I laugh every time I post about something that seems so goofy as my laundry and get more comments than when I post something that took a lot of thought and get one. Or none. It just cracks me up.

So I just thought I’d check in today to say that I’m still on top of the laundry. I need to iron, though. Still haven’t plugged that one in my list because I would give it a priority of like 37 and it wouldn’t even show up then, so why bother?

We did re-implement the morning and evening chore routines with the girls though, and I’ve been amazed (really) by how tidy the downstairs has been for the past couple of weeks as well. Craig walked through tonight and commented on how clean the downstairs was (emphasis here on the downstairs). I began to agree with him, but then saw my desk again and said, “Well, most of the downstairs, anyway.”
We then offered up a moment of silence before what is commonly referred to as The Black Hole by pretty much everyone in the family. Lost a book? Check The Black Hole. Can’t find that form you needed for something? Probably lost in The Black Hole. One can’t perfect everything at once, you see. We actually finally figured out my superhero name: I’m The Piler. No flat surface is safe around me (or maybe I’m not a superhero after all, but an evil villain – I don’t like that as much.)

So score two for the family systems organizer and one for The Piler. Now I need to score one for going to sleep on time.

So the laundry. I’ve mentioned numerous times here how laundry-challenged I am. I know it’s probably premature to say I’ve figured it all out as I’ve only had my new system in place for two weeks, but I’ve just got to tell somebody: my kids have not had empty jammy or sock drawers for those entire two weeks. And, they’ve had pants hanging in their closet every single day. Clean pants. This is a big deal.

Here’s what’s changed: I’ve never had a good laundry system. I’ve tried various things, different places to fold, different times of the day to haul everything up, down, or in-between. Over Christmas, Craig encouraged me to put this free iGTD application on my computer (actually, he didn’t encourage me to put it on my computer as I’m notorious for screwing up my computer when I install things; he encouraged me to let him put it on my computer).

Basically, I pull everything I have to do out of my head (this is key – it must come out of my head) and into the program. From there, I can organize it by project and/or place in the house. I can prioritize things by importance on a scale of 1-5 (I just use 1, 3, and 5), and I can check them off when they are done. The checked off things leave the main list and appear on a list of completed items. I love that.

I think the program was invented for people who do other kinds of work, but it’s really working for this stay-at-home mama. I put “Laundry” in the program as something with a priority of 1 that recurs every single day.

So that’s the backstory; now for the implementation. In the past, I would just wash and wash and wash all week, and then eventually get around to folding things. But I wouldn’t always put things away right away because I would want to wait for another load to be done to put it all away at the same time. This usually meant that by the end of the day I had a half-finished job spread out all over my bed that would then get restacked in a basket. I was making more work for myself.

Now I’ve made a deal with myself: two loads have to get put away every day. Only two. I have to do two. But I also have permission to only do two (this is key for me). To ensure this happens, I make sure I’ve washed and dried two loads the day before and that two dry loads are ready for me to to fold and put away in the morning. Once those two loads are put away, I’m off the hook for folding for that day. I check it off my list. I then make sure to wash two more loads sometime that day so that I have two more dry loads for the next day.

It’s a small thing, I know, but it has been a major improvement for my family. They get clean clothes every day, and I get to check it off my list every day.

Now then, to tackle the bathroom and playroom in a similar fashion…

I am resolved to never again serve chili (with crackers) for dinner, along with s’mores (with graham crackers) for dessert on the same day I take down a very dry, crumbly Christmas tree after a night I allow the girls to pop off confetti bombs all over the house, thereby ensuring I must sweep the entire downstairs not once, not twice, but three times in a day.

This I will not do again.

So I had that great idea to do a family New Year’s Eve party tonight, where we let the girls stay up until midnight and welcome 2008 with party blowers and confetti on the front porch. I made a lot of snacky food and planned to cash in some Book-It coupons at Pizza Hut for dinner.

However, for the first time in my pizza ordering history, I had a Pizza Hut manager tell me he was out of pizza. Huh? It was 4:30 p.m., and apparently he didn’t want to accept all of our Book-It coupons on New Year’s Eve. As if he couldn’t go and pinch off a portion of a large pizza and make them…what are they teaching those pizza people these days anyway?

I passed on his great offer to sell me a larger pizza and we just tanked up on chips and cheese/rotel, summer sausage and crackers, Chex mix, and chocolate shakes. We’re all about the health here tonight.

And the girls? They’re acting like we tipped their heads back, inserted funnels, and poured in five-pound bags of sugar…per child. They are so excited to be staying up tonight. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I drove all four of them around to four different stores today (Aldi’s, Sam’s, Walmart, and Trader Joe’s). I had plans to hit Schnuck’s, too, but we were all toast after leaving Trader Joe’s.

The girls have since recuperated; I have not.

So here it is, 6:45 – only 5 hours and 15 minutes to go. Think anyone will notice if I change the time up by about four hours?