Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Zen of Laundry

Laundry is one of those tasks that is never done. No matter how hard I try there is always something waiting to be washed, dried, folded, ironed or put away. I can wash all day long and think the job is complete, but new laundry magically appears. There's the dishrag that didn't get put in with the last load, the socks and undies we're all wearing, or the shirt that just got spit up on.

I'm sure laundry teaches us some deep lesson about permanence and eternity. It certainly feels permanent and eternal.

I recently read that, despite our modern conveniences, we spend MORE time doing laundry than our grandmothers did. This is because we have more clothes, and we wash them far more often. I don't know about you, but I rarely wear the same dress all week before I wash it.

I DO, however, have a strict one towel a week rule in my house. It's something that was drummed into me growing up as one of eight kids. (You can have two if you're working out or doing a really dirty home improvement project that involves the crawl space or attic.) If you were doing laundry for 10 people, believe me, you'd make that rule, too. Besides, these days can't I claim it's a "green" practice? Yeah, that's it. It's about the environment, not about creating less work for me.

I am doing a lot more laundry these days, though the job is definitely made easier thanks to the spiffy new high-capacity washer and dryer I bought on my infamous trip to Home Depot. (Their electric cart died and I had to roll my very pregnant self around the appliance section on an office chair).

Doing more laundry has yet to elevate me to a higher spiritual plane, but I sure am glad I don't have to run it all through the wringer and hang it on the line to dry.

One must come to accept that laundry and the state of doing laundry are continuous.

There is peace in acceptance.

Then again, maybe I just need to put the cap back on the bleach.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A couple of laundry thoughts..... I have often said "lets all go naked for one day so ALL the laundry can be done- wouldn't that feel good (having all the laundry done)!"- no one else likes my idea!
Also- from one Boy mom to another... someday when the boys are 8 or 11 you have to pry dirty clothes off of them, you have to tell them its not OK to put their socks and underware back on after you shower and you have to ask, why in a weeks worth of laundry do you only have one pair of underware that were dirty. Its a little scary but maybe the laundry will decrease in 7 years or so. GOOD LUCK

The Posh Nosh said...

I agree. I had no idea that 3 little people with tiny clothes could make so much laundry! We are doing 2, sometimes 3 loads a day, yikes!

Christy AKA Trippin' Mama said...

I LOVE the idea of Naked Day! Of course, that would work better once everyone is potty-trained.

Not sure which is worse, lots of laundry or "scary" laundry, i.e. undies that have been worn all week.

Houghton Crew said...

Well, look on the bright side...it could be worse...you don't have a freezing washer pipe probem while washing for 7 people. Thankfully my father recently fixed the problem, but not after several 2-3 day periods of frozen pipes. Hopefully Alex is doing better with the reflux. We re going though the same thing with Noah. The medicie seems to have made a huge difference. By the way, how did you take the awesome photo of Ameila and the boys with the black background? Was it professionally done? Love it..they are so cute!

Christy AKA Trippin' Mama said...

Hello, Houghtons! Sorry to hear that one of your trip also is afflicted with reflux, but glad you got it under control so quickly. Alex also is back to his ragingly hungry self thanks to the Zantac.

The black & white photo of Amelia & the boys was professionally done. If you look carefully you'll see that the kids are actually all laying down. We LOVE this photographer, and just wish we could afford to take the kids there more than once every few years...