So Much Excitement in the Laundry Room

It's the time of year for domestic renewal: I threw out the old laundry hampers and bought new plastic baskets that actually sort of fit in the shelves of the laundry room. Now I have four instead of three (white, light, dark, delicate) which is just right, and they are off the floor! The room seems twice as big. I am truly enjoying sorting the laundry these days.

Magic for Daisy's Drawers

 On Wednesdays, we make sure that we are all caught up on putting our laundry away, and that the laundry room is empty, tidy, and cleaned.

Daisy tidies her dresser up in conjunction with this task each week. Today she decided to re-sort her dresser. I walked in halfway through, and suggested she try the method in Marie Kondo's book and get some of that life-changing magic going.

 Fold the garments neatly, and set them in the drawer *vertically*. Nothing is stacked, everything is equally visible when you pull out the drawer. Nothing to topple over, nothing to get lost at the bottom  to be left unloved.

It worked perfectly. All her hot-weather clothes are in one drawer, all her cold-weather clothes in the bottom drawer.

Clara Folding Linens

After the funeral lunch there were tablecloths to launder.

Clara's Wool Laundry

Clara laundered her sweaters this morning, and they dried outside in about an hour. Guess it's warm enough to put them away for the season.

Such a nice collection of pinks and reds, and almost all from the thrift store!

Early Morning Ironing

Superwash

Dealing with a chronic skin irritation issue in the household, we've determined to get detergent out of the schoolhouse. It sounds so easy, doesn't it? Just substitute something in the laundry . . . .

I wish.

A lot of reading about the lingering presence of detergent suggests that simply switching products doesn't do the trick. So we've been doing the Superwash: it's four cycles in the washing machine, the first two with detergent-free soap, and the second two with plain water. Not my idea; it comes from the motivated folks at Solve Eczema who have been looking at this problem for years.

I'll just say up front that this is not a lot of fun. On a really focused day I can get four loads of laundry done. And it's not just the clothes. Towels, kitchen linens, rugs, curtains, slipcovers: when you start looking at the detergent in your life it's kind of scary.

And then go and read your shampoo, soap, and toothpaste labels. We've found alternative detergent-free products for most of our needs (the dish liquid and dishwashing powder come from an awesomely retro company in California that clearly hasn't done a label redesign in decades). I'll share a list of resources in the future, or visit the link above. In the meantime, I'm going to put another load in the washer.

Bed by Bed

It's time for all, *all* the bedding to get washed, to satisfy the housekeeper in me and to help the allergy sufferers in the house. I'm doing just one a week, though, as more would be madness.

In age order, each child is stripping absolutely everything off the bed. Mattress pad, sheets of course, all blankets, quilts, duvets, pillows, everything. It takes about all day to get everything washed and tumbled dry, but it feels so good to get it done.

I did not know that Bella slept under three quilts, two afghans, and four pillows. Hers took more than a day.

Current with the Ironing

Is it not a good feeling when the ironing pile is vanquished?

A Windy Evening

The whipping wind was perfect for drying my tablecloth on the line today--if I used eight clothespins. I caught sight of it at dusk.

Hand Laundry

Memorial Day is such an undemanding holiday: praying for our soldiers, sometimes a trip to the cemetary with flowers, and dinner cooked on the grill.

And of course it is the unofficial beginning of summer, right? We made it this far without the air-conditioning but now it's okay to give in, which we happily did today. Until a huge thunderstorm blew in, drove the children out of the swimming pool, and cooled things back off.


Today may be a holiday but it's still laundry day. In addition to the usual I gathered up all my fine wool sweaters for a massive hand-washing session in the kitchen. Last year I had moth damage to several woolen things, and I'm determined to prevent it this summer. Can't remember what was clean and what had been worn, so I washed everything.


I'll make notes in my calendar to air my wool things outside in a few hours of strong morning sun every three weeks through the warm weather. I just can't bring myself to load the closet with mothballs; they've got to be poisonous. Cedar and lavender and sunlight are going to be my defenses this year.

Of Course Monday is Laundry Day

We found a package of tiny clothespins at the thrift store last week.


And if that doesn't make you want to hang up your laundry, nothing will.




Underwear? Check. Straw hat? Check. Vintage hankie? Got it.




And she's teaching her bunny to iron.


What a helper!

Beauty in the Laundry Room

Padded hangers:


Ironing board with a vintage linen cover:


Cosy couch:


School space:


Laundry detergent in a vintage bowl:

Laundry Day Vignettes

Hobbes knows I need to step here carrying a laundry basket so does his best to lay across the whole stone:


Giles airs his duvet at his open window:


The kitchen linens are hung out to dry:


View of my potting bench from the clothesline--most inspiring:

A Laundry Bag for Delicates

Tired of kicking aside the small pile of dirty clothes too delicate to be run in a regular load of laundry, I stitched together this bag to keep them out of sight but within reach in the laundry room. It's made just like a clothespin bag--I traced the angle of the plastic hanger I was going to use, stitched together the front and back, cut an opening across the front and finished it with bias tape, and left a little gap in the seam allowance at the top for the hanger to poke out (I machine-finished the raw edges there).



I love this fabric--it was a garage sale find ten years ago, a giant curtain and a matching long pillow which I use on the laundry room couch.

Freshening the Laundry Room

It's time to:

•clean out the dryer vent hose
•wash the ironing board cover
•wash the laundry basket liners
•wipe down the laundry supply shelves
•and restock the handwashing soap and rose geranium ironing spray.

That's better.

Geranium Ironing Spray

One of the joys of travel is the chance to gather up goodies for home, to enjoy when the trip is over. Rather than collecting souvenir-type items or--heaven forfend--cups with words on them (!!!!), I like to bring home dish towels, aprons, clothespins, and other little things that don't take up too much space, and can spend their useful little lives bringing happy travel memories to mind.

Of course, another joy of travel is the chance to enjoy shopping in a Really Big Town. I loved cruising the aisles of that most fantastic of grocery stores, Wild Oats, in Denver. It was there that I made a new acquaintance, one that is making the task of ironing even brighter than it was before: Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Ironing Spray in Geranium.

All these years spent being a plain water girl have just been a waste of time. I can't wait to use up this bottle and then buy the Lavendar and Lemon Verbena. Addicted.

Keeping Up with the Ironing

Some people hate ironing and would do anything to avoid it, up to and including wearing polyester shirts. I am not one of those. I find ironing to be one of the most rewarding of domestic tasks. You start with a pile of wrinkled things and end with a rack of smooth, crisp shirts and a stack of lovely folded pillowcases. At least I do: I iron the Composer's button-down shirts, dresses for the girls and myself, and the pillowcases, which at my house are all cotton or linen. I even iron the Sunday napkins when I can get in ahead of Clara.

Although I love to iron, I do not do it perfectly, sprinkling and rolling clothes in time-honored fashion. (See Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelsohn for details and instructions). I use the shortcut my mother raised me with--the spray bottle of water used at the time of ironing. I have known people who sprinkle and roll before they iron, and believe me when I say that their ironing piles were much, much bigger than mine have ever been.

Monday: Baskets of Fresh Laundry

I enjoy doing laundry. How can I complain? I load dirty things into a nice white machine, push the buttons, and clothes and linens come out clean! Then I get to hang them on the clothesline, a favorite chore. I love to see my clothes sorted into whites and colors, looking nice on the line. These last hot dry days of September, everything dries quickly. And on rainy or cold days, the dryer is nice and cozy and Felix and Clara squabble over who gets to sit on it to do schoolwork.

It's an instant gratification chore. Within a few hours, clothes are folded and back in baskets, ready to be used again. I especially like a nice stack of fresh dish towels in all their happy red, pink, and orange colors.

Daisy has inherited my love for laundry and always dashes to the indoor drying rack to hang up/remove items as she pleases. A basket of clean wet laundry will keep her busy for minutes on end, removing, sorting, and putting back. She's a well-oiled machine.

My theory on chores is that, as adults, we hate doing what we were forced to do as children--and conversely, don't mind at all doing the things we weren't allowed or encouraged to do. My mother never let us touch the laundry; I fear I'm perpetrating the same selfish "cycle" in my own home. Be that as it may, I'm keeping it for myself. The children can climb into their fresh white sheets tonight and dream of the day when they get to do their own laundry.