A Little Symbol Deciphering

For years now labels on clothes have included "laundry care symbols".  And for years now, I haven't had a clue what they mean.  I am very particular when it comes to doing my laundry, and always follow the instructions as they are printed.  I want to get the best wear out of our clothes, and so anything I can do to lengthen the life of them is okay with me.  Recently, however, a few new articles of clothing have come through the wash without any "words" printed giving the proper instructions ..... only those little symbols.  So I have been forced to try and decipher just exactly what they mean.  It really doesn't seem to be that difficult, and perhaps all of you already figured this out years ago when someone deemed it a necessary thing to do.   But just in case there is someone out there like me that hasn't taken the time to figure them out, here is a little chart which links to a better chart with a pdf version that you can print up and have handy right in your laundry room:

Now, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief ......
 

Laundry Duty

I learned long ago that laundry was going to be a necessity of living.  The first time that the temptation came along to grumble about doing the laundry, I told myself that I might as well enjoy it as grumbling about it would never, ever come to any good.  So I don't mind doing laundry a bit.  In fact, I kind of enjoy taking the piles of dirty laundry and turning them into neat and tidy little piles of folded clean laundry. 

Today as I was folding clothes I was thinking about how much of a responsibility the task of laundry holds.  Everyone depends on me to get it accomplished.  Of course my older kids can do their own laundry, and they do sometimes, but I have always thought that if I need to wash a load of "whites", why run the washer and dryer an extra time just by having them do their own load of "whites" later on.

I also always do a few things just so doing the laundry never seems overwhelming.  Approximately twice a week I pull all of the clothes out of the hamper and sort them.  My preference is to then layer the clothes back in a laundry basket, by load, so that I don't have laundry spread out all over the place while it is waiting to be washed.  And then my biggest rule of all is that when a load finishes drying -- I always pull it out of the dryer and fold it on the spot.  That way the clean laundry doesn't just get piled up and wrinkly.  And this includes socks.  They need to be sent back to whomever they belong right away just so no one is wishing they had a clean pair of socks to put on.

To me, this really is a great service that I can do for my family, and to hear them thank me when I pass them a freshly folded batch of clothes really does make it all worthwhile.

Laundry Day

Laundry is an inevitable part of life. Realizing that many years ago, I decided that the only way to tackle the job was to simply enjoy it. There is nothing positive about agonizing over laundry day. When I am doing laundry, instead of focusing on the unending repetitiveness of the task at hand, I think of how nice it must be for my family to always be able to reach into a drawer or closet and find clean clothes waiting for them. I enjoy seeing them walk around the house with socks that are white and clean. I also enjoy thinking of the simple pleasure that comes with using a fresh clean towel. This is an opportunity that I can give to my family and create a comfortable and pleasing atmosphere for them.

My personal laundry schedule is to gather up all of the laundry on Mondays and Thursdays. That seems to work out just fine for us. I try to get through all of it as quickly as I can before the next Monday or Thursday rolls around. Speaking of which, today is Thursday ..... I guess I had better begin my task of which I truly don't mind a bit doing.