by Mouse

Created on: December 30, 2010

If ever there was a 'dirty word' it's laundry! Time and again, this chore features prominently in 'Top Ten' lists of most hated chores. In all honesty, you've probably read this far and already had a strong emotive reaction one way or the other already.

Why is that? How does something so mundane invoke such strong feelings in people? Particularly those in the negative.

Well, first off, there's the fact that it is an inescapable part of life for just about everyone on the planet. It's there - and if we don't deal with it when it's there, it will lay in wait for us, quietly watching and multiplying until we next brave a chance thought in its direction, by which time it's become an untamed beast, smelly and ravenous and ready to feed on your time, your energy, your mood and your space.

Secondly, my theory is that it's also a difficult task to master because of the number of smaller tasks that "doing the laundry" entails. Human beings instinctively seek the shortest, easiest, way to do everything - it's in our make-up. Encoded in our DNA since the times of earliest man, amongst the survival instincts is the desire to achieve the most from the smallest outlay of time and energy. Fast forward the world a few millenia and our primeval brains just can't cope with modern living tasks, such as laundry, that put us at odds with our instinctive selves. Add to that, the fact that most people tend to receive gratification from a task only when it is completed, it is easy to see how a task like this becomes a soul-wearing task to try even the patience of a Saint!

Quite the quandry then. How does one balance the need to keep on top of this "chore" without loosing the will to live, or worse, loosing precious portions of our living space to piles of laundry in various stages?

Fortunately there are strategies. Many and varied. Some that cost the Earth (and incidentally make a good deal of money for others along the way - not in itself a bad thing, but in the current economical climate, most of us have enough on our plates trying to support our own families before contributing to someone else's).

Personally I ascribe a lot of time to the theory, propounded by, among others, Pam and Peggy of the Sidetracked Home Executives (www.shesintouch.com) and Marla Cilley the FLYlady (www.FLYlady.net) that any task becomes infinitely easier when broken into smaller steps. So much the better if the completion of each of these smaller steps can bring more satisfaction to the task.

Okay, so

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