If Only My Bank Account Filled As Fast As My Laundry Basket Does
Why don't men do laundry?
Because the washer and dryer don't run on remote controls
I hate laundry.
I REALLY hate laundry. The only satisfaction that comes from laundry is being able to wear clean clothes the next day, and let's be honest....sometimes it's just easier to wear the dirty ones!!! Not only do you wind up spending a TON of time sorting it, starting it, adding detergent, softener, or bleach depending on the load, then changing it over from the washer to the dryer, but when it is FINALLY finished, you have to fold it AND put it away?!!?! But wait, there's more (like an infomercial) !!!! - Ironing...the nice things that we are supposed to wear to work, a meeting, a date, or just on a day where we don't want to look like our whole life revolves around being a crazy person trapped in the house doing chores and laundry require ironing nine times out of ten and at this point, we've officially spent our ENTIRE weekend doing the d@#% laundry....Sigh
I hate laundry.
With the exception of my first two years in college, I have always had a washer and dryer IN my home. Conveniently located just off the kitchen or garage within a comfortable walking distance (if I didn't procrastinate too long and over fill the laundry basket making it painfully heavy to carry) of my bedroom, bathroom, and closet (the top three places where all of the dirty clothes landed). My current laundry situation, HA HA HA, stay tuned....but first let's go down memory lane for a moment.
I have lived with two different men in my lifetime so far (well four now that I have a son and my brother is my roommate) and they both hated laundry equally as much if not more than myself. I avoided doing both of their laundry as much as possible, but you know when the pile get's so big that it just drives you insane every time you look at it and something must be done or you will lose your S#%@ -- yeah, they both figured me out, ha!
Guy #1 helped. Our laundry typically landed in the same basket in our closet and when it got full or we found ourselves at home on a Saturday morning or weekday evening, we worked as a team and knocked out the laundry - heck, sometimes we even achieved the daunting task of appropriately putting it away!
Guy #2 was only around during my pregnancy and he pretty much did his own laundry in the beginning. We had separate master closets (we had separate a lot of things-pretty much everything if I am being honest, including lives, but that is DEFINITELY a story for another day) which kept our clothes, both dirty and clean, completely separate. Our laundry "room" was a closet with a stackable washer and dryer in the middle of the kitchen with zero work space to sort or fold except for the kitchen table, which became a catch all. Poor guy was notorious for putting the clothes into the washer or the dryer and......leaving them there for days. Facepalm I don't know if I was frustrated because the laundry seemed to always be in the way or if I was just pregnant and generally peeved about anything and everything, LOL. The him doing the laundry and forgetting it was in the beginning of this 8 month life together...by the end, it just piled up E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. the closet overflowed, the area between the bed and the window were impassable, and the bathroom floor became pretty well carpeted. Like I said before, he figured out that if he left it long enough it would bother me and something would happen with it. Me being pregnant and irritable, that something was shoving it all into his closet and closing the door so I wouldn't have to look at anymore...ha ha
Present Day Laundry Shenanigans
If you read my introductory blog post, you know that I am living in a pretty unique environment with my son, mom, and brother during the renovation of my mom's new home. I didn't give you too many details as to what all that situation entails, but today I am prepared to give you a peek into a small part of it with our laundry situation.
When I use the word renovation, I am not just referring to a new coat of paint and an updated light fixture to make things look a little more Chip and Joanna. I am talking down to the studs, needs new drywall, the floor is just plywood, you can see through the walls right now, LEGIT Chip and Joanna demo day in here!
That, that up there, is the laundry room right now. I wasn't kidding when I compared it to demo day. There is literally no electricity in that room right now. Oh, and it's been that way for a minute because we aren't just renovating one room at a time....
The. Whole. House. Looks. Like. This.
To answer your question, the laundromat (well several in town because I don't particularly like or feel comfortable in any of them so I have been visiting them all individually in effort to make a final decision most likely once it's too late and the laundry room is finished, ha) has become a frenemy of mine.
Do you guys know how expensive those places are?!?! It's 25 cents to run a dryer for 3 MINUTES. The dryer doesn't even heat up in 3 minutes!!!! Think about how long it takes you to dry ONE load of laundry and do a little math to put that into perspective....and keep in mind that I am doing my laundry, the laundry of an infant, (if you don't have a child you probably cannot possibly understand the amount of laundry one produces in just one day.... facepalm) my mom's laundry, and my brother's laundry. That is a LOT of laundry for someone who HATES laundry. Heck, that's a lot of laundry for someone who doesn't hate it, LOL.
Like I said before, I have visited the laundromat a lot lately and each time, Daxton has been my faithful sidekick. I'll let you use your imagination on how difficult it is to get two or three baskets of laundry into the laundromat while carrying a baby and the detergent, haha-your own mental image will probably be just as funny if not funnier than any way I could put that into words. Each time has been it's own adventure between keeping him happy enough to load the laundry into the washers transfer to the driers and fold it all prior to leaving to prevent a ton of wrinkles, to having to keep up with $20 in quarters as I navigate my way from one machine to another, haha.
I seriously have a brand new appreciation for that HUGE laundry room my mom insisted upon having in her new home. I can't wait for the day that I can once again carry the over-filled basket from my bedroom to my laundry room. I can't wait to not have to tell the homeless lady that I don't have any extra money to contribute to her less than fortunate situation that was probably caused by the dang prices of the dryers. I can't wait to not have to use the hottest water and the hottest dryer setting because I am a little paranoid about who's laundry was in the machine before mine...
I can't wait to do laundry at home again.
I may wind up loving laundry at that point...Nah, I think I'll still hate it.
XO