Finished Laundry - the Key to Happiness?

Bright eyed and ready to get out on my own at the ripe young age of 18, I was shocked to find out that meals were not ready-made, bathrooms were not permanently clean, and clean clothes were not waiting for me in my closet. At 37, I still can’t believe there is so much to do to maintain a civilized life, and fantasize about having a maid to fill this domestic void. For 20 years now, sad to say, I have struggled with the basic, routine, household duties.

In my 20’s, I was able to wing it by living on take-out, never being home long enough to create housework, and quite frankly, having extremely low, if any, standards of living. Now, married with a baby, wanting to live like mature adult, & being a bit of a germaphobe, I manage to keep our home pretty clean. I still struggle with getting “it” all done, but for the most part, our home is as close to perfection a house with a 17 month-old baby can get without me turning into Mommy Dearest.

But, the one thing that drives me out of my mind is the never-ending, never-done laundry. I find it absolutely the most long-drawn, tedious household task. (I find them all tedious, but laundry takes the cake).

A couple days ago, after changing the baby and putting her in the only clean, ridiculously mismatched outfit, wiping my hands off with the kitchen towel that smelled like it had been left in the washer a day too long, and having NO towels to replace it, I finally had, had enough. I decided that I had to come up with a solution. I created a rule for myself: no clean laundry comes out of the laundry room without being folded or hung. Therefore, no wet clothes can go in the dryer until it is emptied. In addition to that, in order to have an empty basket, I need to put away the folded clothes. It works! I’ve been doing laundry all day - at least 5 loads I think. I actually have EMPTY baskets. It’s SO GREAT.

This may sound a little corny - but not only is the laundry GETTING DONE, I actually FEEL GOOD. It feels good to have COMPLETED each load fully from loading the clothes into the washer to having them fully put away and not just sitting in a laundry basket on the bedroom floor among 3 other full baskets.

I was talking - actually - preaching to my husband about how it FEELS GOOD to actually do “menial” (not menial to me) tasks 100% to completion. His idea of taking the trash out is taking out whatever is in the garage bin out last minute right before going to work (sometimes not even that!). What I wish he would do, and am hoping will happen some day, is emptying every trash can in house, relining the cans, and leisurely take the trash out the night before. But, I’ve come to accept, this ain’t gonna happen. (I’ve learned to choose my battles in this household. It makes for a MUCH more pleasant atmosphere! I’ll save that for another blog).

I’m seriously reveling in the lack of laundry laying all over the place. Not only do I feel a sense of accomplishment, I feel a weird sense of freedom - like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Plus, I’m enjoying the challenge I have given myself.

Boy, do I need to get out more -

Seriously though, when I was younger, I like many other 20-something olds, was searching for the key to happiness, while tripping over shoes in the middle of the room; and digging through dirty clothes on the floor hoping to find a pair of pants that didn’t stink of cigarette smoke from the night before - to throw on before running out the door for work which I was already 15 minutes late for. If I would’ve been less stubborn and more open to all the times my mom and dad used to get on my case about cleaning and helping around the house, I could’ve felt the simple joy and small but true sense of accomplishment one can get from doing a “menial” task start to finish. It’s such an easy and quick way to get an ego boost.

I think they do that in rehab facilities. They give recovering addicts one “menial” task to do daily. The more they do that task start to finish on a daily basis, they build a sense of self-worth.

Anyway, getting back to empty laundry baskets and fully stocked drawers, how great is it going to be when I’m in a rush to dress the baby, and there are actual clean pants for her folded in her drawer?!

It’s going to be pretty great.