Laundry > Dishes
10 to 7
Yesterday's Inequality here While laundry takes, overall, longer than doing the dishes, it is an altogether cleaner process. Dishes involves dipping your hands in a putrid mixture of soap and reject food chunks for a prolonged enough period of time that your fingers become pruned. This concoction can include anything from bottom-of-the-bowl Fruity Pebbles to molded leftovers from last month. At worst, your hands touch dirty clothes for a few seconds, transferring them from the hamper to the washing machine. From that point on, all you touch are freshly clean clothes. Sure, folding is a time-consuming process, but feeling and smelling the warm, “spring fresh” clothing makes it well worth it. Laundry is a boring, torturing, drawn-out process of waiting, whereas dishes can be done as fast as you can clean them. Although the task of washing was originally done by hand (outrageous) followed by air drying (ridiculous), it is now more commonly done using washing machines and dryers. This does take most of the work out of everyday laundry, however there has yet to be a commercial "laundry folding" or "laundry putting away" machine. This makes laundry mundane and slavish since once start, you are tied down and obligated to finish it. Additionally, clothes are often ruined by shrinking or coloring in the process if not careful. |
Even those pictures are enough to convince me. Would I rather touch that pile of clothes or wash all those sick dishes? Clothes!
ReplyDeleteWith no dishwasher involved, I go laundry all the way!
ReplyDeleteDishes are certainly the less pleasant of the two when it comes to how down and dirty one must get to accomplish the cleaning thereof. But when it comes down to it, the cleaning of dishes is superior to the doing of laundry when one takes into consideration life's most valuable yet ever-diminishing resource: time. The fact of the matter is, laundry just takes too much time. Even when the dishes in the sink are at their peak height with the remnants of dinners caked on like cement, the time to accomplish the cleaning of these dishes requires less than even one measly pair of laundry, heck, even one article of clothing requiring the full process. And yes, you can make the argument that you can walk away from the machines as they carry out their cycles to do whatever it is you desire, but in the long run, aren't you still tethered to that seemingly unending cycle? And after all is said and done, it's still going to take you at least as long just to properly fold, hang up, and otherwise organize your laundry than it's going to take to clean that sink teeming with filthy dishes. Also, in the scenario where you require one particular dish or article of clothing that currently rests in a state of filth, you can hand clean that dish and have it good to go within minutes, but if you need that blouse to impress that cute boy who works in the mailroom at your office Christmas party by TONIGHT, a scenario which all of us inevitably encounter, you can't hand wash out that puke from Chrissy's bachelorette party with time for it to dry before Johnny from the mailroom lays his eyes on you looking not your cutest in the absence of your perfect blouse. So that leaves one factor where laundry is seemingly superior, and that is the filth factor. Once again, though, there are certain considerations to take into account. The filth of dishes can easily be counteracted with a sink full of soapy hot water; when those dishes hit that sink, the filth sloughing off your dishes and into the disposal will be indistinguishable from the cleansing water aiding in that very process. Yes, dishes will be more filthy than laundry in most scenarios, but there's one area wrought with the potential to disgust that you'll never have to worry about when in the realm of dishes. Most likely, you're going to have children some day if you don't already, and when that time comes, that child is going to poop. It's going to poop a lot, and for the first few years of its life, it's going to poop in places that you are personally going to have to clean... with your hands. Where is that poop most likely to land? Clothing. When's the only time you're going to have to first-handedly confront that poop-ridden clothing? When you're doing laundry. I'll leave you with that.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I am not even going to comment anymore because Shane said everything I wanted to say and more. Laundry is the worst.
ReplyDeleteShane could have had a load of laundry washed, dried, ironed, and put away in the time it took him to post that comment. Ben, could it be that you don't do the dishes often enough to hate them but you do have to do your own laundry therefore hate laundry more? Dishes pile up more in my house than laundry . . . 4 people, 3 meals a day. Everyone only wears 1 outfit a day.
ReplyDeleteAnd one more thing . . . I am going to take Kael to Shane's house and have him take a shit on a plate.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather do laundry than a heaping sink full of dirty, moldy, smelly, grease covered, half eaten food encrusted dishes.
ReplyDeleteWhile your poop argument is compelling, you've forgotten the fact that dippers exist (for both babies and old people). And while accidents do occur, you don't encounter a mess every time you go to do laundry; however, you are always guarantied a mess when you approach the kitchen sink.
Laundry is a hands-off operation and all consideration of messes aside, it is the simpler of the two. The technology in todays typical washer and dryer is astounding to say the least! You now have the ability to wash and dry up to 16 pairs of jeans in just half an hour! So even if you are trying to impress that lil' cutie, it will happen because of clean clothing NOT clean dishes.
This brings me to my second point, social responsibility. Whether or not you have clean dishes does not affect John or Jane Smith out on the streets but whether you have clean clothing does. Regardless of the amount of work washing and storing laundry can sometimes be, the social paybacks are more then worth it. Showing up looking dapper in some freshly washed slacks to an important job interview will make the difference between landing that million-dollar-an-hour-job and being a dishwasher at the local Wendy's. Once you have that million-dollar-an-hour-job, you will be able to hire someone to do all your dishes you've neglected.
So I leave you with this: why spend a lifetime of doing dishes when you could do that one extra load of laundry that makes you a quintillionaire?!
Social responsibility: When someone sees your sink full of dirty dishes out in the open they judge you. Your clothes are more likely hidden away in your room. When John or Jane Smith comes over they will see your dirty dishes not your dirty clothes.
ReplyDeleteAnother point: Dishwashers take care of many of these issues. Steps = rinse, load, add detergent, wait, put away. Compared to laundry...Sort, load, add detergent, wait, switch to dryer, add fabric softener, wait, fold, put away.
As for dishes that can't be put into the dishwasher think of clothes that cannot be washed - you have to take them to the dry cleaner. You have to drive to the place and wait for them to clean it and then drive back to pick it up. I think my point has been made.
Ben, your definition of social responsibility relies on the condition that someone is coming over. Therefore, in regards to dishes, you'll only be neglecting social responsibility if someone comes over. In regards to laundry, you'll disobey social responsibility if you simply walk of the house. Even the most reclusive individuals have to walk out of the house from time to time, but they don't have to invite someone over. Ever.
ReplyDeleteI do love Brina's point about more dishes in a day than dirty clothes. Go laundry!!
With a dishwasher, you have to worry about if every item is dishwasher safe. So you will most likely be doing dishes both by hand and using the dishwasher. If you leave the dishes in machine too long you can get hardwater spots on them and they still look dirty. Sometimes the dishwasher doesn't even clean everything.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about washing Grandma's fine china!? That is more work than taking clothing to the Laundromat. You are still the one doing the work. At least at the laundromat someone else is actually preforming the hard work.
As for people coming into my home and seeing my dirty dishes, only family and friends come into my home and honestly who cares about what they think.
Brina, I type with stunning alacrity; that post didn't even take the time required do clear out the sink, let alone the time required to do an entire wash cycle and the subsequent folding, ironing, and organizing, but I digress. Your theory as to why Ben prefers dishes to laundry seems unsound. I can't imagine a scenario wherein I'm required to do laundry more often than I'm required to do dishes; a sink and dishwasher have only so much space for rigid, non-conforming flatware and stemware to fit in, whereas you'll be hard pressed to find a more maleable material than the very fabrics that make your clothes. Yes, we do only wear one outfit per day, and yes, we usually do eat 3 meals a day. But what does that add up to? Dishes accumulating far more quickly than laundry. Now, yes, I realize that this could be used as a counter argument to my claim, but when taking into consideration Brina's theory, one finds an interesting truth. Despite having to do dishes on a more frequent basis, Ben still prefers that task to the comparatively less demanding task of doing laundry! While laundry may only require his attention once every week or two, dishes are a multiple times a week ordeal. His preference, however, and the preferences of like-minded individuals, myself included, still lies with the cleaning of dishes.
ReplyDeleteNow, Chris, I never made the assertion that laundry and poop go hand-in-hand; I merely stated that, given the two scenarios, only one will *ever* involve poop. Of course there are diapers and other preventative measures in place to keep the poop out of our pants, but we all know accidents happen, and the possibility of poop landing in your laundry is still far a more distinct one than it landing in your sink. I also disagree with the notion of laundry being an easier task. Not only is there the whole aspect of folding and organization to take into consideration here, but there's also a greater component for requiring knowledge in the doing of laundry. For example, if you accidentally wash a non-washable dish, the worse that's going to happen is that dish is gone. But if you incorrectly wash an article of clothing, that has the potential to affect the entire load. One pair of blue jeans can bleed denim into your entire white load if your girlfriend's skinny jeans are hiding in a crumpled corner in the back of the washer. With a dish, you lose that dish, and maybe a couple other dishes to melt-over. But when it comes to material possessions people are generally more attached to, clothing supersedes dishes, creating a risk factor more substantial than the risk associated with dish doing and thusly creating a larger hole that ever-elusive knowledge must fill.
And lastly, in terms of social responsibility, let's face it. If you're in a state that results in your clothes being so filthy that you're embarrassing yourself and everyone around you by merely wearing them, laundry and dishes are probably the least of your concerns.
What is easiest to procrastinate on? Laundry. Not doing dishes is just gross. Not doing laundry...well, I can put that off another day. Granted that's if you don't shit your pants on a daily basis (like babies do). Plus the sense of accomplishment after doing dishes definitely is more immediate than after you wash clothes. Oh. AND because if you don't put the dishes away in the dishwasher right away - its okay! When you do laundry, if you don't fold your clothes - they just get all wrinkly. Plus - I don't mind doing your dishes (ambiguous "your" here) but don't ask me to do your laundry. That's just weird. And if I catch you going through mine - I'll kick you in the face.
ReplyDeleteSmelling clean dishes does not give you the same sense of satisfaction as smelling clean clothes.
ReplyDeleteNor can you put on a warm, just-cleaned plate before leaving the house. But then again, you don't need laundry to get warm pants; you can just stick them in the oven!
ReplyDeleteI despise laundry, and it's not only due to the fact that I have a baby who does get poop on her clothes. I am currently running baby Vera's christmas party outfit from last Saturday through the wash cycle for the 3rd time due to a poop through; that's after spraying it with stain remover, and pouring laundry soap directly on the problem spot before each cycle. It seems there's always an extra "issue" with laundry. If it isn't stained clothing, it's that special article that needs careful attention...adding more time to an already time consuming chore. Laundry and dishes are both constant chores, but the volume of dishes each day varies more than the volume of laundry. A person almost always has at least a shirt, pants, and undergarments that they wear daily....and usually (hopefully) wash after each use. Plus there's always extra stuff like towels, bedding, ect. With dishes you have more if, for example, you make pancakes for breakfast, and less if you just have a bowl of cereal. I might be doing dishes more frequently throughout the day, but I can typically get them cleaned up and put away in far less time than laundry. There are too many steps with laundry, and I have to repeat those steps far too constantly. It seems there's always a pile of laundry awaiting my attention, be it clean or dirty. One day I might wash dry, and put away all of the clothes that made up my dirty laundry pile, but then that night I will start a brand new dirty clothes pile with the clothes I was wearing for the day. And, often times I will not complete the entire laundry cycle all at once...so I find myself grabbing from a clean clothes pile instead of the drawer or hanger where the clothes are supposed to be. As far as the actual tasks of each....everything about doing laundry sucks even if my hands don't get as wet or dirty, so I'll load up the dishwasher or put on the rubber gloves if need be, and tackle the dishes, over sorting, soaking, spraying, switching, carrying, folding, or hanging laundry. And, I'd much rather type on the computer about doing dishes and laundry than actually doing either which is why this comment is so long and I currently have clean and dirty laundry piles as well as a half loaded dishwasher.
ReplyDeleteThere's also more satisfaction with doing dishes. It requires you to mostly just stand at the sink and get the job done right then and there. A kitchen can stay clean longer than a laundry room. In my opinion there's no such thing as a clean laundry room.
ReplyDeleteJess, have you ever seen my laundry room??? Pretty clean :)
ReplyDelete- JH