# 23 years! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 9, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080 "2011-10-09T16:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/41 "2011-10-10T15:04:28Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > My wife does all the laundry and folds my boxers. She doesn’t fold her own undies because you can’t really fold a thong so she just tosses them into the drawer. She also folds my handkerchiefs, and a couple months ago she started ironing them- no idea why, 13 years into marriage, I never asked her to. But after a couple weeks of this I did mention to her that, while I appreciate the ironed hankie, if she was going to continue to do it, which I in no way request or need, could she fold them differently? > > She has always folded the hankie in half lengthwise, then in half lenthwise again, so it was one long strip. Then in half widthwise, and in half again, to make a small square. The problem with folding it that way is it’s harder to unfold it quickly, which is important when I’m about to sneeze. But it was never a big issue so I never said anything about it. But when she ironed them that way, they were even harder to unfold. > > I’d prefer folding it in half lengthwise, then widthwise to make a square, then lengthwise, then widthwise into a square again. She got a little pissed, so now she folds them the way I like but doesn’t iron them. Which, frankly, I’m fine with. What strikes me about your post is that people still use handkerchiefs. I haven’t used one in, it must be, 15 years now, and that was only to accessorize my double-breasted suits, which have also, sadly, gone out of style. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/42 "2011-10-10T15:07:51Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > What strikes me about your post is that people still use handkerchiefs. I haven’t used one in, it must be, 15 years now, and that was only to accessorize my double-breasted suits, which have also, sadly, gone out of style. SSSHHHH… Grandpa has dozed off, don’t wake him. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/43 "2011-10-10T16:36:20Z")
Point taken. I never used to carry one but it struck me that from time to time one must let loose with a big sneeze, and there aren’t always tissues handy. While I abhor the idea of carrying my snot around with me, the alternative- having nothing to sneeze or blow my nose into when necessary- is worse. Plus, my kids tend to need them more frequently than I do. I received a gift certificate to Brooks Brothers when I graduated from law school, and used it to buy a couple ties, with just enough left over to get a 3-pack of handkerchiefs. I got them and they sat in my dresser for about a decade. I rediscovered the usefulness of them and now slip one into my back pocket every day. I’m sorry, what was the question? ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/44 "2011-10-10T16:48:42Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > It’s because it takes up less space. It’s how we can get away with giving you more dresser and closet room. HAH! You’re funny. In some cases, maybe. In our case, no. The people who designed our house were smart. Both bedrooms have 2 closets each. They’re not walkins but they’re plenty large. His closet is full. Mine is also full. However, half of my closet has his stuff. He has 3 drawers in the bureau. I have 2. And HE makes fun of ME for having too many shoes (I have about 10 pairs). ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/45 "2011-10-10T16:48:58Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > 23 years! That is how long it took my husband to tell me that he would like it if I folded his underwear a different way. So… has it been established that he’s actually been unhappy with the undie-folding all this time? Or maybe he’s just recently learned about a new revolutionary process and wants you to try it out? Anyway, my undies don’t get folded at all. I lay them flat in a stack. Newly-laundered pairs go to the bottom of the pile, and I wear whatever’s on top each day. It’s a pretty simple system. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/46 "2011-10-10T17:17:59Z")
With my husband it was rotation. He wanted me to put the newly laundered ones on the bottom. I told him that he was in charge of rotation and he has accepted that if I’m going to do his laundry he’s going to have to rotate his undergarments. I don’t fold my underwear and dump them all in a drawer all kind of wadded up together. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/47 "2011-10-10T17:21:15Z")
You stayed 23 years with a man who cared how, or if, his underwear was folded?! ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/48 "2011-10-10T17:27:34Z")
I spent 6 weeks ironing and folding all of my underwear - making sure they were in perfect 6" squares. T-shirts too - ironed and folded. Once I got out of Basic Training - it was the end of that. If you can’t see it in public, it doesn’t need folding. Underwear, socks, and undershirts all get wadded up and stuffed in a drawer at my house. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/49 "2011-10-10T19:00:28Z")
How they are folded might not be random. Over the 29 years that I’ve been married my weight has “fluctuated” (mostly up but some yoyo dieting). My underwear and undershirts are placed in the drawer folded so that i can read the size and get the ones that fit at my current weight. Sometimes I do the laundry, sometimes she does but we both fold the same way. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/50 "2011-10-10T19:14:32Z")
My husband complained to me once – ONCE – about how his shirt was ironed. That was at least 40 years ago and I have not ironed a shirt of his since. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/51 "2011-10-10T19:49:09Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > My husband complained to me once – ONCE – about how his shirt was ironed. That was at least 40 years ago and I have not ironed a shirt of his since. Ever. Wow! You’re strict. But I guess holding a grudge is a good way to make a marriage last if you’ve made it 40+ years. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/52 "2011-10-10T19:59:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Wow! You’re strict. But I guess holding a grudge is a good way to make a marriage last if you’ve made it 40+ years. It’s not about a grudge. It’s about being equal partmers in a marriage. Besides, he was nasty when he complained. And he’s never asked me to iron anything again, either. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/53 "2011-10-10T20:18:15Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Besides, he was nasty when he complained. And he’s never asked me to iron anything again, either. You must be a really lousy ironer.😃 ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/54 "2011-10-10T20:41:59Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > You must be a really lousy ironer.😃 Why, yes I am. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/55 "2011-10-10T21:18:30Z")
I decided to start washing my own clothes back in April or May. My wife was completely freaked out (well, not really, but her reaction was different from the “Oh, OK” that I thought I would get) about it, asking me if she was doing anything wrong, etc. I just told her “Nah, just want to do my own clothes.” But since I have you fine folks to talk to, here were the issues: 1. She washes clothes a minimum of 5 days a week, largely because she only has 3-4 outfits that she wears. 2. She would wash mine as well, screwing up my system which I had spent many a picosecond thinking about: a. Wash clothes on Saturday/Sunday. b. Match up shirts, pants, and ties, hang on same hanger. c. Put hangers in order according to day that I want/need to wear them. So if I knew that a client was coming in on Thursday, my best “client outfit” would be fourth. d. Spend absolutely no more time that week thinking about what to wear. With her doing the clothes, I would have to actively _think_ about what to put on _every_ morning - “have I worn this already this week?” “What’s going on at the office… oh, shit! Where’s my nice white shirt!?!” Stuff like that, stuff that I don’t care at all to think about any more than I have to. 1. My clothes would not “wear” as long - with them being washed more than usual, they tended not to last. 2. I got sick of hearing the clothes washer/dryer constantly running, and it bothered me to know that they were running, in part, because my clothes were being washed. I said nothing because I didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but I couldn’t stand hearing the damned things running all the time, knowing that I was, somehow, contributing to the racket. I figured doing my own clothes was easier than “discussing” this, so there you have it. You may resume your lives, now knowing more about me than you ever wanted. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/56 "2011-10-10T22:09:12Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > She washes clothes a minimum of 5 days a week, largely because she only has 3-4 outfits that she wears… While I understand your system and your reasons for wanting to resume it, you’ve also screwed up her system. If she has so few outfits that she wears, she’s now still going to have to wash several times a week but now her loads will be tiny. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/57 "2011-10-10T22:30:13Z")
Yes, but since I constantly exhort her to buy more clothes, I can’t be blamed if she _won’t_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/58 "2011-10-10T22:34:56Z")
I wash. I fold t-shirts in half, roll up, put on one side of the drawer. I fold skivvies in half, roll up, put on other side. I stack flat socks of differing colors in piles in another drawer. I do this not because I’m the amiable laundry fairy, but because Mr. Sali wakes up in the morning fully on auto-pilot. In order for him to get dressed and out of the house, the clothes must be in certain places in a certain order. Anything else and there is delay, and chaos, and a great disturbance in the force. If this routine is what it takes to get him out the door on time, so be it! I earn my keep by laundry folding! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/59 "2011-10-10T22:49:30Z")
Well, he didn’t want to be pushy. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080/60 "2011-10-11T01:13:33Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > So… has it been established that he’s actually been unhappy with the undie-folding all this time? Or maybe he’s just recently learned about a new revolutionary process and wants you to try it out? > > Anyway, my undies don’t get folded at all. I lay them flat in a stack. Newly-laundered pairs go to the bottom of the pile, and I wear whatever’s on top each day. It’s a pretty simple system. I did ask him after I started the thread. It’s a space thing. We moved awhile back and he got a different size drawer. He also said it really wasn’t a big deal to him, just something he thought to mention when he saw me putting them away. It sure made for a fun thread for me though. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-years/599080.md?page=2)