Laundry: a chore I kind of enjoyed until I became a mom of three. It’s all fun and games when you’re pregnant, washing those teeny tiny clothes with Dreft and folding them so neatly. You place them gently in the dresser drawer, take a picture for Instagram, and just bathe in the cuteness.
You know what laundry is like for a family of five? Not cute. The underwear is now permanently twisted into the pant legs. There are muddy rocks, Hot Wheels cars, candy, thumbtacks, tissues, candy wrappers, globs of Play-Doh and Legos in the pockets. Name tag stickers from the gym childcare you forgot to take off are now embedded into the threads of the shirt. Four days later, when it’s finally washed and dried, (let’s be real, you know you re-washed it 27 times because you let it sit for too long), the folding feels never ending. I can’t be the only one with a laundry basket of unmatched socks, topless pajama bottoms, and outgrown clothes that sits for six months waiting to be dealt with.
I resisted getting help with household chores for a long time. However, as my husband’s work travel has gotten more demanding, and my own job requires lots of evening time, I found I grew more resentful spending my weekends doing loads upon loads of laundry not to mention the frantic morning scramble to dig through baskets of unfolded clothes to find clean socks and underwear.
Enter Wish Wash Laundry. Founded by a busy mom who wanted to give the gift of time back to families, WishWash will take laundry and dry cleaning off your to-do list.
I placed my order using the online app – as easy as ordering pizza! First, I chose my preferences – my preferred detergent (locally made!) scent, clothes folded or hung and if I was including dry clean items. For my first order, I put my dirty laundry in garbage bags, but now have my own Wish Wash bag with a cinch tie. No sorting needed (though I do remove the twisted underwear from the pant legs and check the pockets). Don’t feel like checking pockets? For an small fee, the laundry fairies can take care of that, too!
I place my bag on my porch before my pickup time, and the app notifies me when the driver is near my house. It’s picked up, and again the app notifies me when the driver is on his way back to me – in 24 hours! The clothes are delivered back to my porch in the laundry bag. We even had one of my husband’s suits dry cleaned for a comparable price (and faster) than our neighborhood dry cleaner.
The best part – the folding. I thought I knew how to fold fairly well – I mean, I did work at Old Navy during one holiday season… But after my clothes met WishWash, I realized I’m an amateur. I actually put my folded clothes away because they are so neatly stacked. WishWash can also help with those hard to clean items like comforters or rugs or give extra care to those grass stained pants.
Pricing is based per pound, and discounts are given for weekly and monthly subscriptions. While my dream is to use the weekly service where my feet never touch the laundry room floor, our family budget is likely going to allow for the once in a while customer route – after a week long vacation, when work is overwhelming, when it’s the change of seasons and it feels like there are double the clothes.
As I have gotten more into my motherhood journey, I’ve stopped trying to do it all. We only get 168 hours each week, and I try to be intentional about how I spend those hours when my kids are present. In her book 168 Hours, Laura Vanderkam suggests changing the phrase “I don’t have time for that” to “That’s not a priority for me.” I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve use chores, including laundry, as an excuse not to pitch baseballs to my son or change another baby doll’s diaper. “I don’t have time for that right now,” I’ll say. But using Vanderkam’s trick to switch the phrasing: “It’s not a priority for me to play with you..”, sure makes me rethink my weekend to-do list.
The reality is those things still have to get done. I know now when to wave that white flag, and call in help. I love the fact I can support a mom-owned business in the process by using WishWash.
Most importantly, I’m gaining those hours back with my kids who seem to grow older by the minute.
Use the code KCMBFree5 to get your first 5 pounds FREE from WishWash Laundry!
