Worn-Once-but-Still-Clean Clothes: The Saga
The bane of my existence, the crux of all my problems: the immortal undefeatable pile of worn-once-but-still-clean clothes. Not quite fresh enough to put back in the drawer, but not dirty enough to put in the laundry. I swear, I’m gonna wear those pants again on Friday! But where do they live until then??
On the 8th day God created clutter, and this pile of clothes is perhaps the most potent and widespread of all of Clutter’s army of demons. Yet we CAN defeat it once and for all! It is in our power! The catch is, we defeat it by embracing it (which is of course my favorite method of defeating anything — a hug).
There are many different methods, but the following is what I have found to be the most effective and versatile of them all.
Give Them a Home
Consider this pile (or Pilo, as I affectionately call it) not to be a criminal outcast of society, but someone neglected and displaced: homeless.
It harasses us because the norms of our homes have failed to make space for it. If we give them a home of their own, they’ll surely settle down and behave, right?
How??
Dresser and closet (👎) are already a no-go, because the very minor sweat and body oils on the clothes will, over time, cause bacteria to grow in those closed-off spaces. We need open air to keep them fresh, and honestly, a bit of quarentine from the rest of your wardrobe (because they aren’t really on the same level as those freshly laundered clothes, if we’re being honest).
A dedicated chair in the corner (👎) is a popular one, but it can easily become a crumply mountain that haunts the edges of your vision and gives off a miasma of low-key anxiety. You’ll forget its there, but it won’t forget you.
(The reason for this isn’t only the crumpled state of the clothing, it is also because a Chair isn’t designed to hold a pile — its designed to hold your butt. When you use a piece of furniture for something it isn’t definitively designed for, it creates a fissure in the system, a crack of chaos in the order of your home. Its terrible feng shui.)
The Solution
A chic clothing rack or a stool with rungs is the ideal solution. Something like this:
The Rack
Benefits: Literally designed for the job, and provides a lot of space if you have a lot of clothes.
Drawbacks: Large and expensive! These tend to be around $100 and take up a significant amount of floor and visual space.
The Stool
Benefits: A highly versatile piece of furniture that is much cheaper, easier to find, and comes in a wide variety of styles! Its significantly smaller and can be repurposed for something else if you upgrade.
(I got mine for $15 on craigslist. It’s outrageously cute but needed a coat of clear finish to protect its literally peeling paint — a look that I love but doesn’t jive with white shirts sitting on top.)
Drawbacks: None that I have found so far! Its smaller, so that means less space for your Pilo, but I’ve found that that is actually a good thing in my case, because it keeps Pilo from getting too big.
Why do these work? Intention!
Quite honestly, the only reason I didn’t think of the solution earlier is because I spent such a long time treating Pilo like an anomaly. Once I started respecting it as a part of my life that isn’t going to change, it was a very short journey to the solution. Humans use a dresser to hold our clean clothes, a shelf to hold our books, a drawer to hold our forks and knives; it only makes sense that this solution is also a dedicated piece of furniture that treats our limbo-laundry with respect.
Pilo is every problem that we are trying (unsuccessfully) to ignore, and thats a phenomenon that isn’t unique to laundry at all. Pilo takes all forms in every angle of our lives. The end solutions are always different, but the path to get there is always the same: Respect and intention.
When we treat these problems like they’re wrong and bad, they act like they’re wrong and bad. Its a contstant battle when all we want is peace, and as any good diplomat knows, the path to peace is respect. When we address our enemies with open minds and understanding, suddenly they aren’t our enemies anymore.
Treat Pilo with respect, and you’ll begin to make friends with your resident demon.