There are so many domestic subtleties that I am clueless about.

For instance, Hubby and I toss any kind of dirty laundry into the washing machine altogether. But apparently, whites are to be separate from darks (but is this really necessary if your clothes are already pre-washed and there is no risk of the dark colours leaking out onto the light colours?) and then I recall my friend rolling her eyes at me when she saw me putting towels in with jeans (something about the different textures? Goodness only knows, but since I never figured out a good reason, we still toss whatever is dirty all in together, regardless of what it is). I’m quite certain that my mother probably did explain these things to me eons ago when I first started doing my own laundry at home, but for the life of me, I can’t recall what the actual instructions might have been.

Now, when it comes to sorting laundry, I’ve developed a system which has worked since … well, ever since forever. One part of the system is one drawer dedicated entirely to underwear, which allows you to simply toss all the clean ones in there — no sorting required (see? good system, right?). I do not ever recall folding underwear. It just never occurred to me to spend the time folding underwear. They’re small, and no one cares if they’re wrinkled, right? I have no idea if my mother actually folded my underwear (no, I’m not being sexist, I don’t think my father did laundry although he did do a lot of domestic duties) when I was a young child. Come to think of it, she might have. And I just failed to appreciate it, like most of us failed to appreciate the often thankless work of a parent. And it’s not like I can go around looking into other people’s underwear drawers to find out what one is supposed to do: fold or not fold?

But we’ve just moved into a new house. And being overwhelmed, I asked my mother-in-law, who was visiting, if she would mind helping me get all my clothes sorted. I was so tired of living out of my suitcases and hadn’t had a moment to myself to work on my closet. So we stayed back one day when the rest of the family went out, and with her help, the entire closet was all sorted and organized within no time. It felt wonderful to get that task off my chest!

One thing that she ended up doing was a series of drawers. We decided that they would be a good spot for underwear, socks, etc. She then took charge and put everything in its rightful place in the drawers. When I looked inside, I couldn’t believe how neat and organized everything looked! I also noted that all the underwear were folded, and even the nylons (which I wear once a year for a wedding or a funeral) were all folded. In my mind I thought, ah, that is sweet of her but I won’t bother to be doing that kind of folding maintenance.

However, last night, as I was putting away some laundry, I realized how much I like my underwear all nicely and neatly folded. I don’t know what it is about it, but it gives me some sort of satisfaction to open the drawer and see everything all organized. So, I’m now folding my underwear**. For the first time, at the ripe old age of 39.

* With advance apologies to my younger brother who pinged me last time I mentioned my underwear in a blog post to let me know he didn’t appreciate me making him think of what kind of underwear I might buy. Oops.

** However, if I start writing blog posts about how I now enjoy ironing my underwear, you know I’ve fallen completely off the deep end. Send help stat.