The Laundry Monster
Laundry is the chore that I hate the most in the whole, wide world. It's like a bad case of acne. You might be able to get it under control every so often, but it's going to flare up again, over and over, endlessly, and for the rest of your life.
In the fall, I was forced into the realization that there was no way I was ever going to be able to keep up with the clothes, towels, sheets, etc. for our seven member family. So I taught Meyson and Brianna how to do their own. Now they each have one night a week where they wash their own clothes and sheets. As soon as Cody can reach the controls, she will have her own laundry night as well.
At first I thought it was asking too much to have them do their own laundry, my mom always did mine. But then I realized that, in addition to lightening my load (no pun intended), it gave them more of a sense of responsibility and, for Brianna at least, a greater sense of control in a chaotic household. Before she had to constantly remind me that she was out of socks, or underwear, or whatever else. I know it was hard for her to approach me about it, and it was hard for me to hear that I had failed yet again to keep those things readily available to her.
Now I'm doing laundry for five and I'm disappointed to find that it's not that much less work. If I let even two or three days go without doing a load or two, it is so overwhelming that I'd rather crawl inside the pile and hide than try to tackle it. You know, in there with the body sludge, the dried on dinners, the snot. Yeah, it's that bad.
In the last three days, I have done probably close to fifteen loads of laundry. Sure, I've been going through boxes in the garage in preparation to move, so that is more than it would normally take me to catch up. I stared in silent triumph at the empty baskets before me tonight. It was all done. "Was" being the operative word.
Five minutes later I was getting Carson and Memphis ready for bed and of all the things they can do in a day to irritate me, none were as bad as taking the clothes off of their bodies and ruining the barrenness of my laundry baskets. How could they?! Walking around playing all day and wearing clothes! Making clothes dirty! Little ingrates.
I know, I know, I should feel blessed that we have clothes to wear, and I do. I should feel privileged to be able to just put them into a machine and turn a dial to get them clean, and I do. I just wish those clothes would take themselves out of the dryer, either fold themselves or put themselves on a hanger, and put themselves away. Is that really too much to ask?
In the fall, I was forced into the realization that there was no way I was ever going to be able to keep up with the clothes, towels, sheets, etc. for our seven member family. So I taught Meyson and Brianna how to do their own. Now they each have one night a week where they wash their own clothes and sheets. As soon as Cody can reach the controls, she will have her own laundry night as well.
At first I thought it was asking too much to have them do their own laundry, my mom always did mine. But then I realized that, in addition to lightening my load (no pun intended), it gave them more of a sense of responsibility and, for Brianna at least, a greater sense of control in a chaotic household. Before she had to constantly remind me that she was out of socks, or underwear, or whatever else. I know it was hard for her to approach me about it, and it was hard for me to hear that I had failed yet again to keep those things readily available to her.
Now I'm doing laundry for five and I'm disappointed to find that it's not that much less work. If I let even two or three days go without doing a load or two, it is so overwhelming that I'd rather crawl inside the pile and hide than try to tackle it. You know, in there with the body sludge, the dried on dinners, the snot. Yeah, it's that bad.
In the last three days, I have done probably close to fifteen loads of laundry. Sure, I've been going through boxes in the garage in preparation to move, so that is more than it would normally take me to catch up. I stared in silent triumph at the empty baskets before me tonight. It was all done. "Was" being the operative word.
Five minutes later I was getting Carson and Memphis ready for bed and of all the things they can do in a day to irritate me, none were as bad as taking the clothes off of their bodies and ruining the barrenness of my laundry baskets. How could they?! Walking around playing all day and wearing clothes! Making clothes dirty! Little ingrates.
I know, I know, I should feel blessed that we have clothes to wear, and I do. I should feel privileged to be able to just put them into a machine and turn a dial to get them clean, and I do. I just wish those clothes would take themselves out of the dryer, either fold themselves or put themselves on a hanger, and put themselves away. Is that really too much to ask?
posted by Megan at 6:17 PM
3 Comments:
I feel you girl. I have piles of clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away, but guess what? It's not gonna happen. Not this week anyway.
Stephanie
i am so right there with ya. I don't mind doing the laundry. Sometimes I actually kind of enjoy it. (I know. . .I'm crazy). But I HATE putting it away. It drives Jared crazy seeing massive amounts of clothes on the couch becuz they are always there. I just put about 5 loads away today that have been growing over the past week. And the only reason I got them all put away is becuz we had company coming over. Otherwise it would still be sitting there. :o)
I cannot even BEGIN to imagine the amount of laundry you all have. In just our 4 person family I do at least one load a day. And I hate putting it away too.
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