Thursday, September 1, 2011

Why Doing My Laundry is "Loads of Fun"

1. I have three eager little helpers who LOVE laundry! They are varying degrees of help, but each enthusiastically gets involved.

2. I have a laundry song. Are you jealous? It goes something like, "Iiiiiiiiiit's Laundry Time, It's Laundry Time, It's Laundry Time! Hurray! We love to do the laundry, we do it EVERY DAY!" (except Sunday, which is my day off.) Oh, and we march. Laundry Parade!

3. My kids love to be "The Great Kirbini/Stupendous Sam/Wonderful Jiorji in the Amazing Flying Laundry Basket!" and get carried to their rooms with their laundry.

4. I love to hear the washer and dryer running in the background of my day. It makes me feel like I am a super multi-tasker, getting laundry washed while I do something else. :)

5. I find it very relaxing to fold laundry. I think this came from when I worked at Clear Creek Family Ranch in high school doing all the laundry for the ranch. I got to go back and forth between the lodges across beautiful lawn and around a small lake and through a path with tree branches overhanging to gather and put away laundry in the various facilities. Beautiful. And I folded sheets for hours each week, just me in the laundry room I had organized just the way I liked it. I got to sort out life one load at a time, and I still do.

6. My laundry room is fantastic. When we moved in, it was just a spot for a washer and dryer with two shelves above, a hot water heater, a sink, and a couple shelves for food storage. One day I said to Greg, "I think it would be nice if we added a shelf above the sink, maybe with a rod for hangers." Less than an hour later my dream was a reality. Then a week or so later he added a couple more shelves at my request, which has made it much more organized, and I like things to be organized. It is essential to my sanity. The room is tiny, but a very efficient use of space.

7. When I go in and out of the laundry room, I hear various animal noises. It never ceases to elicit a smile. This is because of a little wooden puzzle of animals I left on a shelf in there one day, which, when you lift up the pieces (in theory) they make the sound of that animal. In reality, any change of lighting (flipping the light switch) or any vibration (shutting the washer lid, the garage door closing...) alerts its sensor and we hear, "oink oink" or "moooooo" and so forth. I may never move that puzzle because it gives my laundry room character.


These reasons are each getting longer and I seriously doubt anybody in the world could be THAT interested in my laundry so I'll sign off. I have towels to fold. Hope you are enjoying your laundry, too!

Are there any household tasks you especially like, or have ideas to make more enjoyable? I would love to hear about it!

P.S. No, I do not pretend that I am perfect or that my laundry-doing is perfect. There is a good reason I didn't post a picture of my laundry room today. I still get behind and sometimes I'm lazy about putting it away, resulting in mountains of laundry piled up waiting there for me. But the nice thing is, it just waits. And it doesn't whine.

2 comments:

  1. You always come up with the best ideas to involve your kids in chores. I hope you don't mind me copying you! I like laundry too. I think it's my favorite chore. Something about organizing it and such. Can't wait to see you on Monday!

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  2. i would really like to hear you sing the laundry song some day. and yes, it is very satisfying to hear yourself washing laundry from the other room :) I do laundry by room, making it much easier to fold and put away. i couldn't say that i particularly enjoy laundry, however, it's something that i am ok with. it's a good "sorry, i have to do laundry" excuse to go in my brightly painted laundry room and hide sometimes. can you write a cheery post about mopping? then maybe i won't hate it so much

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