Monday, July 2, 2007

Battle of the Sexes - Laundry Edition

(or, Men are from Mars, where evidently they don’t do laundry)

“After enlightenment, the laundry”
Zen Proverb


Female Method
Mom (aka ‘the laundress’) announces to the family that she’s going to be washing a load of light-colored clothes and asks for additional dirty items to make a full load.

Despite hearing strong denials that any additional dirty clothing exists, she manages to fill at least half a laundry basket with additional items. She proceeds to start the laundry, adjusting the water and soap levels as necessary.


Male Method
Dad, to self: “hmmm, these three shirts need to be washed.” He proceeds to the laundry room and places only the three shirts in the washer (despite overflowing laundry hamper immediately beside washing machine), adds a full scoop of laundry soap and leaves the water setting on “High.”

8 comments:

Sheepish Annie said...

Ah-ha! I did not know this...single women are in complete control of the laundry. This would make a fascinating psychological study!

Anonymous said...

The men do it on purpose so that the woman will bustle in saying "no no, let me do that" because by her standards he's doing it wrong. Same goes for housework in general...anything my husband cleans involves half a bottle of cleanser and a roll or two of paper towel, no matter how small the job! It's just a guy thing.

Joanne said...

Oh, I think this really depends on the guy... The professor does laundry very competently, and wastes less water than I do. He also cleans bathrooms and kitchen. He doesn't notice large piles of dust bunnies and floof on the floor and never vacuums, though. We're all different in this regard. It has to do with how our moms taught to clean. The professor's mom was mostly a good teacher in that department!

However, since the professor's gone, I did the laundry responsibly on Monday as usual. I thought the dogs might appreciate it if I wore clean undies...

Sheila E said...

Men Do Laundry....Wow, what a concept!! I didn't know that!
*Mental note*...must pass this information onto DH in my house ;)
Thanks for that....can I quote you?

Anonymous said...

that sums things up nicely!

Kris B said...

It's sad to say but the male's in my household use the same method (insert eyeball roll here).

Anonymous said...

My DH isn't allowed to do laundry. He thinks you throw everything in and turn it on. As long as you use cold water, it will be fine. Heh!

He does dishes, gardening and canning, so I don't complain, much.

Melanie said...

Evidently, the poplulation of Mars are nudists. DH does laundry competently now as clothes are not optional on this planet and he's been in training for 36 years. Sonny boy was a whole 'nother story.