I wish there was a laundry fairy!

Ryan's clothes pile-up from yesterday!

I’ve always had a lot of laundry to do because I work out and that means each day, I accumulate not only the work clothes I wore that day, but the stinky workout clothes that I used as well. So, I’m used to doing a good amount of laundry. The thing is, now that I have a kid, the piles of laundry that I have to clean never seem to end and I wish I had a laundry fairy to help me out. I mean, it would be so awesome, so, so very awesome to go to bed at night and wake up to all of my laundry done, nicely folded and sitting atop my couch! That would be incredible! Simply INCREDIBLE! 

However, the laundry fairy has yet to make and appearance, leaving me with all sorts of wash to do. What’s been eye-opening about it all is how much laundry one little boy can produce. Yesterday alone, he went through two crib sheets, two sleepers, two outfits, two blankets, and one changing pad cover. It was insane since every time I cleaned him up or cleaned up his crib, he would get it dirty again! And no, he’s not super sick, just has a cough at the moment, but, the culprit is the fact that he’s teething and I’ve mentioned that before. So, he’s pooping a bunch and since he sticks his fingers in his mouth so much, he occasionally makes himself sick. It can get a little frustrating from time to time when he gets everything all dirty. What gets me through is his little smile though, when he flashes that grin, it makes it all worth it.

From all the laundry that I’m doing, I have come up with some laundry tips on how to save money and time. Here’s my list: 

• Coupons, coupons and more coupons – For example, the detergent I use when washing Ryan’s laundry is Dreft, which is really expensive. So, to make sure I don’t buy it at full price, I use coupons. Target has some good ones and there are some online too.
• Buying items on sale – When I do get detergent, Dreft or otherwise, I try to make sure it’s on sale. That also holds true with dryer sheets and pretty much anything else that I buy.
• Don’t go the name brand route – Generic and off brands typically work just as well as name brands and despite name brand laundry detergent makers saying otherwise, it’s true. What’s nice is they cost less and do the same thing as the name brands.
• Multi-task – This is the biggest time saver for me when I’m doing laundry. Like, after I throw a load of clothes in the dryer after taking out a load, I fold the one load and when I’m done with that, I get another load started. It may sound pretty simple, yet, it does save me a lot of time.
• Don’t let the laundry pile up – I learned this one the hard way when I decided to not do any laundry for a bit. I ended up doing laundry for an entire day and it was not fun. Now, I do a little laundry each day to keep on top of it!
  

This is what my grandma used to wash clothes!

In the end, laundry is a pain in the butt and when you have a kid, just realize, like I have, that it’s going to accumulate faster than ever. So fast that you might not be able to keep up with it and that not being able to keep up with it is probably going to make you fume a bit. Well, it has me anyway! :) And also realize, like I have, that laundry fairies don’t exist, they really, really don't! :) As much as I wish they did, they don’t, so I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and keep plugging away, washing and folding clothes! 

At least, it’s not the 1950’s with the hand crank washing machines like my Grandma had to use. (Check it out on the right, she actually used a machine like it still when I was growing up!) Not to mention having to hang all the clothes outside, or indoors, to dry. Now that wouldn’t have been much fun and I applaud her for her hard work. Love you Grandma!

Thus, I’m going to stop complaining now and be thankful for the advancement of technology! So until next time, this is Carla the new mom, and tomboy, signing off!