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An Essay on the Website of |
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Laundry by Melissa Neely (Apr 2009) Let me begin by
saying I have 5 children. They are 17, 15, 5, 4, and 1 ½. This is important
information in understanding why laundry is the bain of my existence, and why I
HATE it so much. I didn’t use to hate laundry. It was a mindless activity I
could do while watching TV or a movie. I
use to be a nice mommy who did everybody’s laundry. Washed, dried, folded and
put away. When I had just the two
girls it wasn’t that big of a deal, even with the multiple costume changes
required in a little girls day. But
all that change drastically when 9 years later we were blessed with 3
additional, laundry dirtying people. Now, everybody
has there own laundry basket. I’m reasonably nice; I wash all the laundry and
will even go around collecting it off their bedroom floors occasionally.
But that is where my job now ends. When
the laundry comes out of the dryer it is thrown onto the couch where it piles up
all day, and sometimes for days. Then when the kids get home everybody helps
sort the clothes into the proper laundry basket. There is no fighting about
whose laundry basket is whose because everybody has their name on their basket
(that way I know who to blame when it’s laying around).
I take mine, my husbands and the baby’s laundry to my room, I fold and
but away mine and the baby’s and I fold my husbands and leave it on his side
of the bed so he is forced to put it away if he wants to come to bed. Sometimes
he chooses the couch over putting away his laundry – what do I care, it will
still be there for him tomorrow. Sometimes
I feel especially generous and I put his hang-up clothes on hangers and
hang it up, but not always. I
did a count, each person wears an average of 5 articles of clothing, (unless
you’re a teenage girl, then add a cami and layers of clothing) a shirt, a pair
of pants, socks, and underwear. Multiply this by 7 and it totals a minimum of 35
articles of clothing every day. 35! I have a large capacity front loader- even
it can’t hold that much in one load. Then
add to the list PJ’s, towels, I wet my pants-again, 12 dish towels used to mop
up multiple spills, and bedding (which good hygiene requires I change
occasionally.) Are you starting to
see the mountain of laundry I face every day? Heaven
forbid I skip a day or even two, which I did last week.
So, on my day off one child wet the bed. The baby pooped out and hit
every blanket in the crib. The cat barfed on my pillowcase so I changed the
whole bed. And the boy “accidentally” missed the cups he was peeing in and
sprinkled both bathroom rugs, bringing my laundry count way up. Next week, just
for the fun of doing laundry, I’m bringing all the summer clothes down from
the attic to be washed; it will probably snow just to spite my efforts. So sit on the couch, watch a movie mindlessly folding your laundry and say to yourself “It could be worse, I could be that lady!”
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