FROM THE HOME FRONT
Susan Martin: Oh chute! The wash is in the cellar
Last weekend, as I dropped a clean sock into the cats’ water dish on the basement landing, the question that arises from time to time popped into my head.
Would we be better off with a first-floor laundry?
I was bringing up some clean clothes from the basement when the pesky sock took a dive into the dish.
In my mind, the cons have always outweighed the pros. At least I have always tried to convince myself of that.
I also know people who have a laundry on the second floor, near the bedrooms. I never even think of that. I don’t want to give myself too many options.
So back to the first floor.
If we lived in a house with a laundry located near the kitchen, would we want to listen to the dryer running when we cooked dinner?
Would I want to be forever reminding my family to close the laundry-room door?
Would piles of clean laundry find a home on the kitchen table –even more than they do now?
I have lived in apartments with shared laundries. I also have lived in apartments with no laundry.
Having laundry facilities at all is a luxury. Still, sometimes I think.
Basement vs. first floor.
My husband, who pretty much takes care of his own laundry, has no problem with the laundry being in the basement.
He shoves his stuff in the washer, tosses it in the dryer, doesn’t dash down to retrieve it and rarely hangs anything on the line to dry.
If a few wrinkles set in, so be it.
I, on the other hand, carefully sort delicates from denims, lights from darks and always have separate loads for brights, kitchen towels and rags.
I try very hard to tumble dry low, remove promptly.
Mostly, though, I have always preferred the laundry in the basement because I hang so many of my own clothes and our daughter’s clothes. These go on a clothesline in the laundry area, which is located in the back corner of the basement.
I often wondered, where would I hang them on the first floor?
In the basement, they are out of sight (but, sigh, also sometimes out of mind. How many times have I remembered, straight out of the shower, that the shirt I want to wear is on the line in the basement?)
Still, even after the many trips I –or family members –may make in one Laundry Fest weekend, I think the laundry is in the right place.
I mean, if the laundry was on the first floor, think of the things I might miss:
• Walking down the staircase, where some of our daughter’s framed artwork hangs.
• Wondering if I ever will find a shade for the lamp stored on the floor near the workbench.
• Thinking that, yes, it’s about time to clean the cobwebs off the basement ceiling.
• Thinking that, yes, it’s about time to clean out the window wells.
• Wondering why our daughter waits until I am in the basement with the machines running to shout a question down the laundry chute.
• Wondering what would become of the laundry chute at all?
Some day, a first-floor laundry may be a must. For now, we’re fine. Now what did I do with that soggy sock?
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