How many times?
 

How many times could you see a basket of clean laundry upended and spread out all over the floor, and pick it up again? This is a serious question, aimed at finding the average person's breaking point. Moving the laundry basket to somewhere inaccessible is not an option, actually folding the laundry and putting it away is not an option right now, and killing the creature that keeps dumping it out is not an option.

How many times would you get down and pile it all back in the basket, before you just gave up and let it sit there all over the floor (getting stepped on by said dumping creature,) until such time as it could be folded, a minimum of several hours later? Ten times? Five times? Not even once?

Three. Same as the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop. But seriously, three.

Clod - I've got to read this as a theoretical exercise. I can't imagine a situation in which the basket could not be put in a closet or some such. Or using a heavier basket that can't be dumped. Something.

Having said that, I'd probably pick it up twice before looking for a more permanent solution.

Once! .. then I would just say pick up the clothes>>> with a growly face.:mad2:

I actually have never encountered that problem with clean clothes. The disappear somewhere but I would be all growley about it if it happened. It is the dirty ones, in the bathroom, that get kicked into tripping positions and that works just fine too.

I would say about once before I changed something. I barely believe in doing things the first time, so twice would really be beyond the pale. I'd put the basket outside on the back porch if needed, or back in the dryer if available.

two or three times

...speaking as someone whose neatly folded laundry baskets mysteriously keep getting dumped out rather than put away and who regularly gets so fed up she eventually leaves them to be trampled on until she can corral the offenders into putting the damn stuff away. So what if they look like jumble sales, at least they're clean jumble sales, for about 10 minutes.....

Instead of using a basket, use a large plastic trash bag. It's easy to carry over your shoulder, it stays where you put it down, it's just as easy to pluck & fold out of, and it can do double duty hiding the body.

Or use a basket with a top. We put ours on top of a stand up freezer.

this is a subjective exercise. I personally would not tolerate it at all if I witnessed it being done intentionally. Your reality is far different.

If I was in the shoes I know you're in, I would expect that my answer would be different than my current one, but still fewer times than yours would be.

For the record, I only picked it up once, then let it sit the second time. I was just wondering if that made me a slob. Eventually Mr. Clod finally got out of bed (not his fault, he had a bunch of servers breaking in the middle of the night that needed his attention,) so I had a separate room I could move the basket into.

Have you thought about getting a snake?

If I knew beforehand that it would be a futile exercise, I wouldn't even pick it up once. If it required me picking it up a few times before I clued in, I would hope that I would catch on to the situation by the third dumping, so I would only pick it up twice.

I would look for another solution, but if I didn't see one, I'd just leave it there.

I don't understand why you can't put the laundry away. Just MAKE IT be part of the process. Seriouly, when you go to the bathroom, you KNOW that you aren't done until you wipe and flush, right? Now tell yourself that you aren't DONE with the laundry until it is put away. It will take less time to do this than it does to keep putting it back in the basket, so you are really saving time.

An intriguing thread about a basket case...............:bolt:

Because I'm doing laundry for 6 people, including 2 who wet through their diapers onto their sheets almost every single night. This particular basket was the third in a series started yesterday evening. It had to come out of the dryer to make room for load number 4 (which would get mildewy if it just sat in the washing machine,) but I did have to go to bed at some point last night. I could have folded load number 3 first, it's true, but I wasn't going to stay up for another hour and a half just so I could finish folding load number 4 as well, so what's the difference? In the morning, tasks like feeding them breakfast and replying to employer emails took precedence. And then some time on the Cellar took precedence as well. Don't judge me, punk.

Would you like to explain that to some of the people at my house? I'm still working on "The lids isn't ON until it is on. Not some of the way on and not most of the way on, I expect that lid to be motherfucking on."

And when the syrup, gravy, soup or whatever spills all over the inside of the refrigerator will that help you to learn to put the lid on? No, because you are a slob and don't care about the giant mess in the fridge that is clinging to the bottom of everything and is now being tracked all over every counter and surface those things touch.


Was I just typing that?

I really am trying to understand this. Sorry if I am not sensitive to the realities of the situation, but I am trying to apply the principles upon which I perform my daily activities. It seems that if a load had to come out so another could go in, so that another could move forward, that you have too much production in the pipeline at one time. Stop putting more in the washing machine until the loads that came before it are processed, i.e. put away.

I would leave the unfolded basket near the dryer so that when I when I was ready to fold I could give it a 10 minute tumble beforehand to help eliminate wrinkles.

Absolutely. I have too much production in the pipeline. But the kids had no clean pants (Minifob typically goes through 3 pairs a day,) and I can pull clean pants out of a basket of unfolded laundry if I need to. Buying them more pants doesn't solve the inherent problem. Now that loads number 3 and 4 from yesterday have been folded and put away, I already have load number 1 for the day--the night's pee-soaked sheets--moving to the dryer. There are just not enough hours in the day for a workable Gantt chart.

Some kind of a net with a drawstring might be the answer.

Maybe some help too?

I understand. Your production capacity at 100% completion does not satisfy the demands of the environment.

I ran into a VERY similar problem for about 3-4 months. Its really difficult for people who aren't in the fight to understand. So much of your "normal time" if not all is used doing other things that a far higher priorities than folding laundry.
After getting up at 6 then going to work all day ... getting home at 6 and taking care of others finally being able to breathe at around 9 or 9:30 every other life chore began. By the time it came to laundry ... I was/am beat. I was basically folding the laundry in bed and more than once fell asleep while doing so.
I have two large baskets which I leave on top of the washer/dryer - sort of a holding station. I do as much as I can and try to keep one of them empty.

I'm guessing another compounding issue for you is that much of your clothes are for tiny people and one of your loads has a lot more individual items in it than say mine.

My laundry system was eased by deciding to hang more stuff. Staight out of the dryer onto a hanger, much faster than folding. Of course this means that Hebe's stuff is hanging everywhere in her room, not just in her closet (the smallest in the house), but hey, it's outta the basement and outta my laundry basket...

Also, I always fold straight from the dryer -it just seems to take less time than doing it later. Unless it gets all kicked to shit on my bedroom floor before it gets put away, but at least my end of the deal is done

:rolleyes:

totally feel for you clod, answer is to learn to care less about the state of the place and the clothes. hard, but not impossible.

Of course I may have gone a little too far in that direction.....

I feel oddly comforted by everyone's chaos in that I am not alone. I almost can see a 1-800 you are not alone helpline for the over chored.

Dump the basket onto the floor upside down. The clothes are going on the floor anyway, right? The upturned basket keeps the creature from strewing the clothes hither and yon. Just keep the floor clean.:D

I keep trying to get the wife to dump the kids clothes on their beds and let them fold them, if they want to. For Godsakes they are in college now! Quit folding their damm clothes.

quit doing their laundry at that age!

I keep telling her that. I think she is just getting a bit nervous about losing the last one this Aug.

This actually sounds like an elegant solution.

You could even fold a bath towel in half and place the upturned basket on top of that, then place a heavy book on top.

Kind of like a little laundry snow globe.

Perhaps we could design a proximity alarm with laser.

That is rather clever, Gravdigr! She'd be far more interested in climbing on it than trying to get what's underneath. I will try that next time.

I don't think you should be worrying too much about not folding the washing Clod. It's clear that you're very busy all the time, so something has got to give. I doubt I'd bother picking it up after the first time if I were in your shoes, particularly if I knew the child who might be stomping on it was reasonably cleanish.

For the record, I've gotten a lot less fastidious about household chores with Max and the two teenagers (and the multitude of friends that hang around these days). I had to let some things slide or I'd have done myself some real harm due to the personal challenges I was trying to overcome at the time. Anyway, worrying about the washing was the first thing to go. As long as I could get it washed and dried, that was the main thing. Sorting and folding ended up at the end of the list, and if it got knocked onto the floor (as it did often) I just ignored it till I had the time and energy to deal with it.

It's no big deal, and it doesn't make you a slob. Not even a little bit.

Some other suggestions:

Leave the clothing on the floor. Put up a sign declaring the room to be a walk-in floordrobe.

Empty the basket. Put the Creature in question under the inverted basket, with a heavy weight on top. This will have many immediate benefits.

I have no problem with Zero.

I lol'd @ floordrobe! I have one of those!

Me too. :blush:

I'm an unmade bed of a woman!

Another elegant solution, only where would you keep the sharks that the lasers need to be attached to?

Floordrobe is full of win!

Permission to use, please? Is it floordrobe©?

®

HAHahahaa, I didn't have one of those available for cut and paste.

Is it different?

What you really need is one of these:

What the eff?

never mind copyright or registered, it's just completely effed.

it'd be far more fun than flint's squiggly F

I like! Now I just need it in copy/paste format. Or, floormat. :lol:

® = alt +0174

copyright is generally for protecting created works and registered is for trademarks.

http://www.lawmart.com/forms/difference.htm

Every time I read the title of this thread, the chorus of this song plays in my head:



And every time someone says "it's not unusual" the Tom Jones song plays in my head.

you floor me!

I worked with a woman who would tell me all about the tech writers coming up with a new floormat for work procedures. It's always stuck with me, keeps me from being board. Ba DUM Dum. <<< flint's drums

On the treadmill, duh.