Dear FlyLady,

For most of the fifteen years I’ve been in this house, my laundry room has been a disaster. Mountains of clothes and linens, both clean and dirty, spilling out of hampers and baskets and off shelves. This sweater needed to be given away, but it needed to be washed first.

That mountain of Christmas/Thanksgiving towels needed to go somewhere, but for now I’d put it on the shelf. And on and on, till I prayed (please, please PLEASE) every time someone used the downstairs restroom that they wouldn’t open the FIRST door instead of the SECOND.

Three weeks ago, I decided: Enough. I started washing, drying and folding one load every day. Just one. And when I was folding that load, every day I counted out another twenty pieces from the clean basket to fold as well — less than five minutes work. Within a week, my clean clothes bin went from “mountain” to totally empty.

Now for the dirties: I put out bins to sort dirty laundry (lights, darks, special care) so I didn’t need to sort before I tossed in my daily load. (Now my kids and husband can sort too, so their clothes won’t sit on the floor or spill over from the hamper.) And every time I folded a load, I was merciless on what I threw out. Souvenir T-shirts for places we’ve never been? Out. Unmatched socks? Gone. Clothes that don’t fit? Bless somebody else! I did allow myself three medium-sized storage bins: 1) Baby clothes with real sentimental value. (I gave away 90%.) 2) Seasonal towels and table cloths, and 3) T-shirts I’ll make into quilts. But that’s it. No loose clothes on shelves, and nothing in the clean laundry bin for more than a few hours.

Now, for the first time in years, I can leave my laundry room door open when people come over. We don’t need to hoard clothes because dirty ones will get washed within a few days. (I just threw out twenty, yes, 20! pairs of my own underwear.) And I now know where exactly what is in my laundry room and where to find it.

Thanks, FlyLady!

Fluttering in Seattle

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FlyLady here; I am so proud of you for clearing out your laundry room. We want to see pictures of YOUR peaceful laundry room. Send them to me. FlyLady@flylady.net with LAUNDRY ROOM in the subject line.