What Did I Do Last Weekend? Laundry.

I did 13 loads of laundry last week.

Yes, I counted.

I counted because I felt like there was a reality to saying I was up to my eyeballs in laundry. I guess 13 loads would be more like up to my waist if I piled it all together and stood by it. I won’t be actually doing that. First because that would just be kind of weird to actually do. Second, I cannot imagine letting the laundry constantly build up to all 13 loads sitting in my laundry room just waiting for me.

Not to say there have not been weeks where this has happened.

I remember when my kids were younger and someone would ask me what I did over the weekend. I would pause and rack my brain. What did I do? I would often say, “I don’t know. Laundry I guess.” I would think jeez that sounds so lame but it was also the truth. If you are the mom of little ones right now, just know if laundry is the bulk of what you did on a weekend, you are in good company.

Spoiler alert, as kids get older their clothes get bigger. While I no longer have to worry about washing poop off of onesies; I now find that I have to do more loads just due to the clothes taking up more space in the washing machine. I also battle with my seven year old daughter who changes her outfit about four times a day and insists things are dirty after wearing them for thirty seconds.

After over ten years of parenting, there are a few things I do every single day to get the most “bang for my buck” as a mom. One of those is laundry. I aim to do at least one load of laundry a day so that I don’t find myself with 13 loads to do every Saturday. To challenge myself even more, I try to be completely caught up by Friday evening so that the weekend only consists of new laundry pile up. This does not always happen. But when it does I have such a great feeling of accomplishment. The kind of accomplishment only us moms really understand.

My husband recalls his mom having him do his own laundry starting when he was in elementary school. This sounds great but I know the reality of how that would work in my household and the answer is; it wouldn’t work. Partly because I am just too controlling to be honest particularly with weird things like laundry. I barely even “let” my husband do laundry let alone my seven and ten year old. It very likely would result in my daughter thinking twice before putting barely worn items into her hamper if she knew she had to wash them. There are certain chores my kids are responsible for and certain ones I apparently am not ready to give up control on.

Whether your kids are young or almost grown or somewhere in between, laundry is very likely a constant on your to-do list.

How many loads of laundry do you do each week? Do you easily give up control when it comes to chores and ensure your kids are becoming self-sufficient or are you like me and struggle with it? We’d love to hear!