Laundry - The Chore That Never Ends

Today was laundry day. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate laundry. It is my most loathed chore. Not that I really enjoy any chore but there is just something about laundry that I just despise.

So, as the load was scrubbing in the washing machine and tumbling in the dryer, I got to thinking. For a chore that mostly does itself these days, why do I hate this chore so much?

1. Because dirty clothes! Yes - that is right. You need dirty clothes to do laundry. If all your clothes were clean you wouldn't have to worry about washing the clothes. This is an obvious thought. What you probably haven't thought about is you have to touch all those dirty clothes when you are sorting out the laundry. While that isn't an issue with my clothes (because frankly if you can't touch your own funk there is something wrong with you!) But, there is nothing I hate worse than unrolling my husband's stinky socks.

2. Stain treatments. I have three kids. While my two older ones aren't too bad, my son is a dirt magnet. And frankly, buying him a new outfit everyday is not an option. This means I have to stain treat. That also means we go back to reason number 1. Once again, I am all up in everybody's dirty laundry... this time as a detective trying to find the littlest stain. You know the one. The one that if you missed it that shirt can never be worn again. Now searching for stains is bad enough, but after all is said and done, if you went through all that work and stain treated and the stain didn't come out - well you lost the battle anyway!

3. Folding all the clothes! I used to be really picky about the way I folded clothes. Everything had to be folded perfectly and in a certain way. It had to be nice and neat. I had a certain way that I folded shirts, a certain way to fold pants, a certain way to fold socks and underwear and bras and just about every single article of clothes. Then I had kids. Suddenly, I realized that it didn't really matter how I folded the clothes. When my kids put them away, they got shoved into a ball anyway. So now, I just fold casually. It doesn't look as neat but it saves me a lot of time. Now the socks... well that is a whole new problem. A subject all in its own. I once just kept buying new socks instead of trying to match them. I ended up with an overwhelming amount of unmatched socks!

4. Putting away the laundry. For the most part I have kids to do this. However, refer back to the previous reason and you will understand why I silently cringe at the thought of having the kids put the clothes away. Well I got over it really quickly when I realized how long it took for me to put them away by myself. Now the problem is to get them to put their clothes away and not end up washing clean laundry the next week!

5. Ironing. Really - does there need to be an explanation. I personally don't iron anything. I would rather wear it wrinkly than turn on an iron. After all, I spent 5 years of my life painfully pressing lines in my BDUs (battle dress uniform) for the military. I hated ironing so much, I actually convinced my husband to do it instead! Now, as ironic as it seems. I stay home with the kids and I iron his work clothes. So much for not doing the ironing!

When I look back at it, laundry doesn't seem so bad, at least the part involving the washer and the dryer. Because while the machines are doing all the work I can sit around and act like I am actually doing something.

However, knowing that laundry is a chore that can never be completed, makes the chore even more disappointing. Unless you are running around naked it will only be a few hours before once again you have dirty laundry to do all over again. Add a couple of people to the mix and suddenly your whole chore is ready to be started in just a short amount of time of you finishing. Talk about killing your motivation to complete something. This is one chore that will never be finished!