The Girlfriend™ was staying at my apartment for a couple days before departing for her final semester of college. Unfortunately, I had to work. As I was walking out the door, I asked her for one small favor: if she had time, could she wash a load of laundry for me? Just one load (whites), didn’t have enough of anything else for a full load. She assures me that this won’t be a problem, and I depart for work.
I return from my day in Dilbertville, and sure enough, the whites have been washed, dried, and folded. (Yay!!!) As I’m changing out of my work clothes and into my sitting-on-my-ass-at-home clothes, I notice something odd:
The Girlfriend™ has folded my dirty clothes.
Who in their right mind folds dirty clothes? Certainly not me, I don’t even like folding clean clothes. Folding dirty clothes (which will just be jumbled up in the washing machine in a few days anyway) seems like a complete waste of time.
Dress shirts and pants really need to be kept in a non-crumpled condition between wear & wash, or they become impossibly wrinkled. But undies now, well that’s just crazy!
I never fold dirty clothes, though I do fasten the button or snap so it won’t bang around and tangle in the wash. A friend of mine always neatly folds her dirty stuff, however, and even fastens every button. I wouldn’t take the time–especially when on vacation!
I have a neighbor who has a friend who lets her dry her clothes at her place. So my neighbor washes her clothes here, folds them and takes them to dry at her friend’s.
Don’t know which is stranger: that or folding dirty clothes.
I’ve only folded dirty clothes when I was transporting them elsewhere. Like when I went on vacation and accumulated a pile of dirty clothes. I folded the dirty stuff to keep the underwear discreetly hidden. It made packing easier, too.
I’ve also folded dirty clothes so they’d all fit in the laundry basket and I could carry it around without worrying stuff would fall out. Of course, since you didn’t have a lot of laundry this doesn’t apply.
Be sure to thank your girlfriend for doing the laundry.
I fold dirty clothes that I can still wear. I have a stack of stuff in the bathroom. Half is “fat pants” and henleys. The other half is sweaters I can wear again. Stuff that actually has to be washed is on the floor. Then I do a sweep every morning on my way out the door and toss 'em into the hamper.
Ok, I admit it. I fold my dress shirts and slacks, but only because it’s easier to fill the laundry bag before I take them to the cleaners. No, really…
Same here. I have also, on rare occasions, folded clothes that were going to be worn again, but that’s only when I’m on a real cleaning binge. Anything that’s going to get washed gets stuffed in the hamper.
Me too. I work at home sitting here alone at the computer, so my clothes don’t tend to get all sweated up, and who cares if I wear the same thing a few times before it goes in the wash? I fold the stuff that’s still wearable and stack it where I can tell it from the totally clean clothes and the stuff that’s irredeemable until the next washing. I also recycle sweaters, even if I’ve worn them in public, especially if I’ve only worn them for a few hours.
I live in a dry climate, and can often get away with wearing clothes another day, especially jeans. I fold anything I plan on wearing again, but then you can’t really call it dirty.
Another “me too” here. When I go for my conjugal weekends, when I get ready for bed, I fold that day’s shirt and and lay the jeans flat and folded in half. Then I roll the shirt and undergarments in the jeans and tuck them back into my bag. By the time I leave, I have all my dirties in one compact package to be dumped in the hamper or the laundry room when I get back to the house.
But at home, everything gets dumped into the hamper, unless I have a spot that needs to be treated - then I treat it and leave it on top of the washer.
I don’t fold MY dirty clothes (they get tossed in the laundry basket at home, or bundled in a separate area (from the clean stuff) of my traveling bag when I’m up north visiting my boyfriend, but my boyfriend folds HIS!! I do, however, fold all my CLEAN clothes, short of the ones that get hung up in the closet.
The first time I did his laundry, it shocked me to see folded dirty clothes in his laundry tub. To my way of thinking, folding dirty clothes is a pointless waste of time, and who’d be crazy enough to do THAT? But what almost made me faint was what happened after I FINISHED his laundry and was folding the clean clothes. He said, “Oh, wow, that’s great, but you didn’t have to fold them TOO!”
He’s a sick one, isn’t he? (But that’s why I love him…)
