No, this is not the practice of worshipping the washing basket, although mine is looking pretty awesome in it’s fullness. Life laundry is a fancy way of saying “a huge declutter!”. Every so often I get an itch, not an itch that any cream can fix, but an urge to strip the house bare. When I get that gleam in my eye Roy knows better than to argue and gets another roll of bin bags out!
Basically, I take each room and gut it. Every drawer, every cupboard; no nook or cranny is safe. I’m not a huge hoarder but I find it amazing how much “stuff” accumalates around the house!
The kitchen- this is the room that gets the most “built up” with stuff. I go through the cupboards, doing a list of what ingredients I have in, throwing out of date or past it’s best food, sorting the cleaning cupboard, and when I get the courage up – I open the art & craft cupboard. The kitchen is always the first but when it’s done and dusted I instantly feel more organised and motivated!
Work – I don’t have an office any-more. We dismantled it to give Taylor his own room so my “office” is currently the kitchen table, with one cupboard for my files. This cupboard is the crap cupboard. It has a box with “stuff” in it, chargers, three million drawing pins, a cotton reel, batteries…. crap that just doesn’t have a home. It’s where everything Kieran brings home from school goes and I have to whittle these down to one or two pieces and get rid of the rest. I need to get the shredder out and my paperwork reorganised, filed or disposed of. I need to have my stationary boxes organised otherwise I can’t find a thing, I need to have Hallmark greetings cards, wrapping paper and all of the other 101 must-have items stocked up and easy to find when I need to grab them. When it is all done it no longer feels like a “crap” cupboard and again, and I feel much more organised.
We all take part, Kieran helps to declutter his books and toys – some for charity, some to put by for his little brother and some for the bin. He’s very good and enjoys helping. The boys’ wardrobes are always an eye opener – sorting through I can really see how big they’ve got! It’s also useful to make a list of what needs replacing. In my house “Need more socks!” is always at the top of the sheet!
Throughout the day, music blasts out through the house (Jive Bunny is a good one to get us going!). At the end we have a home full of dusty, weary and cheerful people. The house is gleaming but it’s more than that – if you do it properly it can be almost like that lovely “just moved in and all is fresh” feeling. You know where everything is, everything is well organised, you use things that you thought were long gone, and seem to save a fair bit of money over the next week or so using up in the kitchen / bathroom and what not.
Yes, today is a Life Laundry day. Wish me luck!
