Clothes Go IN The Hamper

Dear K & K: I can’t get my husband to put his clothes in our hamper. Our laundry room is on the first floor. So, he throws his clothes down our stairs with only a modicum of success. The clothes do not usually make it to the bottom and are often strewn across the stairs. I’d put a hamper at the bottom of the stairs, if it would fit. But, there’s no room there. Any ideas on how to teach my husband that clothes go IN the hamper? Signed: Bonkers in Brooklyn

Dear Bonkers: Obviously, we are assuming you already have a hamper with no lid for him up in your bedroom that he ignores. If we’re wrong and you don’t have this system, that’s our first and easiest solution. Now, on to our second solution that isn’t quite as easy to set up. It sounds like your husband is the perfect candidate for a laundry chute. We never understand why more people don’t install them in their homes. People spend gazillions of dollars putting laundry rooms on the second floor of their homes rather installing a chute in their hollow walls which leads to their existing basement or 1st floor laundry room. Laundry chutes are brilliant. Regrettably, people underuse them in modern homes.

Finally, our last solution is to pick your battles If the laundry room is far from the stairs, keep a lidless hamper close by that allows you to quickly toss the offensive, dirty clothes into the hamper in 1-step. He might never learn that “Clothes go IN the hamper”. Some personality types are just not “born with it”. These things seem trivial to them. If the very idea of this advice annoys you, remember, life is often shorter than expected.

Recently, Kelly heard a touching story about how this one couple had a running argument about how the husband always left his dirty razor on their shared countertop. Sometimes they joked about it. But, usually, it just annoyed her. One day, he surprised her and returned home and cleaned up after his shave. He returned to work but never home. He was killed during his next shift. Sometimes, you’ve got to dig deep to let go and then fix the problem yourself when it annoys you. Hope that helps because mainly Kelly just made herself cry. Wishing you many happy years of dirty clothes on stairs, Katie & Kelly