using some red hemp cord from my jewelry making stash hung it on the wall and think it's super cute!


Ok, so back to laundry itself. I have this handy dandy little step down into my laundry room, and so to save my back (which isn't happy at all today as I type, idk what I did but it's mad at me) I set my basket on this step and load my washer.

I don't sort anything. Except towels. Lights, darks, whites, reds, they all get thrown in together. I wash everything on the "Tap Cold" setting and I haven't had a problem with color running, ever. This is a time saver/lazy girl thing that I do. If you are a sorter, sort. Sometimes, just for the heck of it, I'll sort out a white load and use a little bleach on them, but just to say that I sorted laundry and did a whites load that day.

I have a very small arsenal of products that I use in my laundry. I use ALL with Oxi Clean detergent. I buy the one in the blue bottle with the orange top because Aaron says it smells like candy and he likes it better than the regular ALL in the white bottle. Whatever. It's not a huge price difference, if any at all, so I do that. I alternate these days between using Downy and Vinegar as my fabric softener. Now, wait a second before you start throwing things at me. Missy, I thought you were an exclusive vinegar user in your laundry..... Y'all remember my Save Money, Skip Fabric Softener post from a few months ago?? In my defense, I did not buy the Downey. My Mom bought it and didn't like it, so she gave it to me. I haven't noticed a difference in my clothes, so I'm using it up, and I use the vinegar on my bedsheets, towels and rugs. And I throw in some Downey Unstoppables for extra smell goods.


After my clothes have washed, I throw the clothes in the dryer and let them dry. When that loud, annoying, wonderful buzzer goes off, I rush into the laundry room and immediately start folding and hanging. (And you see, I'm not a faker, whites and all are in that dryer!)

The basket that you see on top of the dryer came from Dollar General and that's what everything gets folded into. The rug was a TJ Maxx find when I re-did my bedroom at my parents house in 2008, just before I met Aaron. It's an oldie.  I have a hook hanging behind the door that I put my hanging things onto, and then when I'm ready to put it all away I grab the basket and the hanging things and off to the bedroom I go!



It's simple, it's lazy, but it keeps my clothes clean. Rarely does my laundry ever pile up. But my washer is always running. This is how I stay on top of the craziness. It's not groundbreaking, but it works for me, and that's what is important. Find a system that works FOR YOU and for YOUR FAMILY. Us wives/moms have the hardest jobs of all, whether you are a full time working mom or if you stay home like I do, and if you find a system that works, that doesn't overwhelm you and drag you down, stick with it. For me, that means not sorting laundry and only doing small loads every day. Am I perfect? Nope. Is my home perfect? Far from it. Perfect doesn't exist people. Remember that. Perfect isn't a real thing. I didn't say my laundry "never" piles up. I said it "rarely" piles up. "Whatever is good for your soul, do that."



Thank you all for hanging out and doing laundry with me today! I'll chat with you all again very soon!  Love y'all chickens! See ya later Alligator!