Laundry Woes

There are several chores my husband and I share in our household.  Together we tackle dishes, dusting, vacuuming and your basic every day work to maintain the house’s appearance.  However, there is one chore that’s all mine and I loathe it; it’s laundry. Since I am home most of the time and my husband works, the laundry duties fall on me.  I hate to air my “dirty laundry,” but there is nothing that causes me more frustration and anger than the simple act of this chore.  It’s not that I don’t know how to use the machine, or which detergent to use on my fabrics, it’s simply the VOLUME! 

When I was younger, mom asked me to fold our laundry.  I didn’t mind it so much. When I got married, it still wasn’t a big deal.  Back then, we had less clothes to clean and fold as it was just my husband and I.  Then life changed.  Laundry took on a whole new meaning when the babies came.  I was running the machine every two days thanks to the amazing fact that babies drool, spit and have other charming traits that I won’t put to paper but you understand where I am going with this.

Their adorable little clothes were washed and scrubbed and placed neatly back into their drawers.  Still I never felt overwhelmed by this chore.  It happened when my children got older.  My son and daughter know the rule in our house.  The dirty clothes go in the hamper (not the floor) and the clean clothes go in the drawers.  My kids are not fans of this rule.  They try to wriggle out of this chore often.   How do I know? It’s because their hampers are over flowing with clothes and socks. 

They don’t want to put their clean clothes away so they pile the clothes into their hampers.  This leaves me suspect of what’s clean and what’s dirty and I am not about to go foraging through the hamper to play that guessing game.  By the time I combine the hampers from all the bedrooms, I have a mini panic attack.  It’s a sea of whites, colors and darks.  This isn’t a chore, this is torture.

I do my best to separate the loads and begin the process of washing.  I play a game sometimes where I try to time the next load and do an errand at once.  I do this when I need to pick up one child or take the other to various activities.  I hate when I miscalculate and one load has been sitting in the wash longer than I anticipated.  The items in the washing machine become so wrinkled I end up having to run another cycle because there’s no way my dryer will release those wrinkles! But the fun doesn’t stop there.

Folding is the next step.  My daughter takes full advantage of the warm laundry when I place it on the couch to fold.   She loves how warm the dryer makes everything and lies on top of the cozy clean clothes.  After I make her scat like the cat that she thinks she is, I begin my process of folding everything.  This is where my loathing of laundry truly takes place, I now have to bring all the clothing back up into the children’s room and find a spot to place their clean clothes.  If I don’t, the laundry will sit on my couch for days.  So, I find a corner here or a nook there in their bedrooms and remind my cherubs that there clothes need to be put away and the piles are CLEAN.  My words unfortunately are ignored. As I feared their laundry hampers are full yet again just one day after my parting of the laundry. 

I’ve decided to go on strike.

In refusing to put away their clean clothes they have driven their mother to desperate measures.  I know I am being rash but as I type this, there are some mismatched socks sitting by my feet on the couch waiting for a home or hoping to find their match in the next cycle.  So if you see my children wearing the same outfits day after day, please don’t question them.  I have simply decided to take a few days off from laundry.