STATE OF THE LAUNDRY

[Losingmyfuckingmind]

Honestly I dont know how this has happened AGAIN!

Well I do.. we have young kids. So they are changing sizes yet again.

But I am absolutely sick and disgusted of this!

CURRENT STATE OF LAUNDRY NEEDS DOING
I have about 2/3 loads of washing in utility

• following baskets in each room… DS - 1/4 load DD - 1/2 load Me - Just over 1 load DP - 2 loads

I JUST FOLDED…
3 Loads worth.
And cupboards are packed to the rafters with fucking clothes! Theres no space

AND I STILL NEED TO FOLD AND MIRACULOUSLY STORE…

1/2 load of DS
1/2 load of DD
1/4 load of mine

This is bloody ridiculous.

WHY do we have so many clothes! Where are they coming from. I certainly am not purchasing them.

Honestly I could cry.

I went through all the clothes in Jan and forced everyone to throw out everything undersized or unneeded and specifically only bought limited replacements for essentials with the storage space for everything washed, folded and stored taken into consideration.

Yet we have this situation again!

And I still have 4 full size storage bags worth of clothes from Jan clear out to put on vinted. & I have done numerous days of vinted you would not believe! I am practically a shop.

HOWWWWWWW

Seriously I cannot do this.

If I look at all the laundry, reorganising, vinted selling, etc. It would take me longer than a week to go through this. Working from waking till dawn with no time for actual work. Thats obviously impossible but I have to do something. I am strongly considering a bonfire.

Thank you for the rant.

I am stunned! We never had half that many clothes. Someone must be buying them?!

As for the outgrown ones, would it be easier to just charity shop them for the sake of instant space?

I am not buying them!

Honestly I do not know how this is happening.

MIL buys stuff for birthdays, christmases and maybe once a month appears with new outfits for everyone.

I think it is my mother in law. Because I absolutely am not buying all this stuff and honestly I feel like I am going to have a breakdown.

As for the second point on charity shops… When I saw it all piled up in Jan I felt physically ill at the level of ‘waste’. I felt it was my duty to split this into small portions to ‘sell on’ because there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t go to landfill or the shore of Ghana if I put it in charity/ fabric bin.

I know you aren’t buying them, you said. But now you have said your MIL buys an outfit a month each, can you maybe ask her to buy their shoes or a coat instead? Or not at all, if you prefer.

You are overthinking this . It’s just laundry - a part of daily life . Everyone has to do it .

That may be true about the waste, but if you prefer to risk a breakdown, that’s your call.

i just think there comes a point when a quick and drastic solution can save a lot of anguish.

Sounds as though not everyone has to do it because, clearly, OP's husband is not doing it.
I hate clutter and laundry with passion. We have one-in-two-out rule and I don't bother with vinted because my sanity costs more. I plonk everything into salvation army bin at the local supermarket and forget all about it.

A new outfit every month!

get the receipts and send the stuff back

and put your foot down

This. I can’t work out whether you’re pissed off about what seems like a fairly normal amount of laundry. Or whether it’s about not having enough storage and too many clothes. That’s two different issues.

Have you got a community project or similar near you? We have one that takes children’s clothes from 0-11 and school uniform up to 16.

it you happen to be anywhere near Leeds, st Gemma’s hospice do collections of items and they’re happy to take clothes. Also British heart foundation collect stuff but I don’t know exactly what.

have you any really local charities that might appreciate them? Baby banks depending on ages?

could you put as many bag as you can in the boot of the car so you have to take them to charity next time you’re out?

how old are the children? Can they help take stuff to their rooms and put away? Or can you get a laundry basket or bag for life for each room and put clean clothes in there for the time being to get them off the floor while you sort out their wardrobes then just decant straight into the wardrobe?

We have shoes and coats. And she does also buy them! But atleast I don’t have to launder them. It’s less of a problem.

I want to say STOP buying stuff! But that sounds ungrateful and it must give her joy. But this is obscene!

Sounds like your issue is to many clothes not the laundry.

I'm sure they aren't all worn, continue your decluttering by getting rid of excess, duplicates, stuff that isn't worn or liked.

I know what you mean about charity shops, my local one is inundated and lots of bags go into the weekly rag van unopened. Either accept it or do large bundles and give away on Facebook for people with more time and space to sell on.

What's the issue with it going to Ghana? Although I do local charity shop our stuff.

I think it’s about too many clothes and not enough storage. I can’t even ‘finish’ the laundry. It’s not physically possible to put away.

Some may get satisfaction from finishing folding 3 loads and putting away. I had just finished stuffing it in, drawers getting jammed, and looked around and just sighed. It is completely doing my head in.

This is where most charity stuff goes… www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/fast-fashion-ghana-clothes-waste-b2132399.html

Things that help me are decent storage in every room. When ds's clothes get too small they are donated straight to the charity shop if they still look good. Anything of dc1s worth keeping gets bagged in the loft with a label of size and season to come out for dd2. Anything small for dd2 is donated to the charity shop or put in a local clothes bank, when she was younger i dontaef them to nursery as spares. I only have the correct seasons clothes in the wardrobes at any given time.

I would also be firm with your mil that you have nowhere to store extra clothes every month for the kids. If she would like she'd be better off putting the money into their savings accounts or taking them to go buy uniforms, perhaps putting into a fun fund that she could use to take them on trips out? I had to have this chat with my dad, I did very much realise it was coming from a good place but he didn't realise quite how overwhelming I find excess 'stuff'.

I think you must ask
MiL to stop

and if that doesn’t work, ditch the guilt. You didn’t buy the stuff. You can’t save the world single handedly. It doesn’t become your responsibility because someone gave you something you didn’t want

I am so strict with clothes for this reason!
And toys and stuff in general.

I agree with not using charity shops, a lot of them price too expensive that no one buys from them.

Put cheap bundles on vinted, they will sell quick.

Declutter one area at a time. I do mine and the kids. Partner does his own (with pressure from me… you wanted these kids, we need to make space for them.) Although I have pulled things out his wardrobe that I’ve not seen him wear in 5 years that look old are are mostly polyester and he’s been like, yea ok that can go.

I recently decluttered and organised kitchen cupboards, found I was storing loads of pot lids for pots that had been gotten rid of.

I really don’t know how to have that conversation. There’s no way she will take it well. I am going to have to find a way.

It IS my responsibility as I am the one disposing. It’s in my hands literally 😭

Maybe the Facebook free bundles is the answer. But the quantity is embarrassing to link to my name.

This is what I have been doing. But it’s just a lot!

Whatever time you spend doing the laundry, spend on finding a place local to you that will take and use this stuff. The equivalent of a foodbank but for clothes. I don't live in the UK so can't make suggestions, but judging by the threads on here there must be places that need good quality clothing, especially children's clothes.

If it's cheap Temu/Shein stuff - ban it. Just don't allow it. Tell MIL that you can't have it in your home any more and that it IS your home and you WILL decide what comes in and out of it. Period.

The nursery! That is a good one.

It’s not. It’s actually nice stuff. Zara/ Next/ M&S usually.

Which makes me feel like a dick when she brings something else and I am like ahhh lovely, thank you 😭

Locally we have a charity that supports children age 0-18 that takes clothes in nearly new condition. Is there anywhere like that in your area?
Any refugee charities in your area or women's refuges that would take them?
Put bundles on your local free pages?

That's better, then. Before anyone accepts these new clothes into their closets, they need to find older versions of the same they want to donate. If they don't want to accept them, either let MIL take them home with her or put them on vinted with tags on.

I'm RUTHLESS about this stuff as it got totally out of hand with my MIL when DC were babies and toddlers. I also find it just ugly, all this stuff. Not necessary and makes for ungrateful children. I now only have clothes that fit, clothes for a different season, and clothes they'll grow into. Everything else is dealt with immediately.

Also, your older DC can do their own laundry. It's good for them to learn.