Laundry Talk

The other day I was thinking about something to do with laundry that may seem strange, and I already know this post is going to veer off course and talk about something besides laundry first, but it's necessary for you to have a little background information about me.

First I have to admit that I'm sort of a germaphobe. I didn't used to be, but as the years go by I get worse. The kind of germs I'm talking about are...how do I put this delicately...butt germs. I hate toilets. I wipe my toilet at home down every day with antibacterial wipes. If I have to use someone else's toilet, or horror of horrors a public toilet, I make sure every part of it is covered up with either a toilet seat cover (called a cowboy hat in our family, I don't know why) or toilet paper. I do everything in my power to not let my kids use public toilets. I just hate toilets and any area that is closet to toilets. For example, the other day the container I keep my makeup in fell off the counter. A bunch of my makeup ended up near and behind the toilet. I had to throw it all away. Mike said I should just use antibacterial wipes and wipe them off, but I just couldn't. Luckily not all of it landed near the toilet so I do still have some makeup, but I did lose quite a bit. I can justify throwing it away, though, because a lot of it is old and I don't use it anyway. The reason I hate toilets should be obvious. There are butt germs all over them. Now that you have some background info on my phobia of butt germs, I'll get to the real reason for this post: laundry.

As I'm reading blogs I especially like to read about any tips that people have on organizing or how to make their households run smoother. I have read a lot about laundry. From what I've read it seems like a lot of people will take their dirty clothes to the laundry room in a laundry basket, wash and dry the clothes, and then put them in the same laundry basket to take them around the house and distribute them and put them away. I got to thinking about how many people do that. I was on the phone with a friend of mine the other day and I asked her if she does that, and she does. I don't do that. The reason I don't is because I know that a pile of dirty clothes usually contains underwear, and with all the clothes being mixed together I know that butt germs from the underwear have most likely touched the other clothes. The germs have also probably touched the laundry basket, and I don't want to put clean clothes in a basket that has butt germs on it. When I do laundry I carry the whole hamper down to the laundry room, sort the clothes into a three-bag sorter and then take the hamper back where it belongs. Then I put the dirty clothes in the washer and start it. Then I have to go wash my hands before I touch anything because it's extremely likely that I got some butt germs on my hands. One thing that really drives me nuts is if, as I'm emptying the clothes from the hamper into the sorter, I find a non-clothing item in with the dirty clothes, like a toy. If it's something that won't be ruined by being put through the washer, I will throw it in with the clothes. If it can't be put through the washer then I will wipe it down with my favorite anti-bacterial wipes.

I want everyone to know that I'm willing to let you know how weird I am if I can just get one person to change the way they do laundry. Just think about what kind of germs are getting on your clean clothes when you put them in a basket that had dirty clothes in it. We must stop butt germs from spreading.