How to get motivated in the laundry

May 22nd, 2013

Appliance Talk

Housework is boring.  I hope that we can all agree on this.

I know that some people achieve a degree of satisfaction from getting their household jobs done, but many of us struggle to keep up with our home maintenence when we’d much rather be doing something else.

Doing the laundry seems to be a particular bugbear on may of our backs, and one that’s all to easy to allow to spin out of control.

When you really don’t want to do the laundry, you leave it until a little later.  Then a little later.  Then a little later again.  Next thing you know, Mouth Clothesmore is teetering over the top of your laundry basket and you’ve completely missed out on seeing Mister T (wait, where was I going with this?).

So, here are some ideas for finding the willpower deep inside your soul to establish some good laundry habits:

Distract yourself

One way to try and inject even more fun into the non-stop rollercoaster thrill ride action-packed adventure that is doing the laundry (can you smell the sarcasm?) is to start multitasking: do something else that’s fun while doing the job, and the monotony should hopefully melt away.

The classic idea is to whistle while you work, or if you can’t carry a tune, listen to some fun music instead.  Using a portable digital radio or mp3 dock can help fill you laundry with tunes, and if you’d prefer not to create noise pollution in your home, you can keep your musical taste to youself with some headphones (remember though that if you sing along, you’ll look ridiculous).

You might want to regularly refresh your music selection though, as listening to the same old tracks repeatedly could lead to you developing a Pavlovian association between them and the laundry, so you’ll feel like folding sheets every time you hear a Hurra Torpedo cover.

If you’re doing the ironing or putting clothes away, you can watch TV while doing so.  If you save watching a show that’s a guilty pleasure (soap operas are a fave) until you’ve got some laundry to do, the reward for your hard work will be all the sweeter.

Tag team

Pain shared is pain lessened.  Or something like that.

If you’ve got some loveable offspring around the house begging for something to do, or a significant other that isn’t pulling their weight, it’s time to press them into service in the laundry.  Make it a team effort, with different people doing different jobs, and the laundry will fly by after just a little effort.

Even if you’re by yourself, you don’t have to face the prospect of doing the laundry alone.  If you’ve got a hands-free phone or are adept at the old “shoulder hold” technique, having a bit of a chinwag while you get the washing done can make the job seem far less arduous.  It won’t be, but it’ll feel like it is.

Get rid of excess clothes

If you’ve ever watched one of those shows about obsessive hoarders, you’ll appreciate how easy it can for unnecessary stuff to start accumulating throughout your home, until it eventually gets out of control.

If your laundry pile seems overwhelming in size, maybe it is.  Take a critical look in your wardrobe and determine whether you REALLY need to hang onto all of those clothes, or if you might be able to get by with a few less.  By dropping the excess garments off at the charity box, you’ll be left with a much more streamlined collection that’s much easier to manage.

Set goals

It’s like the old story of eating an elephant – you can’t do it all at once, but might be able to do so one bite at a time.

Don’t eat this one though.  BECAUSE IT’S ADORABLE.

A similar attitude and mindset can also be useful when undertaking any other monotonous task, such as doing the laundry.  Bringing order to the chaos by dividing a big task into a set of smaller, more managable tasks, will help to make the job seem much less daunting.  Compare climbing a set of stairs instead of leaping a mountain in a single bound.

So, sort your clothes.  Separate the whites and the colours.  Pair the socks.  Not only will you get a sense of achievement with the completion of each sub-task to carry you though to the next, you’ll also be heading off potential laundry disasters before they have a chance to occur.

Dress for success

When you imagine someone doing their laundry, the classic image that often springs to mind is one of someone dressed in their PJs, or at best their shabbiest “lounging around” clothes.  Not exactly the uniform of someone with a lot of “get up and go”, is it?

Just as it is sometimes recommended not to keep a TV in your bedroom as this mixes up what the room’s purpose is (i.e. sleeping), your PJs and lazy clothes really should be associated with sleeping and being lazy – not doing the housework.

The old chestnut of “dress for the job you WANT to have” applies here.  Wear the kind of clothes that you imagine would be worn by someone who regularly gets the laundry done, and lo and behold, YOU may turn out to be that person!

Set a deadline

I had a saying as a student – “If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.”  It sticks with me to this day.

If you’ve got a real need to get the laundry done – those good pants won’t wash themselves in time for that fancy party, after all – that may be all the motivation you need.

Just always keep the words of the late, great, Douglas Adams in mind: “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”  Don’t let this happen to you!

Try something new

You know the saying “a change is as good as a holiday”?  This can be true in the laundry sometimes as much as anywhere else.

“Maybe it IS time that I upgraded…”

If your pet hate in the laundry is struggling with your aging and temperamental washing machine and dryer, you can quickly and simply organise replacements with Appliances Online – if you need any help choosing the best models, you can contact out team 24/7.

And even if your laundry appliances are still doing a fine job, if you’re stuck in a rut using the same old tried and true methods to wash and dry your clothes, maybe testing out one of the more experimental techniques you’ve heard about could give you the motivation you need to get the job done.

Try out some liquid detergent instead of the usual powder, try out a different fabric softener, or maybe even have a go with some soap nuts and see how it goes.

Make the laundry a more pleasant place to be

Maybe you don’t like doing the laundry because your laundry room is not a very interesting or exciting place to be.  Understandable, really – they tend to be little utilitarian nooks, tucked away when not needed.

Have a go at beautifying and organising your laundry space, so that it looks better and functins more efficiently, and marvel at just how much easier it becomes to get your cleaning done.