Laundry Day

Laundry. It never goes away. More matter how many loads you wash, dry, fold and put away, there is always more. One shower and you have another load.

As I was growing up, Monday was always laundry day. We washed load after load and hung them on the clothesline. When we remodeled the upstairs in 1972, Mama got a dryer! No more baskets of wet clothes.

Today, when I sort our laundry I sort the clothes into whites, darks and towels and that is the order that I wash them. Until recently, I didn't understand why.

Jerry was building a rail on my Mom and Dad's basement steps last week. As Jerry was working, we were talking about things in the basement during my childhood. I mentioned the old wringer washing machine and the rinsing tubs.

Dad just happened to mention that you used the water in the machine for EVERY load of your laundry. You just washed one load after another in the same water until you were finished.

Then it hit me! Using the same water over and over is the reason you wash the white clothes first. They are washed in the cleanest water, then the darks and then the towels. Who knew? Not me. I never got it until that moment!

Now on the day I do laundry (not just on Monday anymore), I know that I can wash the darks first if I want too and I don't even have to feel quilty about doing so!