When All You Want Is To Do Something Fun, but the Laundry Has Other Plans
Have you ever had a day off from work and found yourself dreaming about all the wonderful, creative, exciting things you could do, only to spend the entire day doing laundry, cleaning, and tending to the endless list of things that keep a household functioning?
Because same.
There is a part of me that desperately wants to do something new and interesting with my free time. I want to create something, learn something, explore somewhere new, or have one of those magical days where I feel like I’ve accomplished something extraordinary.
And then reality taps me on the shoulder and reminds me that the laundry isn’t going to fold itself.
As a wife, mom to three boys, and oncology nurse, my days off can quickly become a collection of household responsibilities that somehow managed to reproduce while I was at work. There are blankets to wash, floors to vacuum, air filters to change, music to plan, and approximately seventeen other things that I probably forgot about five minutes ago.
But lately, I’ve been thinking about something that has changed the way I approach these ordinary days.
The biggest challenge isn’t necessarily the laundry, the cleaning, or even the endless to-do list.
The biggest challenge is learning to find contentment in the circumstances I’m already in.
So today, instead of fighting against the ordinary tasks that filled my day, I decided to work on changing my perspective. Come spend a little time with me as I put our home back in order, work on a few creative projects, and practice choosing contentment right where I am.
Creating a Peaceful Space at Home: Our Little Snug
One of my favorite spaces in our home is a little sitting room we call the Snug.
It’s tucked around the fireplace and has become a peaceful little corner of our otherwise busy household. I have a large bookshelf full of books, comfortable seating, and a place where I can sit with a cup of coffee, read, or simply enjoy a few quiet moments.
One of the things I love most about this room is that we have intentionally made it a place for calm.
There is no television in here. The kids know this is the one area of the house where roughhousing is off-limits. This is where we sit, have conversations, and spend time together without the constant noise and activity that inevitably seem to follow a household full of boys.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the energy and personality my family brings into our home. But sometimes a mom needs a place where nobody is launching themselves off the furniture.
A peaceful room is a pretty reasonable request.
Recently, I washed all the throw blankets and couch covers in the Snug. They had been sitting there waiting for me to put everything back together, which meant the room had been looking a little less cozy than usual.
Since I had the day off, I decided this was a good place to start.
There is something satisfying about restoring a favorite space to the way you want it to feel. It doesn’t require buying new furniture, repainting the walls, or undertaking an elaborate home makeover. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of putting the clean blankets back where they belong and making the space feel welcoming again.
By the time I finished, the room was looking much better. I still had a stack of artwork waiting to be rehung, but my mom was coming to visit soon, and she is particularly good at helping me get things hung on the walls.
So that project could wait.
I was learning to appreciate what I had accomplished without mentally turning the unfinished artwork into another reason to feel behind.
The Snug was cozy again. That was enough for today.
The Never-Ending Laundry Cycle of Motherhood
Let’s talk about laundry for a minute.
If you are a mom, especially a mom whose boys participate in sports, I suspect you already understand that laundry is less of a chore and more of a permanent household condition.
There is always another load.
You can wash it, dry it, fold it, and put it away, only to discover that somebody has generated another mountain of clothes while you were congratulating yourself on the progress you made.
I spend a lot of my days off doing laundry. It’s one of those tasks that doesn’t necessarily feel productive because the results are temporary. The clothes get worn, the towels get dirty, the blankets need washing, and the entire process starts over again.
It’s easy to resent a task that never seems to stay finished.
But lately, I’ve been trying to think differently about the work that goes into maintaining our home.
Laundry is one of the ways I care for my family. It’s part of making sure everyone has what they need for the week ahead. And while I don’t need to pretend that washing socks is my greatest creative passion, I can acknowledge that the task has value.
I can also remind myself that I don’t have to finish every load in existence before I am allowed to enjoy my day.
Because, frankly, I suspect the laundry would win that particular competition.
A Surprise Visit From Charlie the Desert Tortoise
While I was working through my chores, Charlie, one of our desert tortoises, decided to make an appearance.
Apparently, he noticed that I was outside and thought it might be worth investigating whether breakfast was available.
I love these little moments that happen when I’m going about an ordinary day at home. They are rarely planned, but they add a bit of unexpected delight to an otherwise predictable routine.
Charlie wasn’t concerned about my laundry pile, the unfinished artwork, or the other things I had planned to do that day. He was simply going about his morning.
And while I’m not suggesting that we should all take life advice from a tortoise, there is something to be said for slowing down enough to notice the small things happening around us.
Sometimes we get so focused on what needs to be done next that we forget to appreciate the life unfolding right in front of us.
A little tortoise wandering over to say hello is a perfectly good reason to pause for a moment.
Changing the Air Filters: Not Glamorous, but Necessary
One of the less exciting tasks on my list was changing the air filters in our home.
We had recently experienced a fire not too far from us here in California, which reminded me that I needed to check our home’s air filters. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had changed them.
When I finally pulled one out, I was greeted with a filter that was truly disgusting.
You know that feeling when you discover a household task you’ve been neglecting and immediately wonder how long you’ve been living with the consequences?
That was me.
I was very glad to replace the filter, although I was slightly horrified by what I found.
Changing air filters is one of those maintenance jobs that doesn’t feel particularly rewarding in the moment. Nobody walks into a room and admires your freshly replaced HVAC filter. There is no dramatic before-and-after reveal that will make your friends gasp.
But maintaining your home is often about taking care of the things you can’t see as easily as the things you can.
It’s about noticing what needs attention and doing something about it, even when the task isn’t particularly exciting.
And if you live somewhere affected by wildfire smoke, it is especially worthwhile to check your home’s filtration needs and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for your system.
Sometimes responsible homemaking looks less like decorating a beautiful room and more like changing an air filter that desperately needed it.
Cleaning My Mima’s Piano: A Little Piece of Family History
One of the most meaningful things I did that day was clean the keys on my Mima’s piano.
This piano is incredibly special to me because it’s the instrument I grew up learning to play. I can still remember going to my mom and papa’s house after school and practicing on it.
Those memories are attached to this instrument in a way that makes it much more than a piece of furniture.
It represents a part of my childhood, time spent with family, and years of learning something that has stayed with me into adulthood.
I had some work I wanted to do at the piano that day, but when I sat down, the keys felt dusty and grimy. Before I could get started, I needed to clean them.
It was a small task, but it gave me a reason to slow down and spend a little time with something that holds so much personal meaning.
We often think of homemaking as keeping our homes clean and organized. But our homes are also repositories of memories. They hold the objects, traditions, and little details that connect us to the people and experiences that have shaped us.
Sometimes caring for our homes also means caring for the things that tell our stories.
I wanted to make sure this piano was clean and ready to use, not just because it needed dusting, but because I wanted to sit down and make music on an instrument that has been part of my life for so long.
And that brings me to one of my favorite creative outlets.
Making Time for Creativity: Planning Music for Church
One thing I do every week that I genuinely love is sing at my church.
I also help coordinate our weekly worship music, which means selecting songs, figuring out the keys we will sing them in, coordinating with the musicians, and making sure everyone has the information they need for the service.
There is quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work involved.
Once I have the songs selected, I enter them into our system, check that we are using the correct charts, communicate with the musicians, and make sure everyone is working from the same information.
It may not sound particularly glamorous, but I really enjoy it.
For me, planning worship music is a creative outlet. I get to think about the songs, how they work together, and how we can prepare well as a team. It combines creativity, organization, collaboration, and something that is deeply meaningful to me.
And unlike laundry, which has a frankly unreasonable commitment to recurring itself, this work gives me the satisfaction of completing a project that will be used by other people.
I love being able to contribute to something beyond myself.
It’s also a reminder that creativity doesn’t always have to mean starting a new hobby, learning a completely unfamiliar skill, or making something tangible with your hands.
Sometimes creativity looks like arranging a set list, choosing songs in the right keys, or helping a group of musicians prepare for Sunday.
It can be found in the things we already do and love.
I’ve been realizing that I don’t necessarily need to escape my ordinary life to find something meaningful or creative. Sometimes I just need to make space for the parts of my life that already bring me joy.
Decluttering My Home—and Remembering That I Have a Choice
Recently, I’ve been working on decluttering and reorganizing different areas of our home, with some much-appreciated help from my friend Shannon.
Having someone help me work through the clutter has made a huge difference. Sometimes it helps to have another person alongside you, especially when a project feels overwhelming or you aren’t sure where to begin.
But the process has also brought something else to the forefront of my mind.
I have agency over my life.
I have agency over the things in my home, how I use my time, and the way I choose to approach the circumstances in which I find myself.
That doesn’t mean I can control everything that happens. I can’t eliminate every responsibility, prevent every unexpected interruption, or magically create more hours in the day.
But I can make choices about how I respond to the things that are already part of my life.
I can choose what needs my attention today and what can wait. I can decide how I want to spend my limited time. And I can pay attention to the stories I tell myself about the work I’m doing.
This has been especially helpful on days when I am home from work and feel pulled in two different directions.
One part of me wants to do something fun, creative, and different. The other part knows that the house needs attention and that certain responsibilities simply cannot be ignored.
For a long time, I think I viewed those two desires as being in conflict with each other.
If I spent the day doing chores, I felt as though I had missed an opportunity to do something more interesting. If I pursued something creative, I could feel guilty about the things I hadn’t accomplished at home.
It can become a frustrating cycle of feeling as though you’re doing the wrong thing regardless of what you choose.
But I’m beginning to realize that there is another way to approach it.
I can acknowledge that the chores need to be done without resenting the fact that they exist. I can appreciate the creative work I get to do without expecting every day to feel exciting or novel. And I can choose to be present in the life I have instead of constantly wishing I were doing something else.
Choosing Contentment Over Resentment
This is really the heart of what I’ve been thinking about lately.
Contentment doesn’t mean I stop wanting to learn, create, explore, or try new things. It doesn’t mean I abandon my goals or decide that everything in my life is exactly as I want it to be.
And it certainly doesn’t mean I have to pretend to enjoy every household chore.
Some tasks are just chores. They are repetitive, sometimes frustrating, and rarely the highlight of anyone’s day.
But I can choose contentment while doing them.
I can fold laundry and appreciate that I have a family to care for. I can vacuum the floor without allowing the fact that it will get dirty again to ruin my afternoon. I can tidy up the house and enjoy the feeling of making our space more comfortable for the people who live here.
I can also recognize when I need rest, when a task can wait, and when I should make room for something that genuinely brings me joy.
Contentment isn’t about convincing myself that every circumstance is wonderful. It’s about learning to be at peace with the ordinary realities of my life while still taking responsibility for the things I can change.
There is a difference between accepting that a task is part of my day and deciding that the task is the enemy of my happiness.
That difference might seem small, but it can change the way an entire day feels.
Instead of thinking, “I can’t do anything fun because I have so much laundry,” I can think, “I’ll take care of a load of laundry, and then I’ll make time for something I enjoy.”
Instead of looking at the entire house and feeling defeated by everything that needs attention, I can choose one area to work on and be satisfied with the progress I make.
Instead of waiting for a day when every responsibility has disappeared—which, in my household, may never happen—I can look for ways to experience joy in the middle of my ordinary life.
And that feels like a much more sustainable way to live.
Finding Joy in the Life You Already Have
I think it is easy to imagine that contentment will come when our circumstances finally change.
When the house is organized. When the kids are older. When work is less demanding. When we have more time, more energy, fewer responsibilities, or a little more breathing room.
And certainly, some circumstances really do need to change. We don’t have to accept every situation indefinitely, and we are allowed to work toward a life that better reflects our values and priorities.
But I don’t want to spend my entire life waiting for everything to fall into place before I allow myself to enjoy it.
I don’t want to postpone contentment until the house is perfectly organized, the laundry is finished, or every project on my list is complete.
There will always be something else to do.
Today, there was laundry. There were air filters to change, piano keys to clean, music to organize, and a cozy sitting room to put back together.
And there were also moments of peace, meaningful memories, creative work, and an unexpected visit from a desert tortoise.
All of those things were part of the same day.
I am learning that I don’t have to choose between being responsible and enjoying my life. I can take care of my home while appreciating the life happening inside it. I can work toward future goals while being grateful for what I already have.
And I can choose to find contentment right here, in the middle of the ordinary, unfinished, sometimes messy life I am already living.
A Little Encouragement for Your Own Ordinary Day
If you are in a season of life where your days seem to be filled with responsibilities, I hope you know that you’re not alone.
Maybe your day is full of laundry, dishes, errands, work, appointments, or all the little tasks that keep a family functioning. Maybe you have creative projects you want to pursue but struggle to find the time. Maybe you feel as though you spend so much energy maintaining your life that you rarely get to enjoy it.
I understand that tension.
And while I don’t have a magical solution that will make all the chores disappear, I am learning that I can change the way I approach them.
You don’t have to complete every task on your list to have a worthwhile day. You don’t have to transform your entire home to appreciate the space you have. And you don’t have to wait until life becomes more exciting before you allow yourself to feel content.
Sometimes, the most meaningful thing we can do is pay attention to the life that is already in front of us.
Make the coffee. Put the blankets back on the couch. Change the air filter. Play the piano. Fold a load of laundry. Take a few minutes to do something creative.
And when the next chore appears—as it inevitably will—remember that you still have choices.
You can choose how to spend your time, where to direct your attention, and how to think about the work you are doing.
You can choose contentment over resentment, even when your circumstances aren’t perfect.
I’m still learning how to do this myself, but I think it is a worthwhile practice.
Thanks for spending a little time with me today. I hope that sharing my ordinary day encourages you to find a little more contentment in your own.
Until next time, may we learn to appreciate the lives we’re living instead of constantly waiting for them to become something else.
— Ellan
Watch the Full Video
If you’d like to spend more time with me, join me in the full video as I tidy up our Snug, work through the laundry, take care of a few household maintenance tasks, clean my Mima’s piano, and plan music for church.
Watch the full video on YouTube: I’m Choosing Contentment
If you enjoy realistic homemaking, intentional living, family life, creative projects, and finding meaning in the everyday, I’d love for you to follow along here at Whimsy & Whatnot.
Thanks for being here!