Rumor has it that cats domesticated themselves, and they have resisted all efforts from humans to hybridize them in the way we have hybridized dogs. Word is that today's housecat is pretty much the same as its ancient ancestors - genetically speaking.
Probably no one else in the world cares, but I do. And it makes me happy to give him that silly, little thing.
This morning, after I ironed Deus Ex Machina's work clothes, my cat decided the ironing board was a good place to take a nap.
I am brewing a post about domesticating myself.
Mostly it's about ironing, which, to me, is one of the most housewifish chores of all, and the one that was first to fall by the wayside when the title "housewife" became a pejorative, wives left the home for the workplace, and everyone believed that two incomes were necessary for a good life.
It's probably the least appreciated of all of our chores, but when calculating the dollars saved by having a housewife who does those chores, like ironing, there is a pretty significant savings over sending the ironing out to the laundry service.
I've discovered, much to my surprise, that I actually like ironing. I invested in the cheapest ironing board I could find, and I'm still using an iron I purchased more than 20 years ago when I was enlisted in the US Army (and ironed my own uniforms, because I couldn't afford a laundry service, and being "pressed and spit-shined" was an unspoken requirement of a soldier who gave a shit).
I enjoy the simplicity of the task, and I enjoy the aesthetic of a freshly ironed pair of pants. More, I guess, is that I enjoy seeing Deus Ex Machina wearing the clothes that I laundered for him. It's a source of pride, for me, as his wife, to know that he's put-together when he goes to work.
Probably no one else in the world cares, but I do. And it makes me happy to give him that silly, little thing.
As for costs:
The average cost for a laundry service to wash, dry, and fold one load of laundry is $7 - wash, dried, and folded (although not put away - I'll get to that).
Driving to the laundromat (at today's $3/gal) would cost him $1.50 just in gas money to deliver and pick up his laundry, and then, he would have to bring it home and put it away.
The cost to have a pair of pants ironed is $5, on average. I iron Deus Ex Machina's pants every week so that he has a freshly ironed pair each work day - that's five pairs of pants, ironed, every week.
Since he only has four pairs of pants, he would need to have two loads of laundry washed per week. It would cost him $14/week for washing. The ironing would cost him $25 a week. Gasoline to get back and forth to the laundry service would be $1.50 a week.
By doing his laundry and ironing his pants for him, I save $40.50 per week. He works 47 out of 52 weeks per year. By having me do his laundry and ironing, for free, here at home, I save him $1905.50 per year.
And as a bonus, I also put away his laundry, which wouldn't happen if he had a laundry service doing the dirty work.
As a side note, I also had to hem his work pants, because they were too long. The cost to have a seamstress hem one pair of pants is $10. There are four pairs. I saved $40 by hemming them myself.
The average wage earner would have to work 2.25 hours per week, just to pay for laundry services.
An interesting breakdown. I thought I was going to have to take our laundry out due to our on-going sewer issues. The laundromat in the town near us charges $1.25 per pound for wash and fold - I've never even thought about how much my laundry weighs, unless I overload the carrier. Towels would have been pricey, in particular. I can't even imagine how much that would have cost me as we are now at 4.5 weeks of this (again). Luckily for me, I figured out to do half loads and watch like a hawk to make sure the washer isn't overloading the system. Interesting to think the savings based on your averages above - would have been a "fun" receipt to hand Housing for paying us back, too.
ReplyDeleteI learned to iron on my dad's uniforms, and will say I'm glad that by the time I met Manly, the material had been changed to no-iron. Having worked in apparel stores, I can still make them look nicer than others' just with a proper fold but so much labor is taken out of it. Velcro patches, too. I do recognize the lost skills by not having to sew those on, but I remember the litany of words my mother had for THAT task as well. ;)