Laundry is the bane of my existance

I'm sure if I had these beauties sitting in my laundry room, I'd be a tiny bit more motivated...


What's that you say? Ya'll aren't buying it? I didn't think you would.

I am always amazed at how quickly the laundry piles up. We're only four people! The kids clothes I can understand, because there are days when we go through 2 or 3 outfits. But what is the Doctor's excuse? What is mine?

If I was smart, I'd run a load or two every day. But I've never claimed (at least on here) to be smart.

The washing, drying & folding isn't such a big deal. It's not too hard to pop in there every 45-60 minutes to check on the clothes & switch them out as needed.

It's the putting away that breaks my metaphorical back.

It's hard to put the kids clothes away during the day. If I try to do it while they are awake, forget about it. Bear's pulling clothes out as fast as I can put them in, Roo's whining & boo-hooing because I'm not holding him, Bear's whining because she wants to wear THOSE CLOTHES or she needs a new pair of panties...RIGHT NOW.

I could put them away at night, after they've gone to bed, but selfish me, I tend to reserve the time between 8:30-11:00pm for hanging out with my husband, taking a long hot bath, catching up on blogs. Things that don't require me to move much at all.

So usually, I wash, dry, fold & let it sit. Sometimes for up to a week. Whenever I can have the opportunity to have Doctor watch the kids for 30-45min so I can put away their laundry & clean their room. Or I suck it up & do it after they've gone to bed.

I hate messing with the Doctor's clothes, too. Having to pull his pants out of the dryer before the buzzer goes off so any leftover wrinkles are easy to shake out. I've just stopped setting out his shirts that have to be ironed because I despise ironing. I used to drop his pants off at the dry cleaners every 2-3 weeks but got sick of wasting the money. The only reason I felt like it was a waste of money (since it was saving me from having to mess with them) was because instead of being a responsible, considerate husband & hanging his pants up when he got home in the evening, he'd just drop them on the floor in heaps, thus wrinkling them all over again.

My laundry isn't that big of a deal, since I'm still lacking in the whole "having things to wear" department. Especially when it comes to summer clothes. After Bear was born, I was still wearing maternity clothes for a while & then back into my regular clothes. With Roo, I was pregnant the entire mother truckin' summer, so more maternity clothes for me. Anything I had after Bear was born doesn't fit any more, so it's gone the way of Goodwill or the trashcan.

The one thing I do like about laundry? The smell. That's the only nice thing about it. Especially since I make my own laundry soap. I'd toyed around with the idea for a while & found quite a few "recipes" online. I was skeptical about it but went ahead & mixed up a whole batch of it & put in a few drops of essential oils.

It took a while for me to notice a difference, but there has been quite a big one. My clothes feel softer, they smell better, & they definitely look cleaner. The biggest difference though? The kids' skin.

Both my kids have sensitive, dry skin. It wasn't uncommon to see scaly patches all over their arms & legs. However, within about a week of no longer using commercial detergents, their skin started to clear up, the dry patches started to disappear, & now after about a month & a half of using the homemade soap, their skin isn't dull, dry & flaky if I forget to put on lotion after their bathtime.

Has anyone else tried using homemade laundry detergent? What did you think about it? Did you use liquid or powder?