Tuesday, March 20, 2007

A Bad Habit

I have a laundry list of bad habits. (Oh that's good - "laundry list" - it fits in perfectly with the rest of the post.)
They range in significance from things like not putting my coffee spoons in the sink in the mornings, to not returning phone calls, to hardly ever remembering to brush my teeth before I go to bed.

One of my worst bad habits is my inability to put away clothing.
It doesn't matter if it's clean or dirty, or been worn for two hours or whatever, I can NOT make myself put it away. The real problem with this is that the husband is the same way, so we are constantly existing in a bedroom that looks like a clothing store puked in it.

When I do laundry I take the clothes out of the dryer and fold them in the laundry room, placing them on the dryer as I fold them. Do they ever move from there once they are all folded nicely? No.
When I do the next load of laundry and take it out of the dryer do I move the first load into the bedroom and put the clothes away? No.
Do I fold the next 3 or 4 loads on top of the first on the dryer? Yes.

So why not take the clothes out of the laundry room to fold them you ask? Sure, I'll bring them into the living room while I'm watching tv and fold them then.
Do I fold them? Yep.
Do I take them with me when I leave the room to put them into their proper place? Nope.

You suggest maybe I should take them directly into the bedroom and fold them from there. Sure, as soon as the dryer is done I'll carry the whole load in there and fold them right away - do I do that? Yep.
Do they ever move beyond their neat piles on the bed? Nope. Well not until it's time for bed that is - is which case we throw all the clean clothes into a laundry basket because we're too tired to put them away right then and there.

The result is that we live out of laundry baskets until I finally get irritated enough to say "okay, let's just spend an hour putting all this away." Or else deeming that it is the husband's responsibility to do it on his next day off, because if he does, he will not be asked to do anything else that day.

And we're not just like that with clean clothes - oh no. We are just as bad with dirty ones. No matter where we are when one of us takes something off, we drop it right where we happen to be standing...or sitting, or laying, or whatever. Usually if we're in another room of the house it will be picked up in the next day or two - but if we're in the bedroom when the clothes begin to fly? Forget it. Those clothes will sit there until it's something we need, or we decide to finally clean the bedroom.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I would rather dust the entire place, wash all the dishes, change the sheets on the beds and clean off the kitchen table then have to wade through all those piles of clothing and put them all in their proper place.

And, hmmm, isn't that convenient? The husband has the day off tomorrow...

5 Comments:

Blogger j.k.a said...

LOL!

I had an 'everything I own is ugly' day, oh, a while ago now, and tried on half my closet before setting on something I felt decent in. the monster discard pile of wadded up clothing is still covering most our closet floor and mixed in with hubby's also monster pile. Usually I'm pretty good about keeping our closet in shape, but this pile is causing me to cower in fear at the mere thought of having to sort it all out. I insist hubby force the door closed at night or I fear it will attack me in my sleep. and of course, any clean laundry has been placed carefully on top of the wreckege, in hopes that maybe the rest will magically follow their good example and I'll wake up to a shining closet with no effort whatsoever on my part.

you are not alone!

8:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Too funny! I hate putting clothes away! Our clothes usually stay in our TV room, which is where I do the folding. Obi has finally had enough, and has started to put them away right after they are folded...I'm not that amibitious...did I mention that I HATE putting clothes away!

8:58 AM  
Blogger Rock Chef said...

We are the same. What a bunch of slobs!

9:31 AM  
Blogger Irene said...

I have the same bad laundry habits! I am currently living out of a mixture of drawers as well as two hampers. One day I'll put the clean hamper clothes away, but probably by then they'll be in various dirty clothes piles on the floor and it will be laundry day.
After a trip I'm particularly bad- i live out of the suitcase for weeks after.

Je repete- you are not alone :)

oh, and Hi Allison! Mike showed me your blog so here I am, reading and commenting.

11:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I am totally different in this regard. I fold each piece as it comes out of the dryer (always while still warm) and take them upstairs and put them away right then. If anything needs ironing I usually do it at that time as well. If there isn't time I do it within a day of two.

1:38 PM  

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