How to Solve All Your Laundry Woes

Reporting back on The Family Closet

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Hello Wanderers,

I've been a lot less online than usual. It's winter here and I’ve needed to go slower, so I have. I didn't send a Wandering Roots newsletter for December - I'll roll it into January's in a couple of weeks. For now, I’m just popping in to update you on my experience with The Family Closet.

If you don't remember, or if you haven't read the post where I show you around my house, there’s a small room here in this house called the antibagno. It’s literally the bit in front of the bathroom. It’s the smallest, darkest and ugliest room in the house and it’s slowly becoming my absolute favourite.

It started when a friend suggested off-handedly that it would work well as a family closet. My world has never been the same since.

What is a Family Closet?

I was not aware that this concept existed and, in case you aren’t either, it basically does what it says on the tin:

• All of the family’s clothes in one wardrobe.

• None of the family’s clothes in the bedroom (unless, of course, they happen to be ripped off and tossed across the floor in a moment of unbridled passion)

So it's been four months of Family Closet life and I thought I had better update you on how it’s been going before you die of suspense.

I have to say, this Family Closet business really came into its own as we entered the depths of winter. I took the idea into my over-achieving little hands and ran with it. My family closet isn’t just a closet. My family closet combines the benefits of a bathroom, a changing room, a wardrobe, a laundry room and a mosque. What?? I hear you ask. That's just what I've always needed! Can it really be?

It can.

I wouldn't describe it as aesthetically pleasing but, let me tell you, it is remarkably functional, particularly now during these cold dark days. Who knew a windowless room with pipes lining the walls could bring such joy??

The Wardrobe

It began with a wardrobe. We bought a large secondhand IKEA wardrobe from a family who were leaving town, and we managed to fit three of the four units into the space we had available. In the wardrobe, there are three large drawers, all at kid height. The kids each have a drawer and I have one too. My husband was initially unconvinced by the family closet idea so there was no space set aside for him. Spoiler alert: he's now a zealous convert and his clothes live in the linen cupoard on a shelf below the towels.

The Clothes Horse

As the days grew colder and the sun moved lower in the sky, we moved the clothes horse inside. This was the piece de resistance that unleashed the true power of this family closet. What happens now is that dressing, undressing, teeth-brushing, nappy changing, sudden dashes to the loo, baths, showers, hanging wet clothes, folding and putting away dry clothes and throwing clothes into the laundry basket (or directly into the machine) all happen within a metre or two of each other. Do you understand how revolutionary this is?? I genuinely cannot remember the last time I had to run upstairs because I had forgotten something.

Pro 1: Proximity

It’s all about proximity. The things I need to get me and the two littles clean and dressed in the morning all live within 2 metres of each other. I can get us all ready for the day, or get us all cleaned up and in pyjamas, while barely taking a sidestep.

Pro 2: The Warmest Room in the House

The second biggest pro is that this room is, hands down, the warmest in the house. Let that sink in for a minute. Just imagine. The room nearest the shower is the warmest room in the house. All your clean and dry clothes (and your towels) are located in that room. If they’re not folded up in the cupboard they’re hanging right there on the clothes horse. If you hung those clothes last night, they're already dry this morning because… it’s the warmest room in the house.

Now, imagine you have toddlers that prefer to be within a 20cm radius of you at all times. That could be crippling, couldn’t it? Well yes, it could, but not if you have a family closet-changing room-bathroom-laundry room-mosque because then, you hardly need to move an inch all day.

The Mosque Part

I’ve mentioned the mosque part twice now, so maybe I should explain. It’s the third layer. We began with the foundation of the wardrobe. Then we levelled up with the addition of the clothes horse. If that wasn’t enough, my husband elevated this humble clothes room to spiritual dimensions by throwing a prayer mat in the corner. Three out of the five daily prayers are at chillier times of day and, did I mention? The closet is the warmest room in the house.

A Day in the Life

Let me paint a picture of how this whole thing works on an average day. I get woken up by my kids and roll out of bed. We head downstairs immediately in our pyjamas. I open drawer three and select an outfit for the 2-year-old. The 4-year-old then goes to her drawer, drawer two, and begins to select an outfit for herself. While she takes her time selecting the knickers with the appropriate illustrations for today I change the 2-year-old’s nappy and get him in his clothes. He’s happy to hang around reading the book he brought with him because it’s cosy and warm in here. He tucks himself under the clothes rack for added atmosphere.

I need a wee so I dash to the bathroom. It’s right there, with a frosted glass door, so 7 times out of 10, the 4-year-old does NOT have a panic attack and imagine I’ve run off and abandoned her forever.

When I get back she’s selected her clothes and proceeds to veeeery slowwwly remove her pyjamas. I don’t have time for this. I have important things to do, like folding laundry, so I get to it. Right here. I fold and I put away with barely a shuffle. I exert exactly zero pressure on the 4-year-old. Unless she, in her half-clothed state, tries to join her brother in the increasingly bare clothes-horse jungle.

I throw my own clothes on. She’s still busy doing the fancy flip trick with her top that ensures the label doesn’t end up at the front; it’s something my sister showed her. I remember I haven’t prayed fajr, the dawn prayer. It’s not yet sunrise, so I’m just in time and luckily, someone has thrown a prayer mat in the corner. I raise my hands. Allahu Akbar. I enter a state of prayer, reciting under my breath. As I bow my daughter takes a step back. She kicks a urine-drenched night nappy and it rolls in front of the mat just as I am prostrating in that direction. (I don’t know, maybe I need to rethink the mosque part of this closet…?) The kids are both dressed and starting to fight but I manage to finish the prayer and usher them to the kitchen before the pre-school version of The Hunger Games begins.

Trust me when I tell you, that could all be a lot more chaotic if it wasn’t for my miraculously multi-faceted antibagno.

Pro 3: The Bedroom

If what you have read so far hasn’t sold you on the family closet, there’s one more major advantage; the impact it has on the bedroom. My bedroom is simply a BED-room. I go there to read, sleep or pray. Unlike any bedroom I have ever had before (and I’ve had many) this bedroom does not have a mixture of clean and dirty clothes flung all around it. The image below is my bedroom in its messiest state.

I can make the bed, pick the kid’s books up and remove my headphones from the floor and I'm pretty much done. Once I take my son’s dirty socks down to the washing machine this space is clear and clean. Well, I lie, there’s a family of dust bunnies under the bed, but you get the idea.

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Share Your Alternative House Arrangements?

I’m so grateful to my friend for introducing me to the idea of the family closet. I’d never have thought of it. Now I'm hungry for more of this non-standard living magic.

Is there anything you've done in your house that isn't quite the norm but just works for you? Please share with us all!

Or is there any ugly, un-instagrammable part of your home that you really love? Let us know in the comments.

Keep wandering my loves, in body, heart or mind.

Rahma x