This pile is my dirty little secret.  The "Mound of Shame"  never really goes away.  Like a ketchup bottle at a diner, when it is almost gone, someone comes along and fills it back up. Some items will never be cleaned.  That is just a fact of life here in the Bergen home.  Items are washed on a need to basis. For example, when I hear a child yell across the house, "Mama, I don't have any socks to wear!" I jump into action.  Like an archaeologist, I pick through the "Mound of Shame" until I uncover several pairs of fossilized crew socks and toss them into the washer.  Doing laundry is a tedious chore, and it will be the first thing I hire someone to do for me when I hit the jackpot someday.  I despise cleaning the bathroom too, but at least when it is clean, it stays clean for a day or two.  I just can't seem to get the laundry under control.  Sadly, my dirty little secret isn't much of a secret.  The laundry room is connected to the kitchen, no door, just an opening that leads to the land of dirty socks and wet towels.  Sometimes I try to organize the mound into several smaller mounds complied of similar colored items.  While other times I secretly climb to the top of the mound and pretend like I am planting a flag right into the surface of the moon.  It all really just depends on my mood.  So what is my mood today?  My mood today is to get this crap washed, dried, and put away!  Will I succeed?  Only time will tell, but I am pumped for the challenge.  Let the Laundry Marathon begin!!!!!!!