Tackle It Tuesday #153 — Life without a Laundry Room

by Susan

SusanSusan here… back again this week for tackle duty.

As many of you loyal Tacklers know, Janice created Tackle It Tuesday back in 2006 to help her dig herself out of a houseful of clutter. Over the years I have stepped in for some tackles here and there, and recently we’ve had various guest tacklers and two dedicated resident tacklers helping us all get motivated to blog our way out of our household challenges.

But lately my house is in need of a whole lotta tackling, so I’m heading up the Tackle Team here at 5 Minutes for Mom this spring.

Last week I revealed to you all my shocking confession of how my daughter’s should-be bedroom has become a laundry room disaster.

Mostly I don’t mind living in a tiny townhouse. I love how social it is here and I don’t really NEED a lot of space. But one thing I’d really like to have is a spacious laundry room where I can without guilt sort laundry on the floor and stack up piles of folded laundry.

In my narrow little home, we have no dedicated space for laundry and so it takes over like a weed and spreads where it doesn’t belong.

(Yes, I know that is my fault… but still… I long for a laundry room like my mother had in our basement while we were growing up.)

So last week I showed you where my piles of dirty laundry end up…

Well, here’s where my stacks of clean laundry pile up. And sit. For far too long because I somehow am blind to the piles as I walk past with my arms usually loaded down with a toddler and a preschooler still begging to be carried to bed.

Again I have Mommy-Guilt over my children seeing me leave stacks of clothes piled around.

So for this week’s tackle, I am finally putting away these stacks of clean laundry that become a permanent part of our banister.

The Persistent Piles of Folded Laundry

Tackled!

Done. One more small step towards easing my Mommy Guilt.

Join me next week as I continue to chip away at my (rightfully earned) Mommy Guilt.

Would you like to post as a guest tackler? Submit your guest tackles to be featured here at 5M4M. You can write Susan at tackleittuesday at gmail dot com. Remember, we are here to promote your site!

Each week on Tuesday, we are posting before and after pictures of a project or trouble area that we tackled this week.

Find out more about Tackle It Tuesday here.
The project can be little or big – whatever you want.

Basically, Tackle It Tuesday is about giving ourselves incentive, deadlines and satisfaction in getting our household tasks done.

(It doesn’t even have to be housework… just whatever is on your To Do list.)

If you tackled a project this week, just add a comment and add your link below.

Happy tackling ladies…



Email Author    |    Website About Susan

Susan is co-founder of 5 Minutes For Mom. Along with her twin sister Janice and their mother Joan, Susan also owns two online toy stores where they love to help other moms find the perfect gift like a Pedal Car or a Rocking Horse for their children to treasure forever. Susan has two sweet little girls and is constantly in awe of her luck in life.

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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Bonnie April 20, 2009 at 11:16 pm

Great job! If it makes you feel better I have a ton of space and I still can’t find time to put away all out clean laundry!

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2 Maddy April 20, 2009 at 11:28 pm

What neat little piles indeed…….doesn’t help me shift the seven full laundry hampers at the top of the stairs around here.

I’m often tempted with the ‘tackle it’ suggestion but I find it so hard to think of anything that would be relevant and universal…….bit on the fringe me. Still maybe sometime soon I shall be bowled over with inspiration.
Cheers

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3 Robyn - Mom All Day April 20, 2009 at 11:29 pm

Nice job! :)

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4 Stacy April 21, 2009 at 12:37 am

Nice job! I tackled cleaning out and organizing my car, even though I didn’t tag it as a tackle it tuesday.

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5 Lisa April 21, 2009 at 3:29 am

I know the feeling of not having the laundry space. I also grew up with a nice large laundry room. With six kids space is a high commodity. What WOULD have been our laundry room is about the size of a small porch (I think it used to be one) and also houses pantry items. So food trumps laundry at our house. We use my bed for our stacks of folded laundry. If I haven’t moved them by the time my husband goes to bed, he hollers at gently reminds me to move them. Great tackle!

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6 Melonie K. April 21, 2009 at 3:45 am

Wow… well, congrats on getting them put away, but honestly I’m amazed that they stay there so nicely folded. If I did that they’d land on my head when I was walking up the stairs. LOL You must have some powerful folding Jedi powers or somethin. ;-)

You have, however, reminded me that I need to tackle doing some laundry today. Thanks! (I think. haha)

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7 zoe April 21, 2009 at 6:13 am

I too don’t have a laundry room. They’re not very common here in the UK. I too wish I had one though!

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8 Christin April 21, 2009 at 8:07 am

Ok, I have a laundry room and I don’t keep my laundry in it, so don’t feel bad! It’s hard for me to tackle A LOT of laundry at once (like 3+ loads) because other things tend to come up while I’m doing laundry. So I try to stick to 1-2 loads a day and remember that even accomplishing one load is still accomplishing SOMETHING! :)
Good job!!

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9 Karen April 21, 2009 at 8:36 am

Great job on the laundry. I always have putting laundry away on my to do. My hubby as been doing the laundry and then bringing the baskets up full of clothes to put away. Sometimes, there are three baskets in our bedroom that sit until I tackle them. I am back in the swing of things since having a 3 month flare of pain so my tackle is getting the storage room back to the way it looked before my flare. I can’t wait!

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10 The Happy Housewife April 21, 2009 at 8:47 am

Great job! I have started folding laundry on the dining room table so we have put away every night before dinner!
Toni

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11 susieshomemade April 21, 2009 at 8:55 am

Awesome tackle!!

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12 Dominique April 21, 2009 at 9:22 am

Great job on the laundry. I’m still struggling with mine weekly.

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13 BarbaraLee April 21, 2009 at 9:30 am

Well I am wondering if you have to many clothes for the kids? I know I kept it simple so they didn’t have so much. After all, they grow out of them so fast.

I know what you mean about a special room. Mine is small but it is being remodeled at the moment and I miss it. It will be more useable.

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14 Deb - Mom of 3 Girls April 21, 2009 at 9:48 am

Great job! As she says while staring at the laundry baskets piled up around here and all of the laundry filling them needing to be folded… Guess I’ll have to tackle that today too. :)

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15 Rita April 21, 2009 at 10:03 am

Our laundry pile up spot is on the back of the couch and on a rocking chair close by. I hate it because it really makes the house look cluttered. Wish I had a banister, though, because it would mean we had an upstairs!

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16 Onna April 21, 2009 at 10:30 am

I am so excited I found this!! I am in the middle of some major projects at my house!! Glad to have a place to discuss it!! Halfway done with my storage area.

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17 Mrs Zeee April 21, 2009 at 11:12 am

Ugh! I don’t have a laundry room but my piles usually accumulate in my back porch. Thanks for the push, laundry is on my never-ending to-do…

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18 Drama Queen Jenner April 21, 2009 at 11:37 am

I’m thinking I need to get my kids more involved in the laundry process. The 3-y-o would gladly put anything in a drawer. Heck, the 18-m-o will put daddy’s socks away. Yes, I’m guilty of having a laundry-chair, where all the laundry piles up. And YES, I need to join this challenge. But first, I must tackle something, right?

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19 Prontip April 21, 2009 at 11:55 am

Don’t be so hard on yourself! We have all had a time like this. I am looking forward to having a laundry room myself where I can fold the load on a counter, not the living room sofa!

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20 Christy April 21, 2009 at 12:04 pm

I know the feeling! I need to get the laundry put away too!

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21 Anna April 21, 2009 at 1:45 pm

I don’t have proper room to fold laundry, to tell the through I don’t like folding and putting away part of laundry. My laundry remains in the basket and then folded on the dinning table to be put away. I know if I do small load of laundry each or every other day I can tackle them better.

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22 Brandi April 21, 2009 at 5:38 pm

My house looks just like that with laundry everywhere! I hate it, but I hate to fold it and put it away even more!

Great job!

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23 Petula April 21, 2009 at 6:04 pm

Congratulations on getting the clean laundry put away. We are kindred laundry spirits. LOL… This past weekend I spent several days getting my laundry room in order. Yes, I have mommy guilt over the laundry that never leaves the laundry room. The entire top of my dryer was covered and mounded with socks – the most dreaded laundry item of all time. :) I’m going to have to participate in Tackle It Tuesday very soon. This was a great post. Good luck with the tackling.

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24 Kristi_runwatch April 21, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Laundry piles haunt me.

Thanks for the tackle!

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25 Tricia April 22, 2009 at 8:27 pm

holly wow! I have that very same ledge in my hallway. With piles of miscellaneous. wish I ad a camera I’d play along.

Two high snaps for getting that laundry put away. Our piles sit in front of the dressers til’ I get to them. I know mommy guilt.I’ll get to that in the am

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