Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
If Henry Ford did my Laundry
I know Henry Ford is a complicated figure, and I’m not going to justify his politics, but the man understood efficiency. While I’m glad I don’t have a job where I have to perform the same motion over and over, I do think about efficiency all the time. When I’m cleaning or doing the laundry, or any rote task, I find it more interesting to challenge myself to do it in the most streamlined and thorough way possible.
Usually, my children do their own laundry, but last week, before we left for spring break, my twins and I all went down to the laundry room together. It was very hard for me to keep my mouth shut while watching them fold. You see, when I am folding, I try to be as efficient as possible. I play Henry Ford: First pull out all of the dishtowels and fold them in the same way; then I do the same for my husband’s boxers and my T-shirts. It’s my own little assembly line. When it’s time to stack things back in the cart to take it upstairs, I put everything in so I can put it away as I make my way through the apartment. The napkins are on top, because I pass through the dining room first. Then the dishtowels, for the kitchen, then my clothes, and last my husbands. This way, I decant in the most efficient way and keep my stacks neat and intact. I also fold with the designated space in mind. For example, my jeans fit best in my drawers when I fold them into thirds, while my dishtowels fit best in my kitchen drawer when I fold them into sixths. Sounds crazy, I know. But it means everything fits neatly into my drawers, even when every item I own is clean and put away.
With all of this specificity, I had a lot of advice I wanted to give my twins, but I bit my tongue. I figure they will purposely ignore any advice I give them. You, however, are another story. You can learn from my hard-won wisdom. Perhaps laundry and cleaning are boring, but if you focus on precision instead of on all the things you’d rather be doing, you may find some satisfaction in the task at hand, and you can reap the benefits: Your space would be cleaner, your clothes will last longer, your home will run more smoothly.
I’m not a machine. In fact, by nature I’m not methodical at all. But in the same way that some people find serenity through mediation, I find stacking those dishtowels into neat piles to be very calming. My twins may have to figure that out on their own, but I’m not your mother, so you can take my advice—I promise it’s good.