We all remember that era of TikTok when we were talking about the infamous “that girl” lifestyle – she had her sh*t, like, all the way together, eating healthy, waking up at 5 a.m. and having enriching hobbies. While most us of have called “that girl” for what it is (you know, fake), it seems we’ve moved into a different era of “that girl” – “that clean girl.”
Consider me still firmly planted on the I’d-join-this-cult-if-I-could side of things, because no matter how many Sunday reset or after-work clean-up videos I come across, I will watch them, volume up and screen inches from my face. I’m 100 percent subscribed to the idea that, if I just come up with a game plan and routine, I, too, can clean my house head to toe in two hours once a week.
A very niche side of this content? Laundry videos. I’m still using Tide pods and barely separating my darks and lights, but here I am consuming endless hours of video about fancy detergents and European fabric softeners – and, frankly, I want in.
Here are some tidbits I’ve picked up from watching the clean girls and Sunday vloggers simply cleaning their clothes. Tell me I’m not alone in being obsessed?
Have a dedicated laundry room.
And, thus, I’ve lost already. You simply can’t be an aesthetic laundry girlie without a proper laundry room. The closet in the kitchen doesn’t count, the 1,000-year-old machines in your three-family’s basement doesn’t count, and the laundromat definitely doesn’t count. If you don’t have a laundry room, how will you organize your cleaning supplies into matching containers and hang drapes for no reason???
Get organized
OK, in all seriousness, here’s where we can start. Organization creators get a lot of flack for moving all their stuff – groceries, paper goods, cleaning agents – from the containers they’re sold in into, just, other containers…but I’m into it! I’m a firm believer that when a space looks good, it’s going to feel good, good enough to be around and motivate you. So, buy the damn containers.
A rolling laundry basket doesn't hurt.
Time to get rid of those unwieldy plastic bins. Find something woven, perhaps, with wheels that make transportation easy and some separate compartments to boot. No excuse not to separate your whites now!
Neither does crisp, white bedding.
A huge portion of you just shuddered – and I get it. I’m about at my wit’s end with white bedding, considering the unnecessary increases to my stress levels in trying to keep them white. That said, the laundry-doers on TikTok have a uniform, and who are we to argue with it?
Now, go get the extra stuff.
You know you want to. Those scent-boosting beads? Powdered vs. liquid bleacher – that doesn’t come in a massive, ugly bottle? Dryer sheet balls! If it suits your lifestyle, consider this your permission to indulge. Heck, you already have the matching containers to put it all in!