I know laundry has a bad rap. It’s never-ending, and most people don’t enjoy doing it. But I don’t mind it—actually, I quite enjoy it. It’s relaxing. It’s satisfying. You can do other things while the clothes are in the washer. Our great-great-grandparents didn’t have that luxury, so thank you, Jesus, for technology! I like the challenge of getting a stain out. I like seeing the row of clean shirts hanging in the laundry room.
The Summer of Scratchy Towels
I especially love hanging clothes outside in the summer when I can. My kids used to joke (or maybe it was complaining??!) about “scratchy towel season!” Hey, it was a free exfoliation to use those towels!
But oh, that smell of clothes dried in the sun—there is nothing better.
Blessing My Family One Sock at a Time
I didn’t always love folding clothes. But over time, I began to appreciate the simple rhythm of it—folding things neatly, matching socks, stacking fresh towels. It became a quiet, sacred moment in my day.
When my kids were young, I’d fold their laundry and think about them. And then I began to pray for them.
🧺 “A pair of jeans became a prayer for strength. A favorite T-shirt, a prayer for protection at school. Pajamas, a blessing for sweet rest.”
I wanted to bless them—not just with clean, wrinkle-free clothes, but with the covering of a mother’s prayer. Blessing My Family One Sock at a Time
The Hidden Ministry
It wasn’t glamorous. No one saw it. But God did.
✨ “And He taught me something powerful: sometimes ministry isn’t loud or public. Sometimes it’s whispering blessings over a sock.”
The Season of Two
Now, my kids are grown. It’s just my husband and me in the house. But I still fold his socks with love. I still pray over the man who wears them. The prayers are different now—sometimes deeper. And they still matter.
Laundry as Love
Those everyday chores—the ones that feel endless and stuck on repeat—are actually acts of service. A quiet ministry. A blessing to those we love the most.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”~1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)
A reminder that service—yes, even laundry! —is a way we reflect God’s grace.
👕 “Someday, they won’t be so hard. Your little ones will grow up. The laundry pile will shrink. But you will have blessed those kids’ socks off.”
A Word to You, Mama (or Grandma, or Just You)
Maybe you’re drowning in laundry. Maybe your house is suddenly quiet.
Wherever you are today, hear this:
💛 God meets us in the ordinary. There is holiness in the humdrum, if we let Him in.
I would love to hear of ways that you bless your family and ways that you let Him in!
I am going to be honest. I am good at keeping things clean. I am not good at coming up with clever organizing ideas. That makes keeping things clean harder. Organizing is something I really want to work on! I have been doing some reading, blogs, Pinterest, magazines and the like to get some ideas. Some are great, some are weird and some are just not even feasible. I mean, these pantries…. do these people actually have any food? Super pretty, but hardly anything in there! I shop at Costco. We have cases of vegetables, not just a few cans. We buy pretzels that come in a ten pound bag. I buy white flour and wheat flour in fifty pound bags each!
This is what a Costco trip feels like!
Speaking of pantries, have you noticed that most houses don’t have pantries anymore? Ours doesn’t have one. It has a nice sized linen closet in the hallway which I use as a pantry of sorts. I store my small appliances in it and my spices are in a behind- the- door hanging shelf. It’s a bit of a walk to go get the spices for dinner, but it works and who needs a linen closet!? I don’t have extra sheets and only a couple extra blankets and those live in my closet in my room. Tablecloths are stored in my dining room hutch. I have a very large book shelf in my garage that is our main pantry. Flour, canned goods, extra baking supplies, snacks, rice, pasta, toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, foil, Ziploc bags, and the like are all stored out there. Between spices in the hall and the food and supplies in the garage, making dinner is a work out! But it works! So if you live in one of those houses that someone who doesn’t cook designed…. be creative and fine another space for a pantry! Coat closet, linen closet, laundry room, garage… think outside the box!
hahahaha!!!!
I found a really awesome blog about organizing your pantry and wanted to share it with you! Kelley has fantastic and realistic ideas for organizing your pantry, even if you don’t have much space. Go check it out here!
I recently did some major decluttering in my laundry room. I had never really taken the time to make my laundry room “look cute”. I don’t know why, it just never occurred to me! I do spend a lot of time there however and after cleaning it all up and getting rid of a lot of unnecessary things, I decided to make it look nice.
I made a bag for bags! I have wanted to have an attractive way to store extra grocery bags for a while now! I found a neat tutorial on how to make one right here! It was super easy! If you have a sewing machine and know how to thread it, you can make this! How much cuter is that than a grocery bag stuffed with other grocery bags stuffed in the corner?!
I think it really helps to have our laundry rooms look pleasant and our cupboards and pantry’s look tidy and organized. It goes a long way toward improving our attitude toward the mundane house work.
I have said before that I have a mantra. “Improve every room you are in, even if it is just to smile in it. ” It’s much easier to leave a smile in a room that is inviting, cute, and seems to smile at you!
I am not sharing pantry pictures as of yet… don’t expect that it will ever look super “Pinteresty” with matching baskets and chalkboard labels, but I am working on it being better organized and finding what works best.
How does your laundry room feel? Does your pantry give you anxiety? Take some time this week , even just fifteen minutes, to declutter, rearrange and make those areas look pleasing to you. You would be amazed at what you can get done in just a few short minutes.
You deserve to have a home that smiles back at you!
I was tidying up in my laundry room and came across the “Laundry Cheat Sheet” that I made waaaaaay back when, when I was teaching my daughters how to do laundry. I had put it in a page protector and hung it in the laundry room so that they could easily look to see how to wash what they were washing!
As you can see, it is a bit wrinkled and worn. It has been stored away for quite some time. I thought it would be fun to update it and make it prettier and share it with you! It can be a reminder for you or help you to teach your kids to laundry too.
I am a fan of bleach. I use inexpensive white hand towels and washcloths for my dish towels and dishcloths. They can be bleached and when they get gross or wear out I throw them away! I can’t stand the thought of all the bacteria and raw meat and all the nastiness that can be in a kitchen NOT being cleaned with bleach. Bleh! That is just my germophobia coming out I guess!
I don’t wash my bath towels with dish towels. It just seems yucky to me. I don’t bleach my bath towels either. Vinegar is a great way to get any smells out of the bath towels though! No, they don’t end up smelling like pickles!
I rarely dry any of our shirts. The less time in the dryer, the longer your clothes will last. Besides, I find that skipping that step and going straight to a hanger to dry and then to the closet speeds up the laundry process. There is less in the dryer so those things dry faster, and the shirts are hung up already so they just have to be moved to the closet.
This is one of my husband’s favorite shirts. Notice the year printed on the shirt. It has rarely ever been dried, if ever. I would say it has lasted pretty well!
My favorites things for laundry are right here! You can purchase from Amazon by clicking on the pictures.
If you are subscribed to The Self Cleaning House you will receive the Laundry Cheat Sheet in your email! I hope you enjoy it! My Christmas present to you!
The Self Cleaning House 