Laundry, Laundry, Everywhere

More March 2009 musings:  

I don't know what it is anymore, but it seems like all I ever do is laundry.  Everyone else I talk to is always doing laundry, too.

Back in the day when I had an infant and then a toddler, I expected there would be laundry on a regular -- daily -- basis.  Little kids urp up, they have leaky diaper accidents, their bedding needs changing frequently.  I did hope that as the kids grew older, the need to do laundry constantly would diminish.

When I was a kid at home, the laundry was done about two to three times a week -- for just clothing.  But there were seven people in the house, and that's just how it was.  Mom had other things to do besides do wash every day, and if your clothes didn't hit the hamper or the sorted piles in front of the washer on laundry day, well you were just S.O.L. 

That stands for "So Out of Luck," since this is considered a family web site.

On the non-clothing washing days, mom did sheets and towels. 

I just don't know what the problem is, though, that with only four people in my house, it seems like my washer runs more than it should.  Everyone else I talk to says the same thing.  We don't have a houseful, they say, so what's the deal?

The light bulb flickered briefly though, in commiserating with a co-worker.  She said to me, "Well, when we were kids, we wore our things more than once before they were tossed in the washer.  At least, it was that way with our jeans. And bath towels were used a couple of times before laundering, because if you were fresh out of the tub, you were considered clean, right? So why would you need a new towel from the closet for the next time?"

As soon as she said that, I realized why my washer was working overtime.  What my co-worker said rang true, because it was the same at my house. 

When I was a kid, and this may be true for other readers as well, you wore the same pair of jeans or pants or what-not to school more than one day.  You might flop them over a chair for a day or so later, because heaven knows you didn't want anyone to think you wore the same thing two days in a row.  But wear them again indeed? You sure did. 

Shirts didn't get that kind of repeat.  We tend to get those dirtier what with ketchup spills and just plain old sweat.  But sweaters, if you had a shirt on underneath them, were usually good for another wear or two before they needed washing.

Think about it, though.  If you "recycled" your pants and wore them more than one time per week, before washing, would the amount of laundry you do decrease?

In today's times though, if something is worn once, it's dropped in the wash.  Even if the garment is worn for a couple of hours, it hits the clothes hamper immediately.  In some cases, if something is just tried on -- if you have preteens and teens in the house -- and then dropped on the floor for consideration later in the week, even if that garment is never worn, it hits the laundry.  It was on the floor, so it must be dirty, right?

I have gone on strike regarding laundry from time to time, refusing to do wash more than two days a week.  It does pile up, and since the washer and dryer share the half-bath in our house, huge piles of laundry can make navigating your way safely to the toilet a little bit treacherous at times. 

One week, I washed and folded clothes for the requisite four days of laundry-doing and decided to keep everything in the laundry basket.  The pile grew higher and higher, and still I didn't move the stacks of clothing to the kids' rooms to be put away. 

Oddly enough, no one ran out of clothing.  The kids found things to wear that hadn't seen the light of day for so long I'd forgotten they had them.  No doubt, they forgot they had those items, too.  Except for running out of socks, my spouse didn't seem to notice I was holding his white t-shirts hostage along with a few other things. 

It must be that laundry is done far too frequently at my house because we have too many clothes.  I wonder, if we had fewer things to wear, if we'd probably do laundry less often.

I know that sounds very contradictory, but I have no other explanation. 

I wonder, if people wore some garments more than once a week, if the amount of laundry done would decrease, overall.

I know some of you out there are cringing.  I can see it from here, on the other side of the computer screen.  Ewwww, you're thinking.  That's so gross.  Do you have any idea how many germs get on a person in one day?

Yes, I do.  I'm not suggesting we start re-wearing things that are obviously dirty or smelly from an honest day's work.  I'm thinking more along the lines of the "you only wore this to church and had it on for two hours, so go hang it back up" kind of things.  And if that pair of slacks you wore to your college class or to work aren't coffee-spattered and full of donut drippings, why not set them aside for later in the week?

Think of it as an energy-saving measure.  Less laundry, less detergent, less electricity and water use.

Still not sold?

Just come on over to my house, then, and you can do as much laundry as your heart desires. 

In the mean time, I'm thinking it's time someone else gets worked into the laundry rotation.  Having more than two people in the house know how to run the washer and dryer is certainly one way to lighten the loads, and there's no better time than the present to get that underway.