The little things can knock us right off the track and leave us from achieving the big results we work for. Imagine having an important meeting: a job interview, for example, and finding out you don’t have a clean shirt for the occasion.
In a panic, everything stops. Should you do laundry right now? Maybe it’s time to buy a new shirt!
That’s not living your best life.
Let’s create a simple routine that takes care of this chore, that makes it easy, and gets it done on a regular basis so that the “no clothes” panic doesn’t knock you off track.
Starting a Routine
A routine is an appointment you make with yourself. When you show up for it, the routine gets positive reinforcement.
Do you use a calendar to track your appointments? Add this to your calendar, and honor it.
How Much is Enough?
The goal is to do this chore BEFORE it gets out of hand. Households vary – you’ll want to assess how often you want to schedule this chore. For someone who lives alone, laundry may be a once-a-week task. For couples, twice weekly is usually enough. For families, the number will be greater, and you should be ready to add a laundry session as needed.
Everyone in your home benefits from the routine. Help them participate by getting each person their own hamper for dirty clothes. This immediately helps cut down visual clutter in each room and allows everybody to judge when a laundry day is approaching.
All the Way Done
While you are developing a laundry routine, it’s helpful to concentrate on doing this task by itself. It’s easy to get interrupted and leave the task half done. Wash, dry, fold, and put away! The laundry basket is not a closet – you use it to carry dirty clothes to the laundry and carry clean clothes back to your room. That’s it.
Honoring Yourself
When we make a commitment to ourselves and follow through, calmness and confidence become a habit. When we let the clamor of life distract us, that sense of calm starts to erode. Creating a simple routine to organize one specific part of your week and sticking to it frees you to focus on the things you’d rather be doing.
