Easier to buy new clothes than to do the wash

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I feel overwhelmed in my daily life. Simple things like running the dishwasher or doing a load of laundry often seem overwhelming.

Without saying it, my place is a mess. I feel so overwhelmed that I have trouble doing anything. This week I was so perturbed by not having clean clothes for work I went out and spent a few hundred dollars to buy new clean clothes to wear, rather than spend the time and energy to sort, wash, dry and fold the laundry. It was less effort to get in the car and drive to the Wal-mart than to consider the undertaking of housecleaning, I couldn't get over the psychological barrier to get started at the housecleaning mess.

(That was last week, and I still haven't overcome this barrier so I'm thinking of going to the store to buy more clean clothes to last me for next week). I have at least 100 pairs of socks, 12 pairs of pants, a full drawer full of underwear, ect, ect- I don't need more clothes if I could just break down and wash them.

Anyone else experience psychological barriers to action? How did you overcome them?

I know what you mean i'm kind of like that but I wouldn't have the money to buy new clothes lol, not now anyways, and really to get over it you just got to imagine the even bigger mess you're eventually still gonna have to clean up if you keep adding even more clothes to it. Find reasons that will help you see why you must do it even if you don't want to, cause honestly you're never gonna want to if you're like me, there's always too much stuff going on. Also try to realize that if you always had clean clothes you would probably cut back on a lot of stress it might cause you with work or anything else where you need to see people. Also you never know when you're gonna spill something on you and be in dire need of a new shirt or pants

When anything overwhelms me, I like to break it down into steps. It isn't financially-wise to spend hundreds of dollars everytime the wash comes around. I like to ask myself, what do I absolutely need to get done? Then break that task into parts. You don't need to do the laundry. You need to sort your clothes. Then you need to..., etc. Focus on one step at a time, not the whole task.

At the amount you're spending it would be cheaper to hire somebody to do it than to buy more clothes.

I have this too. It sounds ridiculous to many people – I don't usually talk about it at all because it just sounds like laziness – but it's very much real.

It sounds as if you have a reasonable income, given that you can afford to go out and buy new clothes. Why not invest some of that money in a cleaner instead? I noted down all those things that I found hardest to do, and then asked around for anyone looking for cleaning work. I found a woman who has a trade, but for whom work is thin at the moment because of the economic situation in the UK. She was very happy to supplement her income with three hours a week cleaning and maintenance for me, taking care of those things I just can't seem to tackle even when I'm well enough to do them.

Most of my 'block' tasks don't actually take much time at all, and she can go right through my house, as well as mow and edge my lawn, in those three hours. She's very thorough, and it means the house looks nice most of the time and I don't have to worry about the things I find difficult. I still have to sort out showering, washing my hair and brushing my teeth – no-one can do those things for me and I sometimes have a huge block about them – but at least the list of things that get used to get neglected has come down hugely! And at a pretty low cost of £25 for three hours' hard work, too. Sometimes I struggle to find the money on the final Thursday of the pay month, but I'd rather live on sandwiches for the week than not have her now.

I know this solution is going to be completely out of the question for those who aren't able to work, but if you do and you have a few pounds/dollars a week – or even a fortnight – to spare, I can definitely recommend it.

Been there done that! Worse have passed this bad habit on to 2 adult kids over a lifetime of repeating this behavior
The only solution I've found is to force yourself to start, once you get the first load on it gets easier to keep momentum.
I also bought the combo washer/dryer so you can put the clothes in and it does everything, they come out washed and dried.
It takes forever to run thru a cycle but the cool thing is you can put in before bed and have fresh dry clothes in the morning so it's not too painful to deal with. You can also put one load on before work and come home to them done which is kind of a good feeling. Before kids (aka when we could afford it!) we used to drop the clothes off at the laundry service for them to do. If you do this make sure the clothes are dry when you drop them off, especially the towels, because they charge by the pound. Side note: you have to pick them up before 30 days or they get rid of them (yup, we've done that too).

Hiring someone to do it- yes, I've done that before as well. It doesn't solve the underlying problem though. Because of Entropy, the house will become a mess again sooner or later.

I have teen kids, but their hard to motivate to do anything. I'll try paying them to help?

Cooking is an issue as well. If I can't cook it in 5 minutes, I don't eat. Some people I know spend hours cooking a meal, neighbors take pleasure at barbequing. But it’s a chore for me to drive to the store to buy a cheap $5 cheese pizza, because I can't muster the energy to cook. What's wrong with me?

I used to do that with dishes, and to an extent I still have motivational problems with most things. I used to buy paper plates and disposable cups all the time because I was too lazy to wash dishes. What ended that for me was getting interested in something I call "economic efficiency". It actually became a special interest of mine for a while and I would see just how much money I could avoid spending by changing some of my habituated behaviors. At one point I was even able to transform organization into a special interest and spent over a month doing nothing but organizing and getting rid of stuff. Why a month? Well, I rarely had enough motivation to get out of bed and so I would just try to fill 4 garbage cans with crap every garbage day.

How is my life now? A mess once again. What happened is that in order to speed up the task of saving money I took in a friend as a roommate. Unfortunately, he turned out to be more of an alcoholic than I knew and dealing with him took all of the energy I had and shut me down. He moved out owing me money and with his disgusting cigarette butts all in my landscaping beds. I also managed to add two cars to my collection during that time and now am back to the point of having to get rid of at least 2 or 3 cars to get my life back to a manageable level. Still, I do occasionally get the motivation to clean a room or a part of a room here and there so there is hope. Plus, I have less stuff than I did before so it is easier than starting from scratch.

I recognize that feeling. I have had problems from time to time with the cyclic nature of maintaining all the aspects of my life, especially things that are never finished like laundry, dishes, and other housework. It can seem so endless, and there is never a moment when it's complete. (I figure the clothes I'm wearing aren't clean.)

For me it helps to find things I can complete, small projects that once done are really done. It's possible that's why I love knitting, crafts and artwork so much. Once a project is finished, that's it. Reading too - once I read a book I'm finished with it - unless I keep it around as a reference or to read again some day. I find it satisfying to tick tasks off on a to-do list, as well as to update Goodreads when I finish reading a book, things like that. Anything that can give me a sense of completion and accomplishment helps.

With dishes, I worked at figuring out my most effective and quick routine for doing them, cut it down to a matter of a few minutes per meal. I also make sure I empty and rinse the sink afterwards, and if it helps, hand dry and put them away. I then make sure I look at and appreciate the empty sink and counter and mentally give myself a pat on the back. It's important to acknowledge my small accomplishments, it makes the tasks not seem so daunting the next time. I also make fresh dishwater before I start cooking a meal, and clean up as I go as much as possible.

As others have said, breaking big jobs into smaller ones works. Also making efficiency an interest works.

Is this what they call Executive Function Disorder?

I get it done but need lists beforehand to have a survey on how much time it might take so for me it's about time management.

There was a trick to overcome the deadlock (read on it.) It the whole task would be too much, break it down into single steps (i know that's been mentioned above,) and then decide to do only one of it. For instance, you would decide to, say, sort out only socks and underwear or shirts, or pants, whatsoever. After you've taken this step, it would be enough, but at that point you've gained enough momentum to do the next -- load the washer. But if you decide to stop right there, you've done at least the first step.

If you have a laundrette that offers service washes (ie you take the items to them, then they wash, dry and fold them) that may be a good option, particularly if you can find one of them that is on your way to work (drop them off before work, collect after work).

Assuming you have the equipment in you house (washing machine/ tumble dryer) you could try washing the 'easy' items yourself (the ones that only need washed and dried, not folded or anything else).

If you sort the clothes (by wash type) when taking them off it will just be a case of flinging the items into the washer, adding detergent and starting the machine. If you decide to outsource some items you will have them ready to take for washing.

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The part I have difficulty with is the post-wash sorting and folding. I tend to have a heap of clean clothes on the floor.

I leave clean clothes in baskets sometimes. No harm.

I second the laundry service. They can be pretty affordable, probably much more than new clothes.