Entry FeedAnyone who knows me at all, knows how much I loathe laundry.
Here are the reasons I hate it:
1) It is never done. Even if you search the entire house, do load after load, everyone gets undressed for bed and you have another pile to sort, wash, dry, fold and put away. It is endless!
2) I am bad at it. Really, I have no laundry skills to speak of. I wash clothes with lots of stuff in the pockets (kleenex is the worst, but I've washed screws, money and toys); I ruin kids t-shirts because I wash them with stickers still on, and I lose socks.
3) I have to go to the basement. I often thought if I had a laundry room on the second floor it wouldn't be so bad. But I have to walk it down two flights of stairs, and then back up again. And if your house is anything like mine, you know that there can be obstacles on the stairs not easily visible when carrying a full laundry basket.
4) Folding. I have never worked at the Gap, and never will. I could be good at folding if I was really anal about it. But I am not. It takes too long. And I don't care that much.
5) Rewashing clothes SUCKS! The kids take something out, decide not to wear it, then throw it in the hamper. I don't know, and wash it all again. This adds to my laundry bulk.
6) Sports uniforms. Try to find the right socks, jersey, ballet tights, and leotards clean on the right day, especially when you never know where they toss the uniforms when they take them off. Last summer I found Son One's T-ball uniform under my daughter's bed.
7) Socks. I always have dozens of extra socks that don't match one another. Husband has started a sock drawer - a drawer full of single socks. Once a quarter we empty this out and match them; the kids help. Unfortunately, because the hampers are never completely empty, we never get rid of the singles.
8) Daughter changes her clothes at least three times a day. And her potty training isn't perfect, but she insists on sleeping in underwear. These are bonus loads.
I can't figure out what my real issue is. Do we have too much clothing? Today's Parent recommends only doing laundry one or two days a week, so it doesn't feel like you are always doing it.
Really? We generate approximately 12 loads of laundry per week (some weeks 14). Even if I did laundry two days a week, that is still 6 loads each day!
In reality I do somewhere in the neighbourhood of 8 loads a week. This puts me 4 loads behind, or 16 loads a month that I have to make up. (I can do math, just not laundry.)
Husband used to do all of the laundry when we first lived together. This was because he worked weird hours, so when he was off, the laundry room at our apartment was usually empty. He used to go down with all of our laundry, load up all four machines, and be done in a few hours. For fun he would even take the stairs!
That was when there were two of us - and we dry-cleaned most of the work clothes. Now I don't work and I have children who wipe snot, dirty hands and faces on me. And we have three children who insist on wearing clothes (not a nudist in the bunch). Every now and then I find a load of Husband's socks, underwear and undershirts in the dryer - thanks for the help, honey!
I shouldn't complain. There are lots of people in the world who don't even have clothes, or washing machines.
Maybe we should move somewhere hot. Or to a nudist resort.