Thursday, August 23, 2012

A google search landed me at this blog post about Conquering Mount Washmore. This seemed like a great jumping off point for me since Lisa also has a large family and had some good solid advice for overcoming this problem, since she has been there herself. The two points that I am going to take from her blog to begin are Hook It and Finish It.

I know from past experiences that I gain the most ground when I work on laundry on a consistent basis, rather than trying to do it in a marathon when it gets overwhelming. I also know that my number one biggest failure in the laundry war is not finishing what I start. I am great out the gate, but end up with laundry abandoned in machines, or left piled on a couch, to then be jumped on by a preschooler. Both scenarios lead me back to square one, feeling more frustrated than the first time around.

It is currently 6 am here and my alarm goes off at 7 (recovering from jet lag so I am not sleeping when I should be). Day one will begin as part of my morning routine today, so look for an update later!
Laundry is a huge issue in my house. From talking to other mothers, I know that this is true for a lot of households and can be even more so for large families. Let me share some details to help paint a picture.

  1. I am a self proclaimed Messie. This means household chores are a struggle to begin with.
  2. I am the mother of 8 children, plus have managed to pick up a few extras along the way. That makes for a total of 12 people living in my house currently.
  3. We all have too many clothes, and the ones we have are not stored well (see #1)
  4. At the time of this posting, I just returned from a 2 week trip. My laundry was done before returning home, but most of the families laundry has been undone for that time.
Can you imagine? 

I will try to help. If all of my laundry were in one location (which it is not), it might look like this

Are you  afraid yet? I certainly am.

So here it is. I am committing to tackle the laundry monster once and for all. There are some great blog posts out there already, so I am going to work on finding them and linking them, both to motivate myself and help pave the way for the next poor soul who walks in my shoes. 

Please join me in my challenge, offer your advice, poke me with a stick if I am not keeping up my end of the bargain, share your own struggles and progress. 

I can do this.