Day Thirty-Seven: Conquering Mt. Laundry

Now that our out-of-town guests have departed, kids have returned to school, and husband has left for a business trip, I have loads of downtime in which to get the house back in order.  In fact, let me just put this box of bon-bons down and I'll be right with you.

First order of business: Conquering the mountain of laundry.

As ever, I look to Martha for support.

Although the chapter on Laundry Rooms in her Homekeeping book is quite long, Martha does not have a section on "How to Make the Laundry Wash and Fold Itself".  She does have sections on: Detergent vs. Soap, How to Dry Laundry, and How to Iron Ruffles.  I'm sure that's all very helpful to someone, but it's not helping me ascend Mt. Laundry. (Side note: Martha also has a lengthy section on Line Drying, including types of clotheslines and techniques.  Since I'm in no rush to look like the Beverly Hillbillies, I went ahead and skipped that section.  You, however, may be able to get away with it.)

If you are like me, sorting and throwing the clothes into the washer and dryer is not the problem.  It's what happens next.

Folding.

It's not that I can't fold laundry.  Last time I checked I did have both arms intact and operational. It's more that I lack the motivation to fold laundry.  Part of the problem is that the resulting piles of towels, shirts, etc isn't all that pretty. Every shirt is folded slightly differently, producing a lopsided pile of clothes.  I want my completed laundry to look perfectly folded and stacked:  like I walked into the Gap.

Towels are the biggest culprit.  You fold them and put them away, then you see them looking slightly untidy all week, until it's time to use them again.  Luckily, Martha tells us How to Fold A Towel.  (Homekeeping p. 413)

She starts with a reminder that there is a right and wrong way to fold a towel, "so that the edges are hidden and the towel looks fluffy and neat."  By this Martha insinuates that you've probably been doing it wrong, so you better go ahead and read on.

You should start by folding the towel in thirds lengthwise so that you have one heck of a skinny towel. (Martha alerts us that a towel hung over a towel rod should also be folded in this manner, in case you were wondering.)

 Next you should fold the towel into thirds: one-third from the top, then fold over onto the bottom third.  This may bamboozle some of you if you are very bad with fractions. If so, you can give that excuse to your guests when they arrive and your towels are in disarray.

:Guest opens bathroom cabinet, towels fall on her head:

You:   Sorry, I'm bad with fractions.

Guest:   Ah!  I understand.


While all of this towel-folding business was very enlightening, I must be off:  My trek up Mt. Laundry has hardly begin.  Wish me luck.


See Homekeeping, p. 361 et seq.