Maxwell 46: Relegating the Kids' Table to the Vestibule

[sparkles]

45 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

Do you not have extras? I hope that didn't come off as snarky, I'm just curious about how many towels I "should" have, as I have a shelf full of bath/beach towels in my towel/linen closet. 

Not snarky. I think you "should" have as any or as few as you want. We have five total—one for the guests we never have, one for the dog, two for the spousal unit and one for me that I hardly use because I wrap up in my bathrobe instead of toweling off and basically air-dry. I grew up with a mom who insisted we use a new towel every time we showered or washed our hands, which never made much sense to me since were were CLEAN when we used them. In a 5-person household the towel laundry alone was massive. ?

[crunchycarrots]

22 hours ago, AverageGiraffe said:

I didn't hate that post at all. Sure, it could have been written better (typical Maxwells) but I think a lot of people have a lot of small tasks they do without really thinking about why. I used to fold all my husband's underwear, until one day I was annoyed at having to refold ones he'd messed up digging through the drawer when I put the new ones away and a lightbulb went off: Oh wait, he actually doesn't care. He didn't even notice when I stopped. My mom taught me to do it with my dad's when she taught me to do laundry, and it was just something I had internalized as "this is how it's supposed to go". 

It wouldn't have occurred to me that I didn't need to fold kitchen towels until someone said it, because it would have never have crossed my mind to question why I was folding towels. I'm pretty sure all my kitchen drawers are too shallow for this to work but I'm now sitting here wondering how I could rearrange so I can have space to just toss them in. 

But also, I frequently feel kind of stupid when people say things that should be obvious IRT cleaning or organizing so it could just be me ?

Agreed! Most of what these people post either makes me sick or is so boring it’s not worth writing. This is something I don’t think is snark-worthy. It’s refreshing to see that picture of the messy drawer of towels. Like many folks, I was brought up to fold dish towels, underwear, and pretty much everything that got washed and dried. Only as an adult mother of two young children did I say this is bullshit and stop wasting my precious time folding crap that doesn’t matter- dish towels, underwear, pjs, exercise clothes, kids knit type clothes, undershirts, etc. I’m sure women who are of the Maxwell ilk wouldn’t be as flippant about giving up what they’d been taught and having someone like Terry post that is affirming.
I try to take shortcuts wherever possible with things that don’t really matter to make time for things that are important for me. Sometimes one person’s shortcut might not be obvious to another person, no matter how clever they might be. Sometimes shortcuts are stupid, like that infernal pizza cutter lettuce cutting “hack” the Maxwells love so much. Here’s my shortcut- get rid of the pizza cutter all together and use an f-ing knife that you already have. One less thing to clutter up your drawers and a knife is easier to wash. You’re welcome Terry.

[catlady]

3 hours ago, sparkles said:

Not snarky. I think you "should" have as any or as few as you want. We have five total—one for the guests we never have, one for the dog, two for the spousal unit and one for me that I hardly use because I wrap up in my bathrobe instead of toweling off and basically air-dry. I grew up with a mom who insisted we use a new towel every time we showered or washed our hands, which never made much sense to me since were were CLEAN when we used them. In a 5-person household the towel laundry alone was massive. ?

I envy your minimalism ?!  I have a towel/linen addiction of sorts.  It started when I lived in an apartment with a gray-tiled bathroom.  Every color looked nice in it, so I bought bright-colored towels when I found them on sale and rotated them regularly to change the look.  The towels have lasted so long because they spend quite a bit of time out of rotation, so I never got rid of any.  Last year when we decluttered, I donated many of them to the SPCA.  While I still have 24 bath towels for a household of three, I gave away—are you ready for this?—32 bath towels and 28 hand towels.  Yep, you added that up right, I had 56 bath towels.  The woman at the SPCA who accepted our four boxes stuffed full was very happy to get them.  My new rule is that I can have only what fits in the linen closet, and I can’t store the extras in the attic any more.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

On 3/31/2021 at 3:30 PM, HereticHick said:

Jesse and Anna have been married 10 months, right? Did I miss a baby announcement?

No. Here's  hoping they decided to experience apartment life as a couple a little longer!

[Coconut Flan]

Hey, folks.  We have run out of the most impressive vest titles and are ready for some new title ideas.

I'll be back later to start Maxwell 47.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Maxwell 47: Vestigial Tales of the Messy Towel Drawer

[Coconut Flan]

Carry on here: