Why this young mum needs to fold 1,300 baskets of washing in three months

Danica Slack has folded more than 200 baskets of washing so far. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura) Link copiedShareShare articleDanica Slack is busy folding an ever-growing pile of laundry. "It's just chockers, full of baskets in here," Ms Slack said, laughing. The Toowoomba mum has set herself the goal of folding 1,300 baskets of clean laundry to pay off her car's finance and buy a seven-seater big enough for her family. In the two weeks since the 26-year-old posted on social media about her side hustle, she has folded 200 baskets — each worth $10. Danica Slack is folding baskets of laundry at $10 each to save up for a bigger car for her children. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura) "There's actually some mornings I wake up and there's already a few baskets on my front step." Ms Slack has four kids, including 10-month-old twins, who she drives around to kindy and various appointments in a small sedan. "Our twins are upgrading from capsules to actual car seats, which won't fit, so I need a car big enough … otherwise we'll be stuck at home," Ms Slack said. She worked out she needed to pay off $13,000 in the next three months to be able to upgrade by the time the twins moved into car seats. Teetering towers of towels, stacks of hi-vis vests and neatly arranged piles of T-shirts and jeans grow higher as Ms Slack makes her way through the backlog of baskets. Many of the clients have been other busy parents or carers. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura) She is no Marie Kondo, but there's a method to the madness. She has mastered the pesky fitted sheet but said jeans were her favourite item to fold. She said she did not expect her venture to "blow up so much" and had been inundated with demand. "The majority is just busy mums that have lots of kids and then there's people with sick children or sick partners or disabilities," Ms Slack said. "Even people that just work and are too busy. "I had people that don't even need their washing folded but they would message me, get me to fold their clothes just so they could support the challenge." Fellow mum Georgia Strohfeld says the laundry is a "never-ending cycle" in her house. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura) Her friend Georgia Strohfeld, also a mum, said laundry was a "never-ending cycle". She said she had been dropping hers off to Ms Slack whenever she had a fresh basket, which was "basically all the time". "Not everyone has the time or the energy to want to do that, especially after a long day of work," Ms Strohfeld said. Ms Slack said it was her own experience with postnatal depression and homelessness that led her to want to help other mums. Two years ago, Ms Slack and her partner were living in Bargara, just outside Bundaberg. They were in a serious car crash, in which the passenger of the other vehicle died. Ms Slack found out a week later she was pregnant with twins. Danica Slack has four children, including 10-month-old twins. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura) "Because of the trauma, I wasn't working," she said. "So, we ended up homeless because I couldn't afford the rent and so we moved [to Toowoomba] and started a cleaning business to keep a roof over our heads." After three months "sleeping on people's floors with the kids", an accessible-housing organisation put the young family up in a motel. From there, they were approved for a rental, where they have been living since. Ms Slack said the financial stress was why she turned to unorthodox ways to make money, like folding washing. "That allows me to stay at home and care for the twins, not rush them back into daycare," she said. With the success she has had so far, Ms Slack is hoping to find a way to help other mums start similar businesses. "I want to build an app where I get mums that want to stay at home but also make extra income," she said. Danica Slack says she wanted to help take weight off the shoulders of other busy mums. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura) For now, she is tackling her 214th basket of laundry — a repeat client who will pick up their neatly folded clothes at the end of the day. "I've actually had to put a pause on my own laundry at the moment, just for my sanity," she said. "I might find some other mum that wants extra cash and pay her to fold mine." Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop StoriesShock results from peptide test reveal 'life-threatening' ingredientsTopic:Health

Why this young mum needs to fold 1,300 baskets of washing in three months

Key takeaways

Also covered by

Why this young mum needs to fold 1,300 baskets of washing in three months

Key takeaways

Also covered by

More in international