I’m pretty sure there’s a clutter monster living in my building, [[contact.first_name]]. And lately, it’s been stirring up lots of chaos with my laundry.
Now, look…I adore my new apartment. I really do.
I love living in San Francisco. I’m at the top of a 4-story building with a big balcony that overlooks the whole city. Most days, I feel like a princess in a castle.
But my laundry situation has me feeling all kinds of annoyed.
Usually, I’m an A+ laundry student….
I wash. I fold. And I put things away…all in the same sitting.
But in this house, my laundry keeps piling up. Every weekend, I find some excuse not to do my laundry…until it is stacked so high that it feels overwhelming.
What might be causing this breakdown of laundry flow, you ask?
Well, the root cause of this chaos is the laundry machines. It would be an understatement to say that I really don’t like them.
First, they are located in the basement. I have to walk down (and up) four flights of stairs. There’s no elevator here, and as good as those stairs have been for my cardio, they add a hefty burden to an already less-than-fun activity.
Plus, the washer eat my quarters. The dryer barely dries. And everything takes way longer than it should.
None of these things is a dealbreaker, but it activates my perfectionism and awakens an “if I can’t do it right, I’m not going to do it at all” temper tantrum.
Every time I think about doing the laundry, I feel annoyed. I find myself feeling irritated and not wanting to do laundry at all.
So, I let the laundry stack up. I resist going to the bank for quarters. I sometimes even take my laundry to a friend’s house just to not deal with our machines.
I have total resistance about doing laundry here…so much so that I still haven’t bought a portable hamper to carry my loads down. Instead, I carry everything in my arms like a dizzy raccoon doing a weird obstacle course.
The truth is, my resistance to my building’s laundry room is the real monster.
I am the monster that’s causing the chaos with my laundry. Not the machines.
Clutter loves this kind of thing. It thrives when something feels annoying enough that you avoid it…so it can quietly grow and expand.
If I’m really honest with myself, the situation “is what it is.” The machines aren’t changing. The stairs aren’t going anywhere.
But my attitude is the one thing I do have control over. I can either keep holding onto my resentment and annoyance, or I can do something about it.
I can accept that this is the situation and make a plan for what I’m going to do about it.
That’s where the monster loses its power…when we name what we’re feeling, accept the circumstances, and come up with a workable game plan (notice I said workable, not perfect).
If I keep focusing on my annoyance that my laundry setup isn’t as good as it was in the past, I feed the chaos that keeps my laundry stacking up.
And once I stop fighting reality, I can actually take care of myself. I can bring extra quarters for when the machines get hungry. I can buy a collapsible hamper so I can stop leaving a trail of socks up the stairs. And I can leave enough time to run the dryer twice.
None of this is glamorous. But there is no better solution than:
- Noticing what isn’t working
- Accepting the truth, and
- Building a game plan around it.
Most clutter monsters don’t start off big and scary.
They start with something small that just feels a little bit off. Something that annoys you enough that you don’t want to fully deal with it.
And then it grows.
So, take a minute look around your home…
Is there a little clutter monster in your home right now? (not an overwhelming monster, just a little annoyance you’ve been side-stepping)
Comment below and tell me about it. Venting is a great place to start when it comes to facing the clutter monster.
I’ve got your back!
