Floor Full of Laundry

by K. J.
(Columbus)

I have 3 boys and a husband and a laundry room floor full of clothes. I can't stand it! They will wash clothes (sometimes) and throw them on top of the laundry counter in piles and piles. Then they begin to look for clean items dropping clean clothes back on the floor.

My other problem is they do not want to put any of their clothes up. They say can't I just keep them in a basket? Somehow that basket ends back up as dirty clothes or with dirty clothes in it.

They also do not want to hang up any clothes. I will admit my house is small and my men are big. But someway, somehow we have to do better!

HELP!!!!:)

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Floor Full of Laundry

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Aug 22, 2008
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Solution for Floor Full of Laundry NEW
by: Tracy

Hi K.J.,

Well, one thing that you have in your favor is that it seems that your men are actually doing their own laundry and not leaving it all for you to do. That is a great start!

This laundry system seems to have become a habit for them and changing habits is something that has to happen slowly, over a period of time. What you want is a new, better habit, not just a quick solution that will work for a few days until they fall back into their old habits again.

The first thing you need to do is sit your men down and have a talk with them. Tell them how much this laundry room situation is bothering you and ask for their support in making just one small change to help save your sanity.

Start by getting each of your boys a hamper for their bedroom. Ask them to place their dirty clothes into the hamper. Dirty clothes should never be brought into the laundry room unless they are about to be washed.

This will solve the problem of clean clothes and dirty clothes getting mixed in together on the laundry room floor. The only clothes that will be hanging around in the laundry room (at this point) will be clean.

Work on this habit for a week or two until you are no longer having to remind them to keep their dirty clothes in the hampers in their bedroom. Once they have this new habit under control, you can move on to the next step.

Next, ask them to simply carry their basket of clean clothes back to their bedroom. That's it. Do not insist that they put them in a dresser drawer or hang them up. Don't even insist that they fold the clothes.

The point of this step is to simply get the clean clothes out of the laundry room. Now your laundry room should be spotless. The dirty clothes will be in the hampers in the bedrooms and the clean clothes will be in baskets in the bedrooms.

Slowly, one step at a time, you can then start working to get them to develop the habits of actually folding the clothes, putting them away or hanging them up, and maybe even ironing!

The point is that if you demand too much change all at once it can be a shock to the system and you will only be met with arguments and frustration. Take things slowly, one step at a time, and you will develop new lifelong habits that will stick.

Good luck!

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