Things I Miss: Mom’s Free Laundry Service

Chores are definitely one of the cons of apartment living. When I was one of six inhabitants at home, it was pretty easy to get away with doing little or nothing to help around the house. Now that I’m all alone, I don’t have that luxury.

If I don’t cook, I don’t eat. If I don’t do the dishes, the sink fills up with nastiness. If I don’t take out the garbage, I have to live with the smell. If I don’t vacuum and clean, dirt and dust become my unruly roommates.

But perhaps the chore that I most took for granted was laundry. My mom dominated the laundry cycle. If you put a shirt in the hamper in the morning, there was a good chance you could be wearing it fresh again after school. My dad kicked in and helped a lot, too. I learned how to do laundry, and actually probably helped more than my siblings. Still, I could probably count the number of laundry rotations I did per year on two hands.

So most of the time, I had someone doing my laundry for me. And do you know what it cost me? Nothing. My mom would probably call it the labor of love. But let’s be honest, she was spoiling me (not that I ever complained).

The dirty details: I was down to my next-to-last pair of clean underwear this weekend. My pop-up hamper was overflowing. Finally, I had to face the facts. It was laundry time, like it or not.

It’s not because I’m lazy. OK, that’s a lie. It’s partly because I’m lazy and partly because I’m cheap. It costs $1 for every wash cycle and $0.75 more for every dry cycle of laundry. So I’m in no hurry to rush dirty laundry through. It does make me extra careful about clothing selections though.

I’m sure my mom would be happy to let me use the washer and dryer at home. She’d probably even rotate it for me. But I know this is an area where I have to turn away the kindness in favor of learning responsibility. Just don’t expect to see the T-shirt I wore yesterday to resurface until December. Print this post