Laundry in a tiny home is magic. If my mom is reading this she is going to be blown away....and if some of my friends are reading this......they're also going to be like WHAT is happening with Megan!
I just never had my "poop in a group" when it came to laundry as an adult.
I say MAGIC.....because it does this thing where it just disappears....and not because you shoved it into the laundry room where no one can see it. It actually gets DONE!
Not to long ago (like three months ago) I could NEVER find anything in my closet, or in any of the piles of laundry. I hate to admit this but I will --- I always had laundry EVERYwhere.
I had clean piles, dirty piles....not sure piles. I would re-wash clothes probably several times because -- I just wasn't sure how long it was sitting there. I just couldn't keep up, I just hated it. I'm sorry! I even tried to hire someone ...anyone to come and do it for me lol. That never happened if you're wondering.
I wouldn't put things away, I'd leave them in the laundry room, I would buy new black tee shirts because heck if I knew where the other 5 went. And if you are that person who is always on top of their laundry - I applaud you, but it was the chore I avoided.
Before I dive into our CURRENT laundry situation in the tiny I have to remind myself of the "before" laundry situation specifically in the tiny house.
Prior to living in the tiny full time I bought a little portable machine to use when we were here visiting or when we rented it out. I would put the laundry in, pour tons of water into the top add the soap in, and wait for it to spin....and then add some more water, and then....wait for it to spin...and then "spin" cycle the dryer. Which meant the clothes wouldn't dry because there was no heater...it was like one of those bathing suit spinners at the public pools. This process also took quite a bit of time to do - I didn't mind doing it because I really didn't like going to the laundry mat.
I paid about $300 for the machine on Amazon and during Covid-19 it was so handy because we weren't really welcome at the laundry mat. It was also really portable - during the summer months I would bring it outside plug it to the tiny and do my full load of laundry outside.
When we decided to move into the tiny full time I sold it for $150 so I consider the money well spent, I love selling things when we no longer use them now!
Six reasons why I love doing laundry now:
1. I cycle through the same few outfits (outfits for client zoom meetings, outfits for doing 'chores' outside, and outfits for going into "town" aka getting groceries, and outfits for skiing/ exercising. That means = I don't have a lot of choices (which is intentional) AND that means I never stress about what to wear. That also means = less laundry piles.
2. My clothes don't go missing, which means I am not spending money on buying seconds, or third of things that I already own. Seriously -- I am not buying things because I can't find the other one I own. If you've never done this before --- I applaud you and would love to know your secrets. But if I couldn't find my black teeshirt I would go and buy another one. It's also neat to see the kids know what they have for clothes and right away when they look to small or too worn out - we donate them!
3. Laundry never piles up in the tiny - because where the heck would it pile too? The kids each have a tiny basket that fits on their bookshelves, Neil has a little basket and I have one too. The kids laundry goes in the same load, and mine and Neils another one. That's two loads, maybe THREE at the most per week for our clothing. I am IN LOVE with this.
4. It's cute -- this may because it's new, but our tiny little washer and dryer are so darn sweet & shake the tiny when they run...and I just can't help but laugh when the entire house shakes because we're cleaning our clothes.
5. We bought the set used and paid $500 for it off of Kijiji and I almost couldn't believe it, we got a Blomberg set! and it's in perfect like new condition!
6. We have this "bin" system that works (and I'm sure we could've used it in a regular sized home, but...we didn't). I bring the laundry into my bedroom, and the kids bring their bins down and pop their clothes into their 'shirts', 'pants'...etc bins. If they're lazy (cuz they get lazy) I pass them up to their lofts...and the clothes don't SIT in a space and wait for some random laundry fairy to put them away. They get put away within MINUTES of coming out of the dryer.
I actually really want to hear about your relationship with laundry - because mine was a shit show prior to living tiny...and I feel like it's one of those "I changed" moments!
