I am horrible about this also. Mine is putting away laundry from the dryer. I will fold it while watching tv, and then it sits in my laundry basket sometimes for an entire week, nicely folded, until I need to reclaim the basket for it's job the next time.

Right away, or I won't do it! It helps to keep clean and dirty items separate, so I can dump a ball of dirty laundry in the hamper and re-place the clean clothes in their rightful place. I also keep my suitcase somewhere really annoying (like the middle of the bedroom floor) so I have to empty it!

I'm totally the same way, if not worse. I still have my untouched suitcase in the corner from my trip to my mothers house last christmas. At least I know there clean because I did laundry before I left. I'll probably get to it when I start to need those sweaters...lol.

I live in an open-space loft and I unpack everything within 1 hour of getting home. My partner is a different story. She thinks I'm crazy as I typically start unpacking before using the bathroom.

If you arrive home with clean clothes leave your suitcase out until you wear through the clothes, shouldn't be more than 3 or 4 days. Why spend that extra time organizing when they already organized for you.

Sometimes I boycott this chore, and I'm the only one who knows (and it affects). I too hate unpacking. It'll get to the point where I've used almost everything I packed, and have ended up putting it away once I've used it. Silly, I know, but it just happens this way. Other times I'll unpack right away to get it over with. I feel much more accomplished then. Still hate it, though! :P

I hate both unpacking and packing. Do it as soon as you get home and get it out of the way. Rip it off like a band-aid!

I don't hate the chore, I just kind of forget to do it. Leaving the bag in the middle of the floor doesn't help, the laundry is frequently there anyway so I'm used to stepping around. Since I rarely have clean clothes left at the end of a trip, it only takes me five minutes when I think to do it, but somehow it can take weeks before I get around to it it.

@JEN968 I have to put my laundry away or the cats will sleep on it and getting it all wrinkled and covered in cat fur. I guess my pets DO help me with chores!

I take students overseas twice a year, and don't even bother unpacking one of the bags. I just add new toiletries to it and go.

I am really, really lazy.

I unpack immediately. My partner doesn't; he scarcely seems to mind the bag sitting out. I much prefer either laundering those clothes that warrant it, or restocking other drawers so everything is ready. I'm now satisfactorily organized with receipts, papers, etc., that accompany me home.

I am so glad I am not the only one with this issue!! We visited my parents when my daughter was 3 months old and they bought her a bunch of beautiful new clothes. By the time I got around to unpacking, she had already outgrown some of them, and they never even got worn. That's pretty pathetic.

I just moved in with my boyfriend, and this has been an adjustment for me. He's very much an unpack it and put away laundry right away person. I've been known to run the dryer twice because my clothes have been sitting in it for a week and are wrinkled all over again. Shameful, I know!

Since we've moved in together, I've made a big effort to just put away my laundry and unpack already, which he appreciates. In turn, he's makes sure to not leave change and receipts and all sorts of other junk all over the dresser, kitchen counter, kitchen table, etc. because he knows that drives me up a wall.

Wow. We really bring out the anal neat freaks in each other.

ditto what idoprint said. ASAP! I wasn't always this way--I'm a reformed footdragger on this. I just know having crap sitting around like that upsets my zen.

Yay for other lazy unpackers! I can leave a suitcase for weeks or months at a time if I let myself. It doesn't bother me at all. But in my quest for self-improvement I have taken to limiting it to a week at most. If I get home on a Sunday night, I MUST unpack before the end of the following weekend. Baby steps.

I also unpack as soon as I walk in the door. I do the laundry, put away the cosmetics/bathroom things, and get the suitcase out of the way. I think it helps me make the transition from vacation to real life.

I also have a strange thing I do before I leave on a trip: my apartment has to be completely neat and tidy. Dishes washed, bed made, everything in place for the return. I hate coming home to a mess. So, part of my pre-vacation ritual is to completely clean. (I also think that should anything happen to me while I'm away, I'd hate for my family to have to come into a messy apartment to sort through my things. The least I can do is leave the place nice for them.)

Weird,...but, oh well.

I'm terrible when it comes to unpacking. Especially after camping! My husband, on the other hand, is so on top of things! So the last 2 trips we took, I made sure to do it RIGHT when I got home. It was a pain, but it really made the next couple weeks better! Why not spend the hour doing it and have it off your plate right away? What I do is reward myself when I was done...that way I push through it a little easier.

I used to be good at this, but not anymore. I don't wait for months, but maybe two weeks. I just got back from the Dominican Republic and my suitcase is still sitting near the front door. I'll likely put things away this weekend when doing laundry since those clothes will need to be washed as well.

Cheers,
M

I'm a pretty organized and anal person. I usually like to unpack right when I get home (If it's not to late). Almost immediatly, if I was on an airplane, I throw all of the unpacked clothes into the washing machine. Can't stand that airplane smell!

Immediately, and I throw most things in the laundry...

I unpack when I'm packing for the next trip, or just continue to live out of the bag until it is unpacked...

I hate the entire process of packing/unpacking and like Ms. Pea I have to clean the entire house before going on a trip and time allowing even the car. Luckily my husband is great at packing/unpacking so we've made the deal that I clean, clean, clean and he packs. I'm sure the cleaning takes more time but anything to avoid packing.

One odd thing about unpacking- I almost always have to re-wash everything from our trips. For some reason the clean clothes just don't seem clean anymore. Wasteful, I know. Anyone else have this issue?

yes yes yes. i have the same bad habit as well. at one point it took me almost 3weeks before i unpacked my clothes. i didn't had a choice since at that point i was running out of clean clothes that i wore often. so i had no choice but to unpack.

I just moved back from NYC to TX and shipped many things home. Like 14 boxes(all different sizes) in all. There is still 3 boxes unpacked. Which is pretty good considering.

I had a small carryon I stuffed with clothes that I leave open in the middle of the room... to motivate me to put it all away. That took like a week and a half to put away.

My bf on the other hand has tons of boxes he has yet to open up!

I have to try to unpack right away otherwise it'll take me easily a week. Like right now ;)