Laundry....

[Corinna]

UMMM at least yours get it in a basket ,Hubby has a pile by the door I'm supposed pick up and take down. His theroy is it's all right there. The 22yr old runs outof clothes and decides at 10pm hey mom i need underware for tommorrow. I have finally tought him how to use the washer , but he forgets they have to get in the dryer to dry. Of course it's my fault the next morning.
Oh I feel your pain!

[Laura's Babies]

LOL! Yes, don't we all know that all to well!

One day, a long, long time ago... I had 4 children and a job. This day was a Saturday and everyone was off doing their own thing with all their friends, hubby was gone hunting and where was I? I was home, cleaning and doing the weekly wash so I could hurry up and run to town to get groceries. I looked at ALL those dirty clothes and all the mess I had swept up in a pile on the floor and realized that hardly ANY of it was MINE! There were piles of shoes, school papers, assorted socks scattered about, toys and a lot of dirt tracked in and there was NOBODY around to pick up their stuff to put it away! Hummmmm.... It was very obvious that I was left alone to clean up after them while they went on to their life of fun and relaxation... NOT ANY MORE! I threw the broom down, did just my own washing and made a poster for the fridge that their maid had QUIT! From now on, you want clean clothes, YOU wash them! You want a clean dish to eat out of? YOU wash it yourself! You want a clean house, YOU clean it.. These Saturdays, from now on, were MINE to do what I wanted to do. I would go get the groceries still, but anything else they needed or wanted, was up to them to do themselves.

That was the day their maid quit and she never came back.

I would instruct them on the proper way to load the washer and dryer and if they broke anymore, then they could do their was by hand or take it to the laundry mat out of their own money. My kids did their wash for years and never broke the washer or dryer so it CAN be done properly.

I will tell you this though. There IS something about how Mama does it so much better. The whites are whiter, the clothes smell better and are folded neater... You should see how some of those deckhands do their laundry out on the river.... It only takes them about one trip to change from white underwear to the darker colored. They never realized you didn't throw your new white socks, T-shirts and underwear in with your greasey, sooty, filthy work clothes and you don't shove them down in a box when they come out of the dryer and have them come out looking neat. Their mothers never taught them how to wash. There is a real world out there that they will have to live in one day and Mama will not always be around to do things for them.

(This only works with older kids, NOT small ones... Hope I wasn't to harsh and offended anyone)