Dirty Laundry, Teenagers and Saving Time

I have discovered a wicked new pleasure. It fills me with a sense of satisfaction that I have not felt in a long time. It has eased frustrations that have been building for years. I feel empowered.

Want to share in my secret? Want to feel the same? The answer is simple... when your teenagers finally throw 2 - 3 weeks of laundry into the laundry room to be washed, after repeated requests to do it daily, rather than wash it obediently (begrudgingly) check each piece and if it doesn't seem too dirty or too smelly simply put it back in their clean laundry basket. Oh my goodness the power!

I first heard about this trick from a book about terrible housewives... a tongue in cheek look at how to cut corners. It made me laugh then. It piqued my interest. But man, I had no idea how good it would feel.

Coming home to a mountain of washing when I had already done the laundry for the week has long been one of my pet peeves. Quite frankly it pisses me off no end. Why on earth do I have to pay for their laziness month in and month out? Well tonight, after a really insane week I decided that I wasn't going to do it. I simply don't have time. From the looks of it some of their clothes were in the wash simply because a) they had not bothered to put the last set of clean clothes away or b) they had hit the floor because they were wet from the walk home from school. Those went into the basket. Dirty clothes, all underwear and socks will be washed but the other stuff... well, not this time.

I feel like I've won a battle that has long plagued this nation. I have won a small battle against teenage laziness. I have cut my wash load by about half for today. I feel powerful.

Some would say this is sad. For those of you with slob like children you would know that this is fantastic... Grinning from ear to ear...