I hate laundry. It never ends. Even if a miracle occurred and I finished all the laundry in the house, someone would walk in covered with mud and grass stains, strip off their clothes and toss them in the hamper, thereby creating a new load of laundry to do.

I have not seen the bottom of my hamper since the day I bought it. I don’t even know if it has a bottom. For all I know, it could be a huge tunnel of laundry going clear to the center of the earth, never ending, always half full of smelly socks and mustard stained t-shirts. At least, I hope that’s mustard.

There was a time that I didn’t care about laundry. When I was little, laundry was easy—I didn’t do it. One day I was wearing my last pair of clean underwear, and that afternoon the laundry fairy (also known as mom) magically placed a week’s worth of clean underwear in my drawer. In terms of laundry, this was the best time of my life.

Then I grew up.

But even then, I didn’t notice how much laundry I had. On Sunday afternoons, I would get together with friends at a Laundromat, eat chips and microwave burritos and watch my underwear spin around in the dryer. It was like a party, only better. I didn’t go home hung over and I had clean shirts for the rest of the week.

The best part was that if I went home for a weekend, the laundry fairy still lived with my parents. She’d grab that huge bag of dirty socks the minute I walked in the door and by the time I left Sunday night, the laundry fairy had repacked my entire suitcase with clean clothes, snacks and a couple of twenties. Life was pretty good.

Then one day, the laundry fairy went on strike. So I entered the “fluff and fold” phase of my laundry life. Fluff and fold is the ultimate luxury to twenty-somethings. You dump off your gross, disgusting, and smelly laundry at the Laundromat—and then you leave. A couple days later you pick it up and it’s folded, smells fresh and all the stains are gone. It’s like the laundry fairy moved into the Laundromat. Only in this phase, you leave the twenties with the laundry fairy, instead of finding them in your suitcase.

Then I got married. And I entered the “don’t touch my hand washables” phase. In our house, Hubby did laundry once. He managed to wash (and dry) a gorgeous angora sweater I had just bought for 40% off at Macy’s. When Hubby was finished with the laundry that day, my beautiful angora sweater was too small to fit a Barbie doll. I was horrified. I mean, how could I live with a man who couldn’t read a sweater label? So I took over the laundry duties. Now, to this day, I believe he did this on purpose, but I don’t have enough evidence to convict him.

Of course, even though married laundry involves twice as much washing as single laundry, at least you see the bottom of the hamper from time to time. It’s when you have a child that the laundry never ends. Who knew that one tiny little baby who can’t even speak or roll over could produce enough laundry for an army? And not one outfit is bigger than 6 inches, so why does your laundry multiply faster than rabbits in spring?

I think it has to do with the spit up. For the first year, both parents and baby smell like sour milk. It’s disgusting, actually. But it identifies you to the world. People smell you from miles away and know you have a baby. Now, some new parents are anxious about this smell. So they change their baby every time a little spit up appears on a onesie. And thus, the bottomless hamper appears in your house.

Anyway, my laundry life has come full circle. It’s pretty apparent that I have become the laundry fairy. I’m kind of disappointed, actually. I mean, the laundry fairy title just kind of stuck to me. There wasn’t any ceremony granting me freshly laundered wings. I didn’t get a magic wand equipped with the power to lift any stain. All I got was a bottle of Shout and some bleach.

And the dream that someday I will go back to fluff and fold. Or at least teach Hubby to read labels.

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1. pixielation Says:
   September 14th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

   I am the laundry fairy in our house, and my other half made sure quite early on that I knew he was literally incapable of doing laundry. It’s a very clever ploy that men have. The absolute FIRST post in my own blog is about this very same thing! (men and washing that is!)

   It’s enough to drive any woman to the laundromat!

2. Laurie Says:
   September 15th, 2009 at 12:57 am

   Finally! Someone who agrees with me!

   Thanks for stopping by!

   Laurie

3. mrsbear Says:
   September 18th, 2009 at 12:27 am

   As a mom of four and fellow laundry fairy, I can tell you honestly, I loathe laundry with every fiber of my being. Dishes coming in a close second. Luckily for me, my husband does his own laundry, so that just leaves me the other 5/6th of the work…hardly seems fair now that I think about it.

4. Darline Henkin Says:
   January 22nd, 2010 at 12:07 pm

   I enjoy reading the valuable information you offer in your articles.Great post, You make 100% valid points in a concise and pertinent fashion, This is a really good read for me, thank you very much for writing this

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