Laundry Day

There are so many things that we military spouses look forward to when it comes to our other half coming home. And I'm sure I don't have to go into great detail. But it's nice to share a life with the one you love. Hug and kiss them everyday, share a meal, not have to sleep alone, have a conversation that isn't over a crackly phone and then cut off 5 minutes in, just your basic everyday life happenings that we all take for granted. Our life is not normal. And I'm not sure it ever has been or will be. When your mate finally comes home all of those things come back into your life. But I can honestly say that there is one thing that every military wife dreads about their husband coming home.

The Laundry!!

There are only 4 washers and dryers on my husband's ship. For about 3,000 people. Unless he takes his laundry to the ships laundry service, in which case you never really get YOUR clothes back. Yes...you did take in white shirts, socks and underwear into the laundry service, and you will get back all of the those items, they just wont be yours. Yours will be nowhere to be found, and you will be given Seaman Smith's laundry in return. And if you've ever met my husband, you will know that he isn't the fluff and fold type. Most sailors aren't. They work 16 hours a day....Everyday. And most of the time they choose between sleep or eating. Which is why they all come home 15 pounds lighter, sleep always wins out. They have no time for laundry. They re-wear their clothes and uniforms until they can't take it anymore, and that's usually about the time that they are pulling back into port. How lucky for them. They can take it all home and dump it in a pile on the living room floor for their wife to do.

So not only do we wives have all of the fun stuff to do that we look forward too. Like cooking our hard working sailor a hot meal every night, getting up at 5 am to make their breakfast just for fun, and baking their favorite cookies. Did I mention that ship food is horrible and Brandon came home looking like a hostage. We also have to do the dreaded laundry. And yes, it will take all week to do. No one has enough hours in the day to do 20 loads of laundry and keep up with the rest of the house work too. Brandon likes to bring it home in chunks so that it doesn't overwhelm me. He's sneaky that way. He will just keep bringing home bags of it. And just when I think I'm done I have 5 more loads to do. It's not that I don't love helping him out and doing his laundry for him, it's just a lot of work. And I find that extreme organization in this case is a must. So I came up with this list of tips to help out the military wife, or anyone really, when faced with the haunting task of doing her mate's laundry.

Tips that I have learned over the years of doing mass loads of laundry.

1.) Have your sailor bring home the entire amount of laundry. That way you can see what you have to work with. And you'll be able to tell how many loads you will be doing.

2.) Make a pile. It's ok to dump it on the living room floor. Sure, there will be no room to walk, but it makes it easier to sort.

3.) Baskets. And lots of them. I have about 8 laundry baskets that I keep in the closet for when he gets home. I pull them out and line them up. 4 for sorting and 4 for the clean clothes.

4.) Sorting. Use your basic sorting instincts here. I sort it all in loads and each basket will be washed together.

5.) Pretreat. I don't even want to know what those stains are or where he got them. Spray and wash does the trick. I lay everything out and do it all at once before I dump them in the washer.

6.) Bleach. I use bleach for all of Brandon whites. They all seem to have a tinge to them when they make it home. A little bleach goes a long way in making them like new again.

7.) Dryer sheets. I use them on everything except his uniforms. You don't want his uniforms to be all soft and cuddly. It makes it harder to look sharp when you're ironing them if they just went through a teddy bear cycle in the dryer.

8.) Fold it right away. It you empty your dryer and then refill it right away it will be easier on you. Then proceed to your folding area and fold your load. That way you wont have 3 loads of unfolded clean laundry waiting for you at the end of your day. When you are already busy with other house work and a baby it sure does make a difference to have everything clean and folded. Then as you fold, sort your loads into your baskets that you set aside. For example, all of the socks underwear and t shirts together. Then when you have to repack his sea bag everything will be easier.

9.) Iron. Do all of your ironing in one day. After all the uniforms are clean, set them all aside. Break out all of your ironing equipment, including starch for those nice extra sharp creases. Get it all done at once so that you don't have to keep your ironing board up all week.

10.) Reminder- Just because a ball of folded socks are in the pile, does not mean they are clean. And just a helpful hint, if it came in contact with the ship, it must be washed. The ship has it's very own distinct smell, or fowl odor I should say. Everything that goes on the ship ends up smelling like the ship. Just plan on washing EVERYTHING he brings home. Everyone will be happier because of it.