How to manage out of control laundry

When I don't do at least one load of laundry a day, the laundry starts to develop a life of its own. When I don't do laundry three or four days in a row, say because I'm sick and am not doing anything, it becomes completely out of control. (This picture is after having done four loads, and you can see the pile that fell behind the laundry cart.) It kind of makes me not want to descend to the basement.

So yesterday, when the weather was gorgeous and everyone was home, I did what every self-respecting person would do. I ignored the laundry. Yep, not one load. Instead, having become a little obsessed with my paper mache book boxes, I sat out in the sun, while the children played and painted around me, and made another one.

And what do I have inside? Well, the title kind of says it all. There are little plastic cats.

And 3-piece cat word cards.

See? Some of the cats can even be matched to the pictures on the cards.

And they all fit nice and neat inside their box.

This is ever so much better than doing laundry in a basement, right?