Dear FlyLady,

One laundry habit that we are developing is folding the laundry as soon as it is done. In the beginning of our marriage, my DH (Dear Husband) and I did laundry together once a week at the laundromat. I almost wish for those halcyon days where it was all done at once, folded and ready to put away.

Once we moved into a house with washer and dryer and started a family, we would try to wash weekly, but because there was so much to do, we would allow loads to languish for days, even weeks! I would wash and my DH would fold.

My DH liked to wait until all the laundry was clean and then make one enormous Mt. Everest of clean clothes before folding. It would take all day to fold, which was fine if there was a hockey game to watch, but most of the time, it just felt like a vast undertaking and most likely wouldn’t happen. We would just root through the clean clothes baskets looking for things to wear.

After discovering FlyLady, I started folding loads as soon as they were out of the dryer. Not only did it go much more quickly than my DH or thought it would, but if we both folded as it came out, it only took a few minutes. Now that the kids are old enough, they help fold and my DD (7) uses “Folding Magic” which makes the task fun.

All the drawers and shelves are labeled in the kids’ rooms, so no more excuses! Everything gets put away without whining. The only thing we haven’t figured out is where the socks go…??

We have also removed the laundry baskets from our rooms – one main hamper with a lid by the bathroom is all we have and when it’s full, it goes downstairs to be sorted. I have single-load-sized baskets (darks/lights/socks & underwear/permanent press/delicate) in the laundry room and when one is full, it gets washed.

That reminds me, I need to go put a load in the dryer right now.

Thank you, FlyLady!

FlyBaby Ruth

Sweet Husband Is Vacuuming

Dear FlyLady,

First of all, let me just say thank you for all of the encouragement & guidance you’ve given me as I flutter my way to a better life with my family. You’ve become such an inspiration to me, in so many ways I can’t even put into words!

I wanted to tell you about a little adventure I had the other day & how the FlyLady Dryer Cleaning Kit came to my rescue!

My sweet husband has been doing the vacuuming at our home the past couple of months because I have some had some back problems – he has been so willing to help out, but I have to be honest: He is not a domestic kind of guy.

He really never learned anything about cleaning or maintaining a home when he was growing up, and it honestly never occurred to me that I needed to say, “Don’t vacuum up barrettes, dryer sheets, pencils, etc.” I also didn’t think about mentioning that he should check the bag to make sure it wasn’t full. Well, since I’ve been feeling much better lately I decided to vacuum the other day & realized there was very little suction.

I checked the bag, the hose and basically disassembled the vac & to my horror found all sorts of treasures that little girls often leave on the floor!

Thanks to the FlyLady Dryer Cleaning Kit I was able to use the long narrow brush to liberate HUGE wads of YUCK and dog hair from the hose itself. I shudder to think what the repair bill would have been if we’d ruined the motor.

Thank you for keeping our dryer happy, healthy & safe – and now for making a pretty yucky problem much, much easier to handle!

Blessings to you,

A FlyBaby in Georgia