# Do you fold your underwear? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498 "2025-09-29T22:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/61 "2025-10-01T01:54:56Z")
Boxers are easy to fold in half. I’m not concerned if the edges line up. I ball up socks. I used to spend too much time carefully folding laundry. I eventually realized neatness doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/62 "2025-10-01T06:30:24Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I don’t want to be an asshole, but from now on, the stuff she mixes in with my stuff is just gonna be dumped on her side of the bed when it is just left in the dryer for me to sort through. Hubby does a lot of the laundry. He dumps everything on the bed, and then pairs socks and lays shirts out (so they aren’t in a wad), but doesn’t actually hang up anything or put any of my stuff away. I am perfectly happy with that, and appreciate that he pairs the socks. He does the same with his clothing, and then puts his away. I do the same when I take the clothes out of the dryer, except I put away my clothes and leave his for him to do the final folding. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/63 "2025-10-01T10:57:11Z")
Was gonna say that was my technique with late wife. Wash everything together, separate out all her stuff which is laid out neatly for minimum wrinkling, but don’t try to decipher her inscrutable filing system. She did the same for me. I’m so sad she’s gone. Second, thankfully ex-, wife solved that problem by insisting that I never touch any of her clothes or laundry. Don’t move the hamper(s), don’t touch the hangers nor drawers, just Don’t Touch My Stuff. I’m so happy she’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/64 "2025-10-01T11:44:04Z")
I also put them in order from black all the way through the spectrum ending with white. LOL ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/65 "2025-10-01T12:27:02Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Need an option for “Don’t wear under garments.” Yeah, but do you cram or fold? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/66 "2025-10-01T14:10:38Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > stop putting a sock through each leg hole. That seems like a good way to save a few seconds getting dressed in the morning; one leg motion puts both your underwear & socks on! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/67 "2025-10-01T14:25:50Z")
I like it, but… your Spiderman. But honestly, as I don’t care about my socks as long as they match. That would be OK. A sock through each leg hole, fold the undies in half, it’s a grab and go! ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/68 "2025-10-01T16:59:36Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > That seems like a good way to save a few seconds getting dressed in the morning; one leg motion puts both your underwear & socks on! Firefighter turn-out gear style! I like it! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/69 "2025-10-01T17:02:06Z")
I do all the laundry and put it all away. My wife stores her clothes slightly differently than me, so I put it away differently. She doesn’t fold underwear, so I just stack it in her drawer. She used to just pile it up, and I did too, but I decided to stack it and she hasn’t complained. I’m sure she doesn’t care. She did tell me not to fold them and I honor that request. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/70 "2025-10-01T21:21:09Z")
I don’t fold my underpants, and I don’t really need to cram them. I just toss them in the drawer. Can’t imagine why I’d take the trouble to fold them, and I’m surprised so many people here do. Just for the hell of it, I measured the interior of the drawer just now: 13" long by 12" wide by 7" deep. When I opened the drawer, it had room for a few more pairs of underwear without cramming, and I already had 16 pairs in there. So I don’t really need to cram, let alone fold. I don’t fold or roll my socks either, just toss them into the identical drawer underneath the underwear drawer. Besides, I do the laundry for the family, so I’ve got plenty of folding to do with sheets and towels. No need to add extra. T-shirts, OTOH: I’ve got quite a collection, and if I didn’t fold and organize them, I’d never be able to find the one I want. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/71 "2025-10-01T21:29:59Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I don’t want to be an asshole, but from now on, the stuff she mixes in with my stuff is just gonna be dumped on her side of the bed when it is just left in the dryer for me to sort through. Sounds like you need a basket dedicated to that purpose. **The clean-laundry basket:** Immediately transforms the _“Yeah here’s all your stuff that you bogarted into my laundry load and I dumped out, put it away yourself, bitch”_ vibe into _“Hey sweetie, I laid out all your washed clothes carefully in the clean-laundry basket to save you the trouble! 🥰 🥰 🥰 “_ ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/72 "2025-10-01T21:42:43Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > stop putting a sock through each leg hole. Duh. Actually, you have now got me wondering why the hell I **don’t** “pre-bundle” a pair of underwear with each pair of socks I put away, at least in sock-wearing weather. I need a pair of clean undies pretty much every time I need a pair of clean socks, right?! Wouldn’t it be convenient just to grab the one “combo pack” of garments in one go? Why have I always let my clothing storage practices be dictated by the tyrannical arbitrary principle of garment-type segregation??!? 😱 (This innovation could not be extended to include bras, though, unless you’re one of those billionaires who can afford to own a separate bra for each pair of undies and wash their bras after every wearing.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/73 "2025-10-01T21:49:46Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Stack the folded ones neatly then place the stack sideways in the drawer. Done correctly looks like a card catalog of underwear. This “file folding” technique is the official best way to store not only underwear but all other folded garments. You can see and access any garment you want without digging through a stacked pile. (If all the garments in the stack are actually or functionally identical, though, there’s not much point to using the “file folding” method. You might as well stack them vertically and just grab the one at the top every time.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/74 "2025-10-01T22:35:13Z")
Exactly what my Daddy did. He wore v-neck undershirts everyday. He’d place his unrolled black socks a pair of skivvies into a half folded shirt and make a burrito and lined them soldier like in his dresser drawer. He took time to teach me this technique, as if I was gonna put away his undies. Good grief. I did end up doing it often I was at his house. 😑 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/75 "2025-10-01T22:40:14Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > and just grab the one at the top every time. Nope. Totally wrong. If you want to do FIFO … When you put laundry away you have a bunch of each thing. So put the stack of clean new stuff on _top_ of the existing stack. When you want to take one out to wear, take the _bottom_-most. So much easier / smarter. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/76 "2025-10-02T02:21:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Nope. Totally wrong. If you want to do FIFO … > > When you put laundry away you have a bunch of each thing. So put the stack of clean new stuff on _top_ of the existing stack. > > When you want to take one out to wear, take the _bottom_-most. ? ISTM that “undies-rotating” posters here have described the opposite, but still equally FIFO, procedure: Namely, put the stack of just-washed pants _underneath_ the current stack from the last laundry load, and continue grabbing each day’s underwear off the _top_ of the stack. Assuming that 1. all your underwear goes through the wearing-and-washing cycle within two consecutive laundry loads, and 2. all garments in the same laundry load are assigned the same “age” in terms of the wearing cycle (since when you take out the clean laundry you can’t tell which identical underwear you wore yesterday versus last weekend), this situation is isomorphic to having only two pairs of underwear in the drawer, one from the just-finished laundry load and one from the previous load. It’s just as FIFO whether you put the newly washed one on top and then select your next pair from the bottom, or put the newly washed one at the bottom and grab the next pair off the top. And most people find it easier to grab the pants off the top of the stack rather than dig them out from the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/77 "2025-10-02T03:13:02Z")
Granted it’s equally FIFO on a batch level whether you take from the top and replace on the bottom or vice versa. They’re isomorphic methods. But given that taking is one item at a time and replacing is a stack of several at a time, it’s _vastly_ easier to place the fresh stack on the top and take one from the bottom than vice versa. The least effort expended is the sole legit measure of merit for all dumb adulting tasks. Of which laundry is a huge one. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/78 "2025-10-02T03:30:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > it’s _vastly_ easier to place the fresh stack on the top and take one from the bottom than vice versa I think you accidentally misspelled “it’s _apocalytically_ more troublesome to place the fresh stack on the top and take one from the bottom than vice versa”. Once every couple of weeks 1. pick up old stack 2. put down new stack 3. put down old stack 4. Pick up clean undies 5. GOTO 4 vs 1. Put down old stack 2. Try to extract clean undies from bottom of stack 3. Topple stack 4. Refold undies 5. Restack undies 6. GOTO 2 Note: I’m more of a buffer overflow kind of guy 1. Dump everything in the drawer 2. Get on with your day 3. GOTO 2 ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/79 "2025-10-02T04:19:59Z")
I’m a crammer but if I cared about FIFO, I’d 1. Put new undies on top. 2. Invert stack. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498/80 "2025-10-02T05:03:27Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > if I cared about FIFO, I’d > > 1. Put new undies on top. > 2. Invert stack. Give them a cookie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-fold-your-underwear/1023498.md?page=5)