ADVERTORIAL
Do You Have a Clothes Chair? The Problem Might Be Where You Hid the Hamper.
I spent years thinking I just wasn't a tidy person. It turned out my laundry basket was simply in the wrong room.
Every bedroom I have ever lived in has had a clothes chair.
You know the one. It starts as a real chair, a nice one, maybe even one you picked out on purpose. Then one night you take off a sweater you might wear again and set it on the arm. The next night, a pair of jeans goes on top. Then a work shirt that is not quite dirty. Then a towel.
Three days later, the chair has disappeared. There is just a soft pile shaped like a chair.
I have had a clothes chair in three apartments and one house. I always assumed it was a character flaw. I told myself I just was not an organized person, and every few weeks I would spend a Sunday afternoon digging it out and promising myself this time would be different.
It never was.
It Was Never About Being Tidy
The thing that finally changed my mind happened at my sister's house.
I stayed in her guest room for a long weekend in the spring. On the second night, I got ready for bed, pulled off my clothes, and tossed them into a basket right beside the bed without even thinking about it.
The next morning I noticed something. My clothes were in a basket. Not on a chair. Not on the floor. I had not made a decision to be tidy. The basket had just been where my hand already was.
At home, my laundry basket lived in the back of my closet. Or before that, in the corner of the bathroom. Or behind the bedroom door. Always somewhere out of sight.
And that was the whole problem.
Why We Hide the Hamper
I asked myself why my laundry basket was always tucked away somewhere, and the answer was a little embarrassing.
Because it looked like a laundry basket.
Plastic, or cheap mesh, or a wire frame with a bag in it. It was ugly, so I hid it. And the moment you hide the basket, you make it just a little harder to use.
At the end of a long day, the closet door is already shut. The basket is six steps away. You are tired. So the clothes go on the nearest flat surface, and you tell yourself you will deal with it tomorrow.
The chair is not a character flaw. It is a hamper that was never where you needed it.
A Hamper Worth Leaving Out
My sister's basket was not ugly. That was the reason it could sit beside the bed in the first place.
When I got home, I went looking for one that could live out in the open in my bedroom, and I found the Amoroart™ Bedside Quilted Hamper Hemih Manom.
It is a soft, quilted fabric laundry basket with a padded body that stands up on its own, sturdy handles, and a charming appliquéd design stitched onto the sides. It looks like a piece of home decor, something closer to a quilt than to a laundry bin. It is roomy enough for a full load, and when you do not need it, it folds flat to put away.
Because it looks like it belongs in a bedroom, I do not have to hide it.
The First Night
When it arrived, I did something I had never done with a laundry basket. I thought about where it would look nice.
Not where it would be out of the way. Where it would look nice.
I set it on the floor between my side of the bed and the nightstand, turned so the appliqué faced the room, and stepped back. It looked like it had always been there. Next to the quilt on the bed, it almost matched.
That night, I got ready for bed the way I always do, tired and not thinking. I pulled off my sweater, and my hand did what it had done in my sister's guest room. It dropped the sweater into the basket.
I did not notice until the next morning, when I looked at the chair and there was nothing new on it.
My husband noticed before I did. He said, "Are you feeling okay? The chair is empty."
Why the Look Matters More Than You Think
I used to think a laundry basket was a laundry basket. It holds clothes. What does it matter what it looks like?
Here is what I learned. The look decides the location, and the location decides whether you use it.
An ugly basket gets hidden. A hidden basket is a few steps too far. A basket that is a few steps too far loses to the chair every single night.
A basket you actually like looking at can stay where the clothes come off. And a basket right there wins every time, without any effort from you at all.
Three Things I Noticed
1. I use it without deciding to. It sits right beside the bed, where I actually get undressed. The clothes go straight in. There is no walk, no closet door, no "later".
2. The chair came back. Two weeks after the hamper arrived, I sat in my bedroom chair to put on my shoes and realized I had not done that in about a year. It had been buried the whole time.
3. Laundry day got easier, too. The sturdy handles mean I can carry a full load down the hall to the machine in one trip, and the wide opening makes it easy to empty.
The One Thing I Would Tell a Friend
If you have a clothes chair, you are probably not messy. You are probably just a normal person with a hamper that is too far away because it is too ugly to keep close.
The best laundry basket is not the one you hide best. It is the one you can leave exactly where the clothes come off, without it spoiling the room.
It also makes a thoughtful gift for a new homeowner, a college student setting up a first apartment or anyone who loves a cozy, handmade look.
The Amoroart™ Bedside Quilted Hamper Hemih Manom is $39.99 right now (50% OFF, regularly $79.98), shipping not included, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
