coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Laundry and all that

I'm sick of doing laundry. Every single week, you know? It gets old. I don't mind organizing laundry and putting loads in the washing machine; however, I hate taking the clothes out of the dryer and folding them. Then you have to put them in the right drawers or closet! There's no end to it.  

It could be worse. When we still worked I ironed my husband's shirts every weekend. It was a labor of love. I never enjoyed it. I remember a professor whose wife refused to iron his shirts. Instead of ironing them himself, he wore them wrinkled. It isn't that I wasn't sympathetic to his wife, she was a working woman. I knew my husband would do the same. No way was I going to let him go to work looking rumpled. My choice.   

Retirement is a simpler life. Better in so many ways (e.g., t-shirts). I guess I shouldn't complain. In fact, writing this pet peeve post means I'm going to go get the sheets and jeans out of the dryer, where they've been sitting for 3 days, quietly waiting.  

And it seems we might have a hurricane hit Florida next week. I really should do as much laundry as I can before the power goes out.  

Don't judge me unless you've folded fitted sheets


23 comments:

  1. LOL, I fold my fitted sheets. I'm not a fan of laundry either but I also don't take it out of the dryer until I have time to fold it. If it's been awhile, I warm the clothes up for a couple of minutes and then hit air fluff. No wrinkles. I hand up what needs to hand and fold the rest. However, it can stay folded in basket for a few days if need be:)
    In the eleven years I've known my husband, he has never once done a load of laundry, not once. I no longer put his clothes away.

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    1. My husband had to do the laundry for a few months when I broke my knee. I considered it good for his immortal soul.

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  2. I haven't ironed anything in years! Now I'm wondering what I wore to work all those years ago that didn't require any ironing. I don't mind doing laundry. Although I think I would really not like it at all if I had to do it in a laundromat. There were years and years when I had to do it that way. No fun.

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    1. Oh gee, remembering how in the early years we had to go to the laundromat to wash diapers!!! Aaack.

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  3. Here's my hint from Heloise (remember her?): If you get clothes out of the dryer promptly, they'll be less wrinkled!

    Having said that, I usually hang our clothes to dry, because the wrinkles often hang out. And I NEVER iron. Dave has some dress shirts that need pressing and I take them to the cleaners and have them do it.

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    1. I DO remember hints from Heloise! Great idea (the cleaners).

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  4. My daughter recently sent me this poem:

    But I would wash
    500 piles
    And I would wash
    500 more
    Just to be the mom
    Who washed 1000 piles
    To find more
    On your floor

    Ah, such is life . . .

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  5. Whenever I hear about hurricanes and Florida, I think of you. I didn't have a washing machine or dryer until I was 45 years old. Used to write letters and read while doing laundry. From 35 to 45 years old, I did my laundry in our condo complex laundry room. I do laundry once a week in my combination washer/dryer. Of course, I only do laundry for one person. Today was laundry day. Not all that much laundry!

    Speaking of fitted sheets. Fitted sheets used to fit. I've not found a fitted sheet that really fit in some time. Recently I got out my sewing machine and took some tucks in my two fitted sheets. They fit better but not as well as the tightly fitting sheets I remember from long ago. Or did I just dream that?

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    1. No, you didn't dream that, it's true. At some point mattresses got thicker. For some reason the larger fitted sheets don't go on as easy.

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  6. My mother said if we would spend the laundromat money on gas, we were welcome to do the laundry at her house. We never had such an offer from my husband's mother.

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    1. Ah, you had a sweet mother. Smart one, too. If you did laundry at her house then you'd spend time with her. Brilliant!

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  7. I remember the face of my teenager when I told her that she was old enough to fold and iron her own laundry. It was not a happy one.
    The man was told ages before that and he worked out a complicated system of when to wash what and how to use the resources of water and electricity wisely. I thanked him for his efforts and continued sorting and washing as always and like you, I made sure his stuff was at least folded and ironed while he was earning a living.
    I love doing laundry during the outdoor drying season which is just coming to an end. The smell of sun dried laundry is my favourite. We never had a dryer, in the winter the laundry gets hung up in the basement, open windows to the garden. Takes about a night to dry, max.

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    1. We had an outdoor clothes line when we lived in NYS. Of course we could only use it for about 2/3 of the year. It's crazy that we don't find a place in the yard for one here in Florida. Things would dry so quickly.

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  8. Jenny insists on being i/c the washing machine so I let her get on with it. However I compensate by doing all my own ironing - and changing the bed linen. Nobody has ever done my ironing since I left home and could no longer rely on my mum doing it.

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  9. I don't mind doing laundry. I had six younger brothers and sisters. One was a baby so that meant diapers. I would happily wash all those clothes on Saturday to get out of doing dishes that day. We had an old wringer washer and a clothesline. On Monday I happily ironed the clothes to get out of doing dishes. Can you tell I hate doing dishes?

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    1. Ha! I can tell. But all that old time laundry sure sounds like a lot of work.

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  10. I only have to do laundry for me now and I don't mind at all. I can't leave clothes sitting in the dryer. I don't iron so they look better if I grab them right away.
    I used to do the laundry for our family of 7, so my little loads are a breeze!

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    1. I'm not sure why with just me and Tom I still have so much laundry to do?

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  11. Hey, for years I've been sending small sums of money in support of the Campaign for the Introduction of Paper Clothes (CFTIPC - better known colloquially as Keftick). I urge you to dig deep on their behalf. They're taking hell from the Confederation of Steam-Iron Manufacturers, Constim, the bastards,

    As you may guess Keftick has your best interests at heart. Take no notice of Constim's claim that paper clothes are ironable; droves of scientists have incinerated themselves trying to prove that thesis. The fact is paper clothes are both practical and sensual; stand under a shower for five minutes and your ablutionary problems disappear, literally down the plughole. You'll have space enough to rent out your apartment to Amazon as a warehouse. And no more buttons to tease those arthritic fingers.

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  12. I hate it when a kleenex gets into the laundry. Esp if it's a dark load. I swear I check every pocket,but boom, there it is little while flakes over everthing. also I'm getting to the age that I sometimes forget I've done a load. They sit in the machine a day or so and then have to be rinsed again and dried. Lots of dried cloths end up on the couch for a week or more.
    As for bed sheets and stuff I find it's best to wash and dry them and just put them right back on the bed .. no need to fold.
    Call me lazy.

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    1. OMG, yes! I check and check but every once in awhile a hidden kleenex ruins a load of wash.

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So, whadayathink?