In Which Groovy Mulls Over the Mundane

Reading other blogs, I have gathered that many women have an intense dislike for doing laundry. They've posted amazing pictures of their piles to be washed and mounds to be folded and lamented how it all never ends and the stains didn't come out and only one sock of a treasured pair is missing.

I've never quite understood this because I LIKE doing laundry. It's one chore that doesn't overwhelm me or make me cranky. Of course, the BHE (Best Hubby Ever, remember?) does help me by doing the laundry for me on Mondays. But even when he can't help, I don't mind doing it at all.

On Mondays we wash all the towels and washcloths from the kitchen and bathrooms as well as whatever goodies ended up in the hamper. On Thursdays we wash all the sheets and jammies as well as the hamper contents. With four of us here, we usually only have 4 loads a week unless we've been camping or farm sitting or something like that.

The BHE and I like to hang our laundry whenever possible. In the winter, we hang them on the clotheslines in our basement. The air is nice and crisp and dry from the furnace, so they usually dry within 24 hours.

In the summer, we hang them out here on my much loved pulley clothesline.

There are pulleys for two lines, but BHE didn't get the second one strung up this year. We have to take the lines down in the winter because the snow falls off the roof in incredibly powerful avalanches and breaks them if we don't remove them.

(Note: Our neighbor said that the first time he heard an avalanche off our steep, high roof, he thought we were having an earthquake! See how steep it is?)

The lines are so long that they can sag quite a bit, so we bought one of these for each line to ratchet up the slack:

And one of these spacers to keep the bottom line from drooping too much.

By the way, my FAVORITE place to shop for laundry accoutrements is Lehman's. I love that place - we're talking 3 thumbs up! (and I only have 2 thumbs!)

At any rate, I miss having two lines this year. It slows things down considerably!

Naturally we do have an electric dryer, but we only use it in ultra humid or inclement weather.

I use all natural, unscented laundry soap and a very little bit of unscented liquid fabric softener. I absolutely DESPISE scented laundry items. *shudder* When someone is kind enough to give me their freshly washed hand-me-downs, I usually have to wash them 2 or 3 times to remove all the smell before I can wear them. Ironically, my mother-in-law, who shares our laundry facilities with us, ADORES highly scented detergents and softeners and air fresheners. It is my least favorite part of sharing the house with her. (Which says alot. She's a tremendously wonderful lady and if the only complaints I have are scent related, then I am one seriously blessed daughter-in-law!)

Neither am I a fan of stinky laundry in my hamper, so I took a nylon knee-high stocking and filled it with about a cup and a half of baking soda. Then I tied a knot in it and put it inside another, slightly thicker knee-high and tied another knot. It sits in the bottom of the hamper and keeps it fresh smelling for months! Of course, the first time I put it in there the BHE almost washed it... ;-)

As for folding the laundry, the girlies do most of that. When they don't I just quickly fold each piece as it comes off the line or out of the dryer, then put it all away immediately so it doesn't sit out forever.

All done - Easy Peasy.

And that's how Groovy deals with her laundry. Just DON'T ask me about sheets.

*shudder*

For while I enjoy doing laundry, I loathe making the bed. Not the making of the bed where one makes it look nice and pretty each morning - I don't mind that at all - but the bed making where one has to put on all new sheets and pillow cases. It's not hard to do and it doesn't take long and oh-how-wonderful clean sheets smell and feel, but I can't stand doing it. I will actually throw the clean sheets atop the bed and then ignore them completely until I am very tired and want to crawl in bed but can't because I never made it. It totally makes no sense.

Oh well, what's your favorite housework chore? Surely there's one (or more) that gives you a pleasant sense of accomplishment...