by Tammy N.
Member since:
December 28, 2008

The Laundry Dilemma

March 16, 2009 09:53 AM UTC
views: 0 | comments: 23

I'm a devout "people watcher"... I l-o-v-e people!!  In the gather world, that translates into being an avid "lifestyle reader".  I enjoy reading the posts about what people have planned for the day, how they parent, what they buy when they shop, how they clean their homes, how they prioritize their to-do lists, how the celebrate holidays/birthdays, etc. 

Lately I have seen a lot of articles that include talk about laundry... obviously, it will ALWAYS need to be done, but what is interesting to me is how differently we all accomplish the same task.  For example....

Some people have specific days set aside for laundry... not me!  I do laundry almost every day!  5 people, 1 dog, 5 beds, 2 bathrooms, too many extra cirricular activities... it all adds up to a LOT of laundry.  I spread it out to avoid being chained to the washer/dryer all day long!

I've also noticed that (at least lately) many folks tend to wash and dry their laundry and save the folding for later.... 2, 3, 4, 5 loads at a time.  Doesn't it get wrinkled in the baskets?  I'm a bit weird on this one... I fold or hang while I pull each piece from the dryer.  Doesn't matter if it's jeans, shirts, undies, towels, etc... it all gets folded right then and there....  Well, except for the socks!  I can't stand to mate socks!!!  Every sock goes into a basket and hubby mates them while he watches TV in the evening.  That's his contribution to laundry!  As long as he does that, I'm a happy camper!

Comments: 23

Kim M. Mar 16, 2009, 10:02am UTC
I hate wrinkled clothes too. certain ones will get hung right out of the dryer. Also laundry is done when someone gets a load to throw in. I don't want to be chained to the washer all day either. we might not get them put away right away but they are folded.
J W. Mar 16, 2009, 10:03am UTC
I wish that was all I had to do is mate socks......lol
Betty W. Mar 16, 2009, 10:07am UTC
Great article! I did one myself on laundry, pet peeves really. Anyway, I'm like you, I do laundry everyday. I fold and hang my clothes as I take them out, unless its towels, sometime I just put them in the basket and set them in the linen closet and fold them later.

Hope you have a great week! Have a Happy St. Patty's day!
Jennifer B. Mar 16, 2009, 10:13am UTC
I try to do 1 load a day. With only 2 people I actually get caught up enough to skip a day occasionally. And, yes, I too hate wrinkles.
Gessy D. Mar 16, 2009, 10:19am UTC
Humm I am ashamed to say that I only do laundry when all my clothes are dirty. At times once a month which means I have to drag two large bags of dirty clothes to the basement in my building. I usually use three large machines to hold all my dirty stuff. I just don't like to do laundry. It piles up until I can't take it anymore.
Jacquie M. Mar 16, 2009, 10:22am UTC
I hate wrinkles, but I hate ironing even more, so I start taking out laundry one at a time from the dryer to fold so I have no wrinkles. Having a six year old that won't wear clothes with even one wrinkle doesn't help!
Nancy Paoletti Mar 16, 2009, 10:23am UTC
I do laundry once a week, cause there are only two of us, and it take a while to get even ONE load let alone two.

I too fold and hang as it comes out of the dryer, I hate wrinkly clothes.
Dawn S. Mar 16, 2009, 10:50am UTC
there's only one of me, but i swear between towels, undies and socks, i could do laundry every day and still not get it all done. part of it is my buliding only has single size washers (no double/triple loaders) so that makes it that much more tedious. i hate wrinkles, but i don't always get everything folded/hung up in time to prevent it.
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 10:51am UTC
Jacquie ..good point! I hate ironing even more than mating socks!
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 10:51am UTC
Gessy... if I had to go up and down to the basement... I probably wouldn't do laundry every day... I'd probably save it up and make a few major trips a week!
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 10:52am UTC
Betty... I cheat a little on the towels... Sometimes I'll pull all of the towels from the bathrooms and wait to just hang new towels straight from the dryer instead pulling towels from the linen closet. Same thing with bedding/sheets... I'll do the same thing.
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 10:54am UTC
Okay... time for the kids to move out... (they are really only 18, 10 and 8! LOL!)... I'm looking forward to what so many of you have ... an empty nest!!! Well, on laundry days anywyay!
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 10:55am UTC
Kim... My laundry area is small (it's a closet off the side of the kitchen) I have plenty of room to hang, but the only place to put folded clothes is the top of the dryer. Everyone usually does a good job of getting them put away... but I'll usually put them away if the top of the dryer starts to "overflow"!
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 10:56am UTC
J W... it may look like hubby is spoiled... but he's not! LOL!
Marilyn M. Mar 16, 2009, 11:29am UTC
I hate wrinkled clothes too, but I learned when my hubby and I got married that he'll just squish the clothes into a too full closet or a too full drawer. I used to worry that people would think badly about me that he goes out of the house with wrinkled clothes, but not any more. I usually iron my clothes, even if they've been folded or hung promptly.
Marilyn M. Mar 16, 2009, 11:30am UTC
The only way I could iron hubby's though, would be to do so right before he put them on, and he doesn't wake me in the mornings. (If he hung them in his closet after ironing, they'd just get wrinkled again.)
Elizabeth H. Mar 16, 2009, 11:59am UTC
I'm with you Tammy, I can't stand to leave clean laundry in baskets. I have to fold it right out of the dryer.
Barbara M. Mar 16, 2009, 1:40pm UTC
I'm with you. I like to fold while the clothes are still warm from the dryer.
rainne c. Mar 16, 2009, 2:17pm UTC
lol i hate to match socks it is a horrible job so my family mates there own
Tammy N. Mar 16, 2009, 2:58pm UTC
I hate mating socks so badly that I only buy one kind of sock for each boy! That way they all match, making mating easier! LOL!
Nora C. Mar 16, 2009, 5:44pm UTC
We try to do the laundry on the weekend. I have back probems, so I try to avoid carrying it up and down the stairs to my laundry room (though I drag it down the stairs if I have to). All of the dress clothes are pulled out and either layed flat or hung up as soon as the dryer is done to avoid wrinkles. The rest will sit in the basket until my husband has a chance to carry it upstairs (I guess I don't worry too much if my underwear is wrinkled). Then I fold during the week while I watch tv in the evening so the baskets are ready to go the following weekend.
Beverly T. Apr 4, 2009, 3:34am UTC
Unfortunately, I have a bad hip and a bad knee. Our washing machine and dryer are in the basement, so the task for laundry has been given to my son. He is so good about it, but I have to let him do it his way and not complain. Boy, have I learned patience!

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Tammy N. Apr 4, 2009, 1:20pm UTC
Beverly... I had to chuckle at the "patience" comment. When hubby and I moved in together, we both had our own way of doing laundry. At first we would try to teach the other our own methods... but we gave up! LOL! You can ALWAYS tell who did laundry by looking at how the shirts are folded, the towels are folded/rolled, the socks are rolled/folded, etc.

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