VirtualVocations

Survival Skills for the WAH Warrior

Is clean laundry located on every flat surface of your home?  Are there stacks of pants and shorts resting on the back of the couch? Are there piles of underwear and T-shirts of every color heaped on the dining room table where you used to eat?  Is there a sock basket overflowing and glaring at you from the corner of the living room reminding you of yet another task waiting to be done?  Did you know this makes you completely normal, and as solider of the WAH world you are about to defeat the enemy! Your constant skirmishes with the enemy (aka: laundry) is what we will be conquering today and here is our plan: 

Confine the enemy: Simply put, all laundry (clean and dirty) belongs in one spot, area, or room.  This will keep the enemy where you can find it!  It is only allowed to leave the area if it is going to be directly put on a body (yours or your families) or directly into a closet or drawer.   

Small battles will help you defeat the big one:  Give up the idea of taking the time to “do all the laundry!” and start thinking in five minute increments.  Only gather and take care of the items you need to get through tomorrow.  Take care of that by washing everything in one load.  Yes, I know your whites will not be whiter than white but we will forgive you!  And you can always add do a whites only on the week with extra bleach.   

Rethink your battle objectives:  Clean sheets every week? Ha!  Do you really need clean sheets every week when you crawl into your bed after your bath or shower every single night?   Try the every two weeks method and it will just be our little secret!  This can include that endless supply of towels – hanging them after you use them and you can recycle them for tomorrow too!  Does this apply to wash clothes? You decide (something things are just too personal!) 

Retreat can be a good thing in the right situation:  Set the kitchen timer for ten minutes.  Clear off the dining room table, dump the sock basket in the middle and start matching pairs.  When the timer goes off grab a plastic garbage bag and dump the remaining unmatched socks into to it and run do not walk to the garbage cans outside.  Take a deep breath and throw that enemy in and slam down that lid!  Look at your matching pairs and calculate how many pairs for which dependent are available – remember you only need seven pairs or less per person to get thru the week.  The Sock Battle is Won!!!! 
 

Posted:Friday, February 22, 2008