dirty laundry

Warning: The title will be the best part of this entry, I fear.

Erin tagged me to answer the following questions about my laundry habits. As she pithily spake -- world, prepare to be astounded! And, likely, a little disgusted:


1. In your home, who does the laundry? I do mine and Lizzy's. Matt does his own. We don't want his boy germs tainting our stuff, ya know. (just kidding, dear!)

2. Do you sort your laundry? Yes. You'll know the folks who don't because their entire wardrobe is gray, right?

3. If you sort, how many different color/fabric type groups do you sort it into? Whites, brights, blacks, sometimes a fourth category of not-so-white, not-so-black and not-so-brights. Scarily, I occasionally seem to have enough yellow items to justify a medium-sized yellow load, if all are dirty at once.

4. Do you hand wash anything? Swimsuits.

5. Are there any articles of clothing that you send out to be cleaned professionally? On a very rare occasion only. I try to avoid owning anything that requires it.

6. If you have any clothes cleaned professionally, is that drycleaning? Matt sends a lot of professional work clothes to the dry cleaners. I will occasionally toss a summer blouse into that pile, but they've NOT gotten stains out so often that I'm put off counting on them to do any good.

7. At home, what detergent do you use? Whatever. I'm a fan of the no dye/no scent, but not militantly so.

8. What whiteners/brighteners do you use? an occasional glug of bleach in the whites.

9. Do you use any fabric softeners? A dryer sheet per load.

10. How do you handle stains? spray and wash, if I catch them. If not -- oops.

11. Do you use different water temperatures for your different loads? Yes -- usually just cold or warm, unless something ... well, let's just say I have a kid, all right? Stuff happens. You don't count on 'warm' to do justice to barfy sheets, is all I'm sayin'.

12. Do you use a tumble dryer, or do you hang your clothes to dry? Most everything is tumble dried. Some of those fuzzyish blankets that seem almost dry after a wash cycle, I just take out; and bras get hung to dry. Well, and a few other items -- tops I shouldn't have washed in the first place, dresses.

13. In your home, who folds the clothes? Me. When I don't pluck them straight out of the 'done but not folded' pile. (Matt folds his own stuff, of course) Perhaps this would be a good Lizzy training exercise... Fold clothes with Mommy! We'll whistle while we work, for good measure.

14. Where do you fold your clothes? (i.e., in the laundry room, at the kitchen table, etc.) I cart the clean stuff upstairs and dump it on the floor, the bed or a chair until I can get to it. (again, if.)

15. Who puts the folded clothes away? Whoever washes it, puts it away.

16. Do you have a certain day of the week you consider ”laundry day”? No. There are certain bellwethers, though -- all the comfy underwear is dirty; all of Lizzy's preferred apparel (dresses) are dirty; etc.

17. About how many laundry loads do you do per week? three or four

18. Do you iron? Almost never. I did for the first time in years a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure the skirt looked any different for my efforts.
Scary story -- last weekend, when we were in Austin, TX, my mom (who irons all my dad's shirts, and always has) pulled out the ironing board in the motel room. As she's unfolding it, Lizzy asked her what it was. I silently died a thousand deaths.
My parents tried to raise me right -- they really did!!