Tidbits About the Riddicks - Our Laundry System

Happy Tuesday from a soon-to-be rainy Nashville! As I'm knee deep catching up on all things laundry and unpacking from our Thanksgiving week, I thought maybe it'd be the perfect time to take a slight pause on all things Holiday and Christmas to share our current laundry system with you incase you too are working on that this week.  It's also been one of my November goals, so it's been on my mind this month. 

I've shared this picture of Jane before, but still find it hilarious as this is often my face too when it comes to laundry haha I've also posted about two of my best laundry finds here, and I still love to use both! 

But this system that I've been trying out is not anything monumental by ANY means... And when it comes to laundry and systems, I'm not sure if there's anything actually new out there, it's kind of like moving blocks around to form the same tower just in a different order haha But...this has been working for me the past month or so, and I thought I'd share incase you're in a little bit of a rut like I was... And then I'd love to know all of your tips and tricks too!!

So, this was literally me one weekend when I felt like I had a million and one loads of laundry to do and would never catch up...it was honestly all of the "miscellaneous loads" that felt like they just kept piling up... I told Pierce at one point that I was so overwhelmed and he did not seem at all taken aback and said we could easily finish them all in one weekend... I was so surprised and felt like it would be the biggest blessing ever to have a clean slate... 

Literally this was me.... hahaha Now, I will also preface this by saying Pierce always says I have too many specifics when it comes to laundry...my mom is the best in this department and always taught me to sort my clothes and do separate loads depending on color, bulkiness, fabrics like towels, etc... I know a lot of people just throw everything in together, which would probably make life/laundry a whole lot faster, but...for now, just know that's the life we're currently living over here... 

So, we easily finished all of those miscellaneous loads that weekend (thank you to Pierce!), and I decided that in order to try to keep it going, I would try a new system... 

Not my system, but might be perfect for December hahaha 

A few weeks earlier, I had invested in a few new laundry baskets... I used to just have one laundry basket in our room and then when Jane came along, I had a *tiny* one in her room because her clothes are just so small... But one day, it dawned on me, why don't I have different baskets for my different loads? I was always taking our one overflowing basket down to the laundry room and sorting it in our very tiny space and then getting overwhelmed because it felt like so many loads till I was “done…” So... 

One night on the way home from dinner, I begged Pierce to stop by HomeGoods, and I ran in to “see if there were any good laundry baskets I could find…” And I snagged these few knowing I could use them for something else if they didn’t work. 

But they’ve been perfect - the right size and bendable enough to grab both handles if I need with Jane in my arms... They've been at the bottom of our closet ever since that night and let me tell you…they have been a game. changer. 

Now, when we have dirty laundry, we just throw it in the basket of darks, whites, colored, white towels, etc and when I go to do a load, I just take that one basket down with me to our laundry room... 

Which looked like this when we first moved in... 

And it was the first room I painted in our house because I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time in it... I put up my mom's painting and those little dried flowers that I grabbed on top of Mt. Arbel in Israel and snapped this picture... Four years later, it's sweet to think about that being Jane's middle name and all the time that's been spent in this little space...

But this brings me to my current “habit” or “system” I’ve been working with this month, which is a mind shift in doing just one load per day. I’ve read about this forever on Shay's blog and then I’ve lately been reading two books on habits in the home and this one has come up a few times, so I decided to shift my thinking and try a different way of doing laundry…

I used to get so overwhelmed because I LOVE when things are finished. I love a completed job or task or to-do. In fact, I usually thrive when I can accomplish something and feel like it’s completed, tidy, and put away. But with laundry, it felt like that was just never really possible because there seemed to ALWAYS be laundry. 

Hahaha also felt like me multiple times 😂 

When we were first married, if I ever “finished” the laundry, I would get so excited that Pierce would literally hide his socks from the day at the bottom of the closet so he wouldn’t “dirty” our laundry basket and let me have my small moment of “no laundry.” Hahaha a sweet husband let me tell you...

But, it’s just not really practical…there’s always more and it’s a never-ending thing. So when I kept hearing this mind shift of not having to have all the laundry in the house finished, just one load a day, I decided to try it. 

And let me tell you, I've been loving it so much more. 

I just bring down one of those baskets each morning and that's my load for the day... It's been so much more manageable to just have one load to fold and put away at the end of the morning/afternoon/day... And then I feel like I have actually "completed" the laundry for the day, even though there are more baskets with laundry in them still to be done in the closet. It just feels freeing to know that I don't have to worry about those and they'll get done a different day. 

Like I said, not monumental in ANY way, and I honestly may be the last person to this party, but it's changed my mindset on a chore that used to feel very overwhelming and daunting, and even sometimes defeating, to something a little more manageable as a "to-do" list item that can be "completed..." 

So, there's my little system that I've been trying... What is yours?! What are your tricks and tips?! What am I missing?! Apparently I could talk about laundry all day over here... Hahaha I hope this was a little fun tidbit in the midst of Christmas and holidays... It's just the season I'm in over here, so I wanted to share! Thanks for following along even in the simple day-to-day things! 

I'll plan on seeing you back here in the morning!!!
And here's to doing some laundry today and finding new and small systems and habits in our home! 
Lots of blessings, 

❤️Tab