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Post by def6 on Apr 16, 2014 15:40:07 GMT -5
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Post by def6 on Apr 16, 2014 15:41:59 GMT -5
Now I will try to find comforters, drapes, tablecloths and shower curtains to wash
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Post by angela on Apr 16, 2014 21:25:15 GMT -5
Good job Def! You're reminding me that I used to do mini-loads too. It is a great strategy to keep up with things.
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Post by def6 on Apr 16, 2014 22:45:25 GMT -5
Hello Angela  With the time I saved just doing a few loads, I was able to go through a big stash of paperwork. I found my eyeglass prescription and was able to order a pair online. Everything is getting better! |
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Post by lucie on Apr 17, 2014 5:52:17 GMT -5
great plan, doing smaller loads - whatever works for you is great  |
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Post by def6 on Apr 17, 2014 9:38:40 GMT -5
Hello Lucie I think it's just a mind thing for me…It's the same clothes…just a different feeling.  |
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Post by lucie on Apr 17, 2014 11:06:04 GMT -5
Oh, I understand that, if you do a big load, it takes so much effort to dry it and put it away and if it dries with wrinkles, you have to think about ironing... you know what I mean.  |
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Post by cricket on Apr 17, 2014 11:22:00 GMT -5
Mini-loads are a great hack, and I think you were the one who introduced me to them, def6, so thanks a million for that! They are the laundry equivalent of a 15 minute challenge. It's turns a huge time-sucking commitment into a tiny task that seems easy and quick, but it still gets more done than you expect.
If anyone reading hasn't tried mini-loads when you are overwhelmed, pressed for time, or just frozen with resistance, give it a go. Your milage may vary, but it's one of those "greater than the sum of it's parts" things for me. Just cherry pick a small load, maybe half the size you normally cram in. Maybe just the kitchen linens, so you can enjoy folding those few items just right and putting them away and hanging fresh ones out to use with so little stress. Or just the bath towels, folded and put away in seconds, your favorite towel out waiting for your next shower. Or just all the pieces of your three favorite outfits, so you can enjoy handling them carefully and knowing just where you put them away, instead of them being lost in the usual non-ending assembly line of laundry.
Pragmatically, mini-loads are not intimidating, dry faster, are easier to fold and put away which means you don't abandon laundry to develop set-in wrinkles in the dryer. Mentally, you almost look forward to folding and putting away when it's so do-able. Like having a tea party with little doll-size china rather than cooking the same boring, practical meal with tons of clean up to do.
Mini-loads seem silly and self-indulgent when there is so much laundry to do, yet you get more laundry done than if you avoided it altogether. It's a step in the right direction and you give yourself a mental health break at the same time. It's really the same feeling as taking time for a bubble bath, a break from the grind, a chance to enjoy being in the moment. A squalor-hack, if you will. Because it's never the work, it's always the way we think about the work.
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Post by einsteinsdesk on Apr 17, 2014 12:24:51 GMT -5
Congrats Def! That's fantastic!
Mini loads are great if you have a washer and dryer. If you don't, don't despair. Having a schedule for laundry and sticking to it, and incorporating a "regular load plus one more" approach can bring down the pile over time. That's worked for me when I have too much to wash and overwhelmed at the thought of spending all that time in the laundromat. When I fall off the schedule, that's when I get in trouble with piles. So I try try try to go every weekend. When I can't, and I get behind, then I have to approach things differently. It's a process.
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Post by def6 on Apr 17, 2014 20:02:03 GMT -5
Cricket said it best!  |
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Post by def6 on Apr 17, 2014 20:03:44 GMT -5
Thank you Einstein for reminding me how lucky I am to have my washer and dryer just a few steps away…a luxury to be sure!
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Post by papermoon on Apr 17, 2014 20:23:53 GMT -5
def6, ages ago I lived in an ashram in India for several months. I had to learn to wash my clothes in the river and spread them out on bushes to dry. We are spoiled rotten with our washers and dryers and our first-world problems.
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Post by Jannie on Apr 20, 2014 7:27:01 GMT -5
I like doing mini-loads also. Easier to carry,etc.Plus I get the instant gratification of clean sheets, lots of clean, dry towels and clean non-smelly clothing. I sort,sort,sort my laundry. Including some hand-wash and some to take to dry cleaners.My current clothes washer is broken, so I need to carry stuff to the local laundrymat. I bring home the stuff wet in plastic bags and use my home gas dryer or hang things outside in nice weather.
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Post by angela on May 26, 2014 15:41:23 GMT -5
Mini loads are BETTER!
Items are less crammed in the washer, things get cleaner.
No perfectionism of waiting until I have EVERYTHING that could possibly go in the washer gathered up.
Smaller amounts to fold and deal with on the other end.
I am able to keep MOVING, motivation doesn't get taxed.
Better for machines, less weight whirling around.
Things aren't sitting getting stale while I wait for the PERFECT full load.
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Post by boyswillbeboys on May 26, 2014 16:02:03 GMT -5
I am working on finding the perfect size load for my machine, DH was so pleased with how well his jersey came out when I did it in a smaller load
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