Like a lot of the best fresh starts, this one's a total psych-out; also,
like many of the best ones, you won't believe how well it works until
you actually try it for yourself.
Go to your laundry room.
Pick up your laundry hamper.
- (If you have more than one, or many piles of dirty clothes, do this
to them one at a time.)
Place all the dirty clothes in a pile, somewhere out of sight.
Leave.
Is this the laundry equivalent of covering your ears and singing loudly?
Not really. You'll still need clean clothes -- I'd recommend washing
them at least once a year -- but, most importantly, you're drawing a
line in the sand. You're saying, "Okay, starting THIS MINUTE I quit
letting 'being behind' stop me from making good decisions now and
going forward." Tomorrow morning, you arrive at a brand spanking
new laundry hamper -- and the nightmare will be over.
---
UPDATE: ever since I posted this suggestion, I've been receiving scads,
just scads of desperate pleas to go into more detail on how I got rid
of my dirty laundry. Clearly, the problem of laundry overload is taking
its toll on our time, productivity, and sanity, mainly because most of
us lack a cohesive system for processing our laundry and converting it
into clean, folded clothes.
Over the next few days, I'll post many tips on how YOU can finally begin
to keep up with YOUR laundry. There's no "one way" to solve the laundry
problem, but hopefully you can find something helpful in the tips that I
share with you.
Having said that, I really believe there's a common set of errors and
problems that many of us share -- including a handful of terrible habits
that have been reinforced by the most popular social stereotypes, including
the "no BO" rule.
I hope you'll find some ideas that help you get a handle on your laundry
issues and improve your free time.
Drop me an e-mail if you have any questions -- my inbox is full of 'em.
There are comments.