Airing our dirty laundry

My buddy Jenny_O over at Procrastinating Donkey did a post on Laundry Baskets that got me to thinking about airing our dirty laundry, she actually suggested that I do so, so to not disappoint a good friend here goes.

Cindy and I have a wicker laundry hamper with a lid that all of our dirty laundry goes into, when it gets full and the lid doesn't close anymore, this is when one of us does the laundry... usually.

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Sometimes when it gets to the point that I can't close the lid, no matter how much cramming and pushing down on the dirty clothes that I do. Rather than just do the laundry I keep pushing and stuffing clothes into all of the little nooks and crannies. It is amazing how much stuff you can force into a wicker basket before it starts to balloon out, or before you begin to hear that little crackling sound that says you had better stop, or even worse when I hear Cindy yell "You better Stop that Jimmy! You are going to break something!!" When I hear this I know that it is definitely time to do laundry.

Cindy and I have different styles of washing clothes. We both separate all of the dirty clothes into their proper piles exactly the same, but this is where everything changes.

I carry the clothes in my arms to the washing machine, I then layer them evenly into the tub, close the lid and select the temperature, water level, and make sure all the switches are in the right place and then press start.

Cindy on the other hand will open the lid, press start to get the water going, and then she grabs a pile of clothes and tosses them onto the washing machine and starts stuffing them in, there is no layering going on here. She looks kind of like me at the hamper stuffing everything into whatever space she can find. I keep expecting to see her with a stick poking the clothes into the washing machine or even on top stomping them down with her feet.

When my load of clothes are running the machine goes smoothly through all of the cycles, and stops with all of the clothes still partially layered to where they are easily removed.

When Cindy's load is running you will occasionally hear a Thump-Thump-Thumping sound that shifts to a quieter thump-thump-thump, and then disappears. But other times instead of disappearing the sound grows into a SLAM-BANG-BAM-BAM-BAM as the machine begins to shake and dance around in a circle, vibrating out into the hallway as far as the hoses will allow and then backwards slamming itself into the wall. This is when I find myself dancing with the washer trying to catch hold of the lid so I can open it up and stop it from violating me right there on the spot.

As you have guessed the wad of clothing is now a wet ball stuck to one side of the tub. I usually spend a short little lengthy a lot more time than I should trying to wring out and pry that ball of clothes apart, it's kind of like attempting to neatly unroll a ball of wadded duct tape...And it's not easy to layer a wet ball of clothes into the machine so the cycle can continue but folks I'm here to tell you that it's doable.

Once the load of washing is done it is time to load them into the dryer, I literally take everything out of the washing machine one item at time, I shake the clothes out straight, and then toss them into the dryer, it really takes a while for me to load the dryer, but there are no balled up clothes, no socks with the tops rolled down, nor are there any panties in a wad going into my dryer load. I have literally had Cindy tell me "Just stuff them all in there, the dryer will straighten them out!"

Now when Cindy loads the dryer she does just that, everything that she can possibly grab goes into the dryer at one time, the dryer sheet goes in, the door slams and the clothes are Thump-Thump-Thumping until the dryer straightens them out or the cycle is complete, whichever comes first.

When it comes time to unload the dryer, we both drag everything into a big ball and carry the wad of dry clothes into our bedroom and toss them onto the bed, we usually share the task of separating the pile and folding all the stuff that needs folded, laying out the shirts and jeans that are to be hung up into their respective stacks.

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The folded clothes are put away and then we go back and pick up what we dropped, there's always a few random socks and undies lying in a line, kind of like breadcrumbs dropped so you can find your way back to the dryer. The dropped undies are put away and the random socks are used to lessen the stack of socks with no mate, sometimes we get lucky and match up all of the socks, but most of the time there is at least one lone sock with the matching one missing in action.

Then it is up to me to hang the clothes, I usually do this because our closet is kind of like loading the washing machine, my side is all in order and Cindy's is all willy-nilly.

Cindy's side is randomly stuffed with clothing. Hangers are sticking up here and there, with some even on the floor. My side is in order, jeans, t-shirts, button up short sleeved shirts, etc. and all of the empty hangers are on the end between the jeans and the wall, I have just enough hangers for my share of the clothing and if I come up one hanger short, it's not like it is the end of the world but it's close... Seriously this is when I know Cindy stole one of my hangers because one of hers is hidden in the middle of her mismatched and stuffed closet, or either she bought herself another shirt.

There we go, this is an overview of laundry day at our house, I forgot to mention slipping on a dryer sheet on the bathroom floor, come on now you know you have done it, it's kind of like slipping on a banana peel. The bad thing is when you slip on the same one more than once and then only pick it up after your spouse slips on it too.

Cindy says that I am anal about my laundry, I say that all I want is for my clothes to be clean and where I can find them, I don't even mind doing the laundry myself. Cindy hates doing laundry and has told me over the years her solution to laundry, summed up into two simple words... Disposable Clothes.