Washing clothes, is it a chore?

I only ask because of my experience today, housewife's of the world unite!

OK, maybe I have a pretty strange wife, you decide, my mind is already made up.

So, today, i am out in the garden, wiring lights, painting walls and pressure washing ponds (after removing fish) to make summer in our garden worth sitting in ( 80m long by 40m wide).

Ok, i put my glasses on to do the final junction box, live + live, neutral + neutral, earth + earth, all wires match and i am then told ........

You do F*** All around the house! I do all the washing around here!!

OK wife ( i have not told her yet) i have just tried one of your chores that gets you so damned pissy, question as in subject line. Let me run you by the standard operation, you are in no way shape or form standing in a river.

Op 1 = Open Door of washing machine
Op 2 = Load clothes into drum
Op 3 = Close Door
Op 4 = Open Dispenser Drawer
Op 5 = Load Detergent and Softener
Op 6 = Select Programme
Op 7 = Press Start
Op 8 = go put feet up, make a cuppa and watch TV until you hear a longish beep ( the sound of the machine telling you the cycle is complete)

Chore? or an excuse for one?

Cheers

CbG

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor
Who does the ironing?

a reply to: DISRAELI

Me

She thinks the tumble dryer removes creases and put them straight to hanger

LOL! Laundry is easy for me, my washer and dryer are right here in my apartment, soap goes right in with the clothes, when it's done, throw clothes in dryer, close the door and wait for the beep. Then of course there is all the folding and hanging things up, but meh, there's only me and my husband, so no bigee.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: corblimeyguvnor
Who does the ironing?

Don't buy anything that needs ironing! Makes things so much easie

Seems to me you need a heart to heart talk with your S.O. on the nature of work and your contributions. Perhaps you ought to switch places for awhile and let her do all the pressure washing and electrical wiring while you do the laundry.

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

Washing clothing is a chore in the sense that it is far more complicated than that. However, it is the only bit of housework I don't mind doing.

Let me elaborate.

1.) Clothing must be sorted - Wash like colors together. I typically do darks, lights and whites.

2.) You must also pay attention to washing instructions for each garment - Regular wash, delicate wash, hand wash. So see step one and sort the regulars and delicates and hand wash into darks, lights and whites.

3.) You know have six piles of laundry at least.

4.) Pay attention to drying instructions. You can wash some things, but you can't dry them. They either need to be laid flat or hung to dry. When removing clothing from the washer, pay attention to those items. It helps that most delicates won't go into the dryer and most regulars will. Hand wash pretty much never does.

5.) Establish your rhythm. Make sure you balance your loads so the washer doesn't get imbalanced or it won't wash through and make a racket.

6.) Know how long to dry. More in the dryer means longer time to dry.

7.) know what you can fold and what needs hanging.

originally posted by: Night Star

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: corblimeyguvnor
Who does the ironing?

Don't buy anything that needs ironing! Makes things so much easie

Non ironing shirts and trousers? where do i get those bad boys lol

ETA: i travel a lot so also take a travel iron for my clothes, for the next meeting!

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

Hang 'em to dry and do your best to straighten them out so they dry straight. You can also check the tags before purchase for easy wear stuff which is supposed to be less difficult to wrinkle.

a reply to: schuyler

Let her loose with 240v and 30amp ....... not without training my friend, lol not a chance ........ hmmmmmmm thinking about it

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: corblimeyguvnor
Who does the ironing?

That is a question and a half!

As a man who does all the washing as my other lady half is the main breadwinner I can say that it is a ball breaker of a task.

For a start the most of the clothes are upstairs and the washing machine is downstairs so you are carrying crap in a basket downstairs.

Then you have to take into account that different clothes need washing differently so have to be sorted into categories.

Then once washed on the correct setting in the correct categories they need to be dried, often in different manners, tumble dryer(hot or cool) drip dry ect.

Then you have to decide if the weather means you can put them on the line to dry and that is a twat of a job in itself as you are now taking stuff that was upstairs and then downstairs outside and individually hanging it on a line while keeping an eye on the weather before going out a few times to see if it is dry and when it is taking it off one by one, putting it back in a basket and bringing it back inside, but still downstairs.

Then when it is washed and dried in the correct manner it must not only be deemed ironed or not ironed but then sorted into person specific piles, taken back upstairs, then sorted into item specific piles and then put into different places, hangers, drawers ect.

So to answer the OP yes you are wrong it is not easy it is a horrible job and I am a man with a big beard that knows how to wire stuff up and use power tools.

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

Get her a big iron kettle.
Build a fire under it.
After she finishes making her own lye soap, she can do the wash in the kettle with a washboard, then rinse, followed by wringing out the water with a hand wringer.
Then she can hang the clothes on the line and while she is waiting on them to dry... tell her to make you a damn sandwich!

That is how my grandmother did the wash, and she had 12 children.

a reply to: ketsuko

Ah, those symbols got me ..... didn't know what they meant, is it a chore though?

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

I used to not mind doing laundry and then we bought one of the new HE (High Efficiency) washers that doesn't work and requires you wash your clothes twice to get close to the job the old washers did in one load. I freaking hate the new washers. It uses more water since I have to do my laundry twice or double the wash time to get the same results.

On topic: No, it isn't hard to do laundry, but I don't enjoy it either.

a reply to: nonspecific
No upstairs, i live in a bungalow

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

If you hate doing it, yes. I don't mind it, but it takes me all day to get through ours. And if you do it wrong, you can ruin a piece of clothing.

My husband helped me by doing our laundry once and he shrunk one of my sweaters to where I couldn't wear it anymore. He didn't pay attention to the washing instructions and put it in the hot dryer instead of hanging it.

a reply to: butcherguy

LOL, thanks

It's simple..... stop doing so much.

I do get your point, and believe that you are in a good relationship....
But, still, it has to come from two sides....
No relationship works if it only comes from either one....

Really, have a chat, and see here you stand in the relationship....

I have to say this: turning on a washing machine is just pressing a button..

a reply to: ketsuko

Ve have ways of making you care

LOL, sounds like a laundry commercial add