one E M P T Y basket

I do a ton of laundry. We've tried to cut back {to save on the water bill} but, with six of us lots of laundry is inevitable. I'm trying to figure out why it's so hard for dirty laundry to actually make it in to the hamper. I've noticed lately that I consistently have a pile {or a nice little trail} of laundry leading up to the empty basket. I'm not asking them to wash them, fold them or even sort them between colors and whites. Just make it to the basket. Maybe I need to attach a hoop to the basket... Or better yet, a laundry chute from the third-floor bedrooms to the bottom-floor laundry room to completely cut out the step of gathering and hauling it down stairs. I think having a laundry room on the main floor as far away as it can be from the bedrooms is one of the worst layouts for any house- EVER. Makes no sense. The one who started putting laundry rooms on the main level was genius {maybe a mom doing lots of laundry?}. Even better, I like the new master bedrooms with the laundry room as a separate closet right there in the bedroom. I think I must have seen that on HGTV- likely one of the million-dollar houses. Really, how hard would it be to put it in- I'm sure my handy hubby could make it work, right? I can dream, can't I?
**for the record... this laundry is a combination of all four boys... the big guys like to blame it on the little guys... but, they're just as guilty...