The Laundry Pile that Ate New York

My laundry pile in October 2008.
Some things never change.

This is the story of the Laundry Pile that Ate New York. Okay, so maybe it's not that bad. But it certainly seems to be eating my sofa. I don't even know how many loads it is, I'm afraid if I start counting I'll never ever stop! It begins innocently enough. I devise a system - say, one load washed, folded and put away every single day. And then it gets tedious. It just doesn't seem worth the effort to have only one pair of pants to put away here, two shirts to put away there. And so the pile grows. And grows. And grows. And finally I break down and spend an entire day on laundry, folding it all at the end of the day while I put in some rare TV time.

But it's all good. I'm cool with it. It's just the way I roll.

I think the only time I honestly do like doing the laundry is on beautiful summer days - sounds crazy, I know - but that's when I hang it on the line, and I love, love, love it. There's just something peaceful and meditative about being outside early, when the sun isn't too high yet, methodically hanging laundry. It's a ritual that's impossible to rush, so it forces me to begin my day slowly. We've pretty much had two days of sunshine since March around here, and I am longing to hang my laundry; I am missing those beautiful, peaceful summer mornings.

My laundry last summer - see how happy it looks?

While we wait for summer to finally arrive in the northwest, I am contenting myself in the meantime with the loveliness that is homemade laundry powder. Seriously, I love this stuff. It's easy to make, easy on the budget, and I can make it smell however I want! I've been mostly using this recipe from Sew Much Ado, only I really can't stand the smell of Fels Naptha soap, so I've been playing with substitutions; my favorite so far is Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day bar soap in lemon verbena. SouleMama uses a similar recipe using Dr. Bronner's castile soap. Next time I can get my hands on some, I'm going to try using homemade soap made by the hands of my very own mother-in-law.

(Anne Taintor rocks. Go buy her stuff!)

However you get yours done, I hope your laundry pile is well-behaved, and may you fold in peace!