Basket Therapy

Don't you love laundry baskets? They are handy for so many things! You don't even want to know some of the things ours have been used for. That's why they look like this. :)


I had a friend whose house was for sale while she had an infant. The thought of the realtor calling at any given moment wanting to come show her house would make her break out in hives. Then she came up with a brilliant idea. She would keep a couple of empty laundry baskets (or twelve, depending on your tolerance for "messy") handy and when the phone rang to schedule a showing, she would dash around the house and throw the clutter in the baskets, then carry the baskets out to the garage and stick them in her car. She stayed sane and the house sold. 


Another great use for the humble laundry basket is to use them for cleaning house. I'm sure many of you have already stumbled on this particular use, but in case the sometimes mind-numbing job of homemaking, homeschooling, &
mothering, or any combination of those jobs, has left you a little short on ideas, maybe this will help.


Get a few empty baskets and take them and your children to the first room on your list. Everything that doesn't belong in that room goes in the basket. Then straighten what's left in that room and carry the basket to the next room. Add the things to the basket that don't belong in room two, and subtract any items from the basket that actually do belong in room two. Then straighten what's left. You can buzz through the whole house pretty quickly, and before you know it, everything is back where it belongs. Depending on your schedule for the day, you can then proceed with cleaning those rooms, or if straightening was all your day will allow, the cleaning can wait for another day. 


With young children, the basket drill may be something you spend 30 minutes doing every evening before baths and bedtime so that your time after the kids are in bed can be spent gazing into the loving eyes of your husband, without being distracted by visual clutter. :)


Once the kids "know the drill," they can probably do it by themselves if they are old enough. Even if they aren't, helping mom is still lots of fun for them when we keep it cheerful. "The highest form of play for a child is work with an adult." I think David Elkind is the one who said that, I can't remember. If the kids are going to do it themselves, you can add music to the drill. Maybe they have a favorite sing-along cd--use it and tell them you're going to see if they can make it through one room by the time a certain song is over. Again, depending on their age, you can lengthen the time by adding a song or two. Or  maybe the goal is to straighten the whole house by the time the entire cd has played through once. You'll have to adjust the time frame to keep them motivated, but not frustrated.


There is something so wonderful about going to bed and waking up to a house that is straightened up. Even if it's not all scrubbed and polished, straight sure makes me feel better about life. That's my two cents worth. Hope it helps. :)