I’m one of those moms that likes to maintain a tidy house. By no means am I saying it looks like a model home that no one lives in, but I do like to keep it neat. This means throughout the day I’m picking up the toys that have gotten scattered about and placing them in their storage baskets. I make our beds, don’t leave the sink full of dishes, run the swifter if I have time. I love clean floors and counters and I wish I could have this whole place professionally organized.
But my house isn’t perfect. My laundry basket overfloweth. If there’s something that’s got to give between playing with my kids, working a few hours each day, cleaning, and cooking, cooking is the first thing I give the boot. Laundry is the second. I restart the dryer three or four times. Forget entire loads wet in the wash. Sometimes my loveseat in the living room is buried under a clean laundry mountain, begging to be folded. Before guests come over, I’ll run and throw the pile on my master bed and close the door.
It’s because I’ve learned what’s important. If my son asks me to rebuild his spiderman lego for the 17th time, I’m going to choose that instead of folding that load of towels. If I can rock my sweet baby girl and soak in the cuddles and that baby soap after a bath magical baby smell, I’m going to choose that instead of putting her down and hanging up dress clothes. It won’t be long before he doesn’t need me to help rebuild the legos or she doesn’t want to be rocked.
So let the laundry lie. Don’t feel like you need to run and throw that laundry mountain on your bed away from guests. A family lives here, and I bet if you told them your options, they’d make the same choices. Let’s have a coffee and laundry folding mom date. No judgment here. Better yet, let’s have a play date at the park and let the laundry lie.
