The Laundry Police

I have always professed myself to be nutty. I think I want to add weird to the list. I was doing the laundry that I should have done over the weekend. I starting thinking about how strange my laundry habits are. I start the water running. Once the water covers the bottom of the washer, I add my liquid detergent. Then I let the washer fill up and THEN add my clothes. I can't stand the thought of my laundry being done any other way.

I know people that put their clothes in first then add detergent and fill up the washer. Here is where I become strange. My thought process is that if you dump liquid detergent on your clothes, it is sinking into the articles of clothing that it lands on. It is not evenly distributed throughout the wash water, therefore my clothes do not get clean. I'm not knocking how you wash your clothes, I just like my way.

The other strange thing I do is rinse the cap out in the washer. I do this for two reasons. One-if you don't rinse the cap out, your detergent bottle gets all yucky. The other is that no NO WIRE HANGERS EVER!!!!! detergent should be wasted. See I can't even just talk about my strange behavior, I have to explain it also. I never put any of my dress clothes in the dryer. I really believe they last longer this way. I wash them and then hang them up to dry. Now, when the rinse cycle comes on, I add my fabric softener and then let my clothes soak before completing the rinse cycle. The few minutes I let them soak gives them an extra softness. (Or so I like to tell myself).

Why do I do these strange things? I am oh so picky about my laundry, yet at any given moment there is usually a stack of unopened mail on my kitchen table. Or three pairs of shoes under the coffee table. Or a sink full of dishes. Yet I am like the LN (Laundry Nazi). Then I got to thinking how I think that other people do strange things. Like parking your car five miles away as to avoid being dinged by another door. That seems strange to me. I am too lazy to park that far away. (Although I may feel differently after I spend a fortune on a new vehicle)

Before I started school, I would spend at least a couple of hours on Saturday cleaning my car inside and out. Someone I knew thought that was strange. They made the comment to someone else that I was obsessed or in love with my car. No, not really. I paid good money for that car and I wanted to take care of it. I used to think it was really strange for people to clip coupons. I mean is it really worth all that effort? I guess if you are saving money, then yes. (I said that because I have recently been encouraged by an episode of Jon & Kate + Eight to save money on groceries. That woman feeds a family of ten on $150 bucks a week. I spend about $100 bucks a week.ON.THREE.PEOPLE. )

I used to think that people who are germphobes were a little strange. I have a friend who hates illness so much, that if there is a hint of illness she will not go anywhere near the person or persons reported to have been sick. I thought that was just kooky.My dad having the worst strain of staph (MRSA) and being in the hospital for months topped off with a three day run of a stomach virus I caught cured me of that. When I was at the hospital when Alicia had her baby. I just kept thinking about how full of germs hospitals are. Then I proceeded to obsessively sanitize my hands. The the things that seem so strange to us, make perfect sense to others. For me, it makes perfect sense to evenly distribute my laundry soap, or to always pre-rinse my dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. I think one of my sisters has said that if you have to pre-rinse them, you might as well hand wash them.

I am convinced that even though I am weird....and nutty, that's OK. That's me. That's what makes me who I am. It's what makes everyone else who they are. Who am I to think anyone else is strange? I mean, I am the person who used Pam cooking spray to lubricate the parts in my daughter's car door.....and the person that thinks that papers should be lined up perfectly on the left hand corner......and the person who has all of my work papers organized, yet the paperwork I have at home is in shambles.

Well I the LN must go and deal with the laundry that is in the dryer. Before it gets all wrinkly and I have to run the dryer.Again.