Laundry: My Most Dreaded Chore

Only three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and laundry.

Laundry…my nemesis.  It never ends, and I’m not very good at it.  I’ve tried many things over the years to make it work better.  I’ve done one load a day over the course of a week, and seven loads in one day to knock it out in one fell swoop.  I’ve tried every liquid, powder, and self-contained detergent ball on the market. I’ve sorted by color, texture, person, and level of stench.  And I’ve come to this conclusion: I hate laundry.

Just when I think I’m getting it down, something like this tumbles out of the hamper:

How is this even possible?  Do you know what’s going to get these stains out?  NOTHING.  Actually, I take that back.  I could spend 20 hours of my life pre-treating, soaking, rinsing, soaking again, and praying over this shirt and maybe some of the stains would wash out.  But we all know that isn’t going to happen.  I’m more likely to throw it away.

And don’t even get me started on baseball pants.  Those things are white only once; the day we buy them from the store.

As if clothes weren’t enough, there are all these other things that need to be washed like bath towels, sheets, tablecloths, swim suits, swim towels, etc.  If I could afford it, my family would use towels for a month then throw them away and get new towels.  Hey, it works for contact lenses.  As for sheets, I’m on a quarterly system of washing that I think has contributed to my kids’ strong immune systems.  Those sheets get washed every 3 months whether they need it or not!  I’m not saying I’m proud of it.  I’m just being honest.  Sheet washing is obviously not a high priority around here.

And this!  Does this look familiar?  My fellow Dallas Moms Blog contributor, Gabrielle, posted this photo on Instagram recently that bemoans one of the most classic problems with laundry:

You should see the mountain of laundry I have to deal with every week.  Oh wait, you have seen it…at your own house!  It’s not pretty, is it?  On Mother’s Day weekend my husband gave me the sweetest gift of doing all the laundry for me.  Afterward he said, “I had no idea how much this family stinks.”  Yep.  That about sums it up.

This is the point where I could ask readers to share their best laundry tips and secrets for removing stains and accomplishing the overwhelming task of keeping everyone in clean clothes. You’re more than welcome to do that in the comments, but I’m not sure it would make any difference. Sometimes it helps to just vent (or scream it from the rooftops, “I hate laundry!!!”), and then get back to it.  Can I get an Amen?

Does anyone share my hatred of laundry?  What’s your least favorite chore?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!