So we're all on the same page with the laundry list, right? If you're one of those people who enjoys all that routine work, feel free to come to my house. Daily. The rest of us will chat here while you're working.
Waaaaaay back when we were just married - truly in the newlywed stage - I did things right. I actually cleaned the house regularly, too. No, really. I dusted, I mopped, I cleaned the refrigerator out, I even cleaned on top of the cupboards. Who does that?! Newlyweds, that's who. Newlyweds who don't work. That first winter I was desperately seeking a job in a new town, and in the meantime I spent my time cleaning. Don't worry, I got over it. Obviously.
My laundry was meticulously done back in that day of newly wed bliss. While I'm still blissfully married, we're wearing slightly more wrinkled and dingy than we were then. It's not that I don't want to be bright and well pressed any longer, but there's so much more laundry to do, and so much less time to do it in. Four kids will do that you know.
I remember the beginning of the end. Sam doesn't remember this, but you know how the male mind works. If it directly benefits them, they remember every tiny detail. If it incriminates them even ever so slightly, suddenly their memory is that of an 82 year old with Alzheimers.
Sam had gotten a new pack of tidy whities, and they were just that. The military has standard issue on things like undies, you know. For some odd reason, the tag on those whities bothered him. He complained about this for days on end until one morning, in a fit of inspiration (or frustration) he turned them inside out and went on his merry way to work. At the end of the day I happened to notice that his whities tag was showing as we headed to bed, and commented. Well, wasn't that a brilliant idea? Being newlyweds (yeh, we were still in that stage - my laundry skills started breaking down early on) I was thrilled that we didn't have to go buy yet another pack of undies because money was tight. (So were a lot of other things back then, but lets not bring my weight into this.)
The next day as I was doing laundry, I went to turn his underwear before folding them. But then I, too, had a fit of inspiration (or desperation). If I left them inside out it would help him in the early morning while he was still asleep, and he could get through the work day without being bothered by that pesky tag. Genius. Sheer genius.
Even after those undies wore out and were replaced, I continued to forego turning his underwear. Obviously he was accustomed to wearing them inside out and surely he could forgive me if I failed to turn a few in the course of the laundry folding. This went on for years before he finally saw a pair of underwear inside out and questioned me on it. He didn't remember what on earth I was talking about, couldn't believe I was intentionally not turning his underwear, and was horrified that I expected him to wear them like that.
Men.
I now turn underwear. All underwear. All the time.
But I do not fold underwear. I had a realization that folding underwear is stupid. I mean, really. I don't know about you, but we have a drawer for underwear in our respective dressers. We toss our underwear in there much like we toss in rolled socks in the sock drawer. There are no nice, neat rows of color-coded panties in my dresser. Sorry to dissappoint. Instead, we toss the undies in the undies drawer and get on with our lives. Same with the socks; no neat little rows there either.
Get this - Sam was recently kinda horrified to find out that I don't fold underwear. I'm not sure where he thought the breakdown occurrs. He never has folded underwear in his underwear drawer. Do they come unfolded while he digs around for that special pair? Does this occur when they get transferred from the basket to the drawer? I'm clueless. But I do know that when he was folding laundry with me not too long ago, and I just tossed a few pairs into the basket unfolded, he asked me what the heck I thought I was doing. Mind you, he wasn't concerned enough to fold them himself.
So here's the burning question of the day. Or maybe a few of them. Do you fold underwear? And does anyone actually organize undies drawers into neat little color coded rows? If so why?
30 comments:
I fold. I organize. I sort. In fact, if you open Alexis' underwear drawer, you will find that every single pair of her undies are neatly folded and carefully sorted into piles based on character, with the lightest colors of that character at the top, moving to the darkest on the bottom.
My drawer might be even more organized. If that's possible.
"I'm not sure where he thought the breakdown occurs. He never has folded underwear in his underwear drawer. Do they come unfolded while he digs around for that special pair?" Oh, my belly!!! What a hoot!
Seriously. Men are lame. If you attached a boob to the underwear then they'd notice.
I toss 'em in the drawer. I gave up folding when I realized that everything was UNFOLDED the minute he took ONE pair out.
Like I said, boob on the underwear . . . remember those pens with the nekkid women on them? That's so men would spend time writing . . .
I had a roomate in college who folded her panties 14 different ways, dare I call her anal? ha.
but me, never. folding underwear is a waste of my time and resources.
Aww ... that IS a cute picture.
I don't fold women's underwear but I do fold hubby's boxer briefs. I think my underwear aren't substantial enough to really create an effective fold.
TMI, right? You know you like it.
and who here is surprised that burgh baby's underwear is folded and organized? not me, for sure.
on the other hand, i can barely match up socks.
I'm of the folding persuasion, myself.
Cloth diapers- meticulously folded and sorted and stacked and worshipped. Little boys undies- no not folded, but neatly stacked. Momma undies- folded, sorta stacked, sorted by type. Daddy boxers- folded, stacked, not sorted.
Socks are another story. I hate em. Hate matching, hate folding, hate storing. Too damn time consumming.
I don't fold my hubby's undies. I don't even turn them right side out. I do fold mine but just stack them however they land. The kids. I just stack them up. Not really folding. They would mess them up the first time they opened the drawer.
I fold the girls and the hubs...now you know why I don't have time to blog ;)
I actually fold the underwear and from time to time I organize the drawers so that everything is together, but it doesn't last that long. But the idea of just tossiong in the drawer sounds good to me, I may try it....Wonder how long it would take hubby to notice it?
folding underwear is for people without butt loads of kids! that's my story and i'm sticking to it! and a shameless puppy pic too!
A long, long time ago in college, when I worked as a store manager, I took a Lou Tice course that suggested we not even fold our family's clothes at all if it bothered us to do so. Just deliver them in a basket to each person, clean, one leg of each pair of jeans turned inside out--however they made it into the dirty laundry was how they could be returned to the owner. No turning necessary. The logic was that if the owner did not bother to turn them right side out, why should we bother? It was all about altering the image in our minds of what doing the laundry (or anything else) should look like to us, and what the dissonance of the conflicting reality of laundry inside out caused us. Or something. A lot more work for a perfectionist than just turning the laundry, though.
Yes, I still fold everyone else's underwear... but not my own. It turns out I don't care whether or not my underwear is folded. Never asked anyone else, but sort of like that feeling that they know they are loved by the way their underwear is turned right-side-out and folded in their underwear drawers.
Funny post. Really interesting, too...
My underwear is lucky to see the drawer. Usually sits in a basket until worn and then goes into the next basket to get washed. I wish I had the organizing skills of some of you.
If it does make it in the drawer, definately not folded.
*raises hand*
I fold DearDR's and my underwear. the socks get paired and folded in half, not rolled. I wouldn't say that we have the neatest underwear/sock drawers in three counties, but it's not too much of jumble. the girls' socks get rolled; Monkey's underwear doesn't get folder.
thanks for the gratuitous puppy shot!
ciao,
rpm
*folded*
If you think about it, this post, and the fact that we all offered information about our underwear folding habits, it's a little odd.
I heart the blog-o-sphere! :)
ciao,
rpm
There is no undie folding going on at our house. It's taken me several years of marriage to get Husband comfortable with the sock rolling. He treated it like mysterious female-domain sock origami when we were newlyweds.
He eventually came around to learn the joys of not playing "match that sock" in the sock drawer every morning.
I have an aunt who learned her husband was having an affair when he told her he wanted her to start ironing his boxer shorts.
When I do laundry, I do fold the underwear. Sigh, I am pathetic. Mine stays nice and folded, but the boys all just get tossed into their drawers, so, yeah, why do I fold theirs???? hmmmmmmm
I have 11 kids,I don't fold undies.
If I don't turn my husband's undies right side out he wears them
wrong side out.Why can't they turn them?
folding? Underwear folds?
I bet there are people out there that don't make their kids match the hampers full of socks up too...
My theory is, if it hits my (yes my) laundry room inside out, that's how you're getting it back. I no longer check pockets either. That's what a couple of snakes and other untouchables in the laundry will do to you.
GUILTY! YES! I admit it! I fold underwear (but I call them "skippies") and now my girls have taken over folding the laundry and they fold underwear. But here's the hoot: They have a newer (more attractive method) and say my method is unacceptable.
: D We also have a sock orphanage for those loney guys who lose their mate from one load to the next. Eventually they are reunited . . . you know . . . it all comes out in the wash. (HA HA HA!)
[I'm talking laundry and underwear on the internet -- I've lost it!!]
I fold my husbands underwear, but that`s because he wears boxers and if I just tried to get them all in the drawer willy nilly, anarchy would ensue. The drawer would overflow and the dogs would have a hayday chewing the unmentionables unlucky enough to have been dropped onto the floor in the struggle for space.
So yeah. His get folded.
the boys are just lucky I divide their undies into their respective sizes for them.
Mine are tossed in a drawer willy nilly. bras on one side, panties on the other. unless Im really lazy - which I often am, then they get dumped onto my bed, and later that night, pushed to the floor where the dogs - you guessed it, have a hayday eating my unmentionables!
I've washed my hands of folding undies and socks. They just get thrown in the drawer. Like the toys in my living room, there's no use in tidying up. It all gets thrown around in a few seconds.
I don't fold my underwear, but when my mother-in-law visits she insists on folding our laundry and insists on folding my underwear. It bugs me.
My husband folds his own boxers. That's how it works in my house. I fold my clothes, he folds his clothes. I'm not sure what will happen when kids get thrown into the mix.
OK, I can totally see your logic here and can readily agree with you. However, yes, the undies are folded in the drawers, mainly, just because they fit much nicer. And, honestly, I am sick. I mean really sick... I have a laundry fetish. The rest of the house looks like... Bosnia or some such place, but I dare you to find a messy drawer or linen closet.
Help. I need therapy.
I fold. I admit it. My name is Lynn, and I am a grunders folder.
I used to fold underwear, but then I had kids and I quit doing that.
The day I realized that it was okay not to fold underwear I felt free!
I fold, but I refuse to turn them the right way . . . meaning, if they got into the wash inside-out or get turned that way in the wash, they stay that way. That and refusing to change the toilet paper roll when it is empty (unless I absolutely have to) are the 2 things that I don't do around here. They are the only 2 . . . or at least it feels that way.
Well. My breakdown occurred much worse than yours, I think. My husband frequently leaves clothes inside out. And doesn't empty pockets. And has half in and half out clothes. They get washed that way, Momma puts them away that way.
And yes, I fold his underwear. Mostly because he did before he ever knew me, and that's fine.
My underwear is all just tossed into the drawer though :)
OH! And I always thought it was "tighty" whities because they're ummm tight. Tidy. Because they're a neat shape. Whoops :)
I don't fold Gavin's cuz their so tiny...I fold Justin's only because they're boxers/boxer-briefs...and I fold mine. But in all cases, they are stuffed in the drawers haphazardly. I'm still not sure why I fold ours.
Before I worked - I folded all undies and socks. Now, everyone folds their own and since they're used to them being folded, they actually fold them. Except my son who just leaves them behind the bathroom door.
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