my little obsession
I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I have this little OCD thing that I do. My towels have to be folded in a certain way. Anything else is WRONG! My mother passeed this one on to me, so I blame her. She used to make me re-fold towels if I didn't do them right. I've been tying very hard to get over it, because it's just not important, but it's so hard to do. Rob doesn't care how the towels are folded, so if he folds them, his pile of towels always drives me crazy. We've lived together for a very long time now, and I can usually stop from saying something (because I know if I do, he'll just stop folding laundry completely, and that will be so much worse). I can't always stop from re-folding them though. He never even notices. But it's driving me up the wall, so I came here to vent.

Look at the towel on the top of this pile. Isn't it nice and neat? The bottom one is folded wrong.


Here look closer. Isn't that just offensive? Yuck. All the edges are sticking out everywhere. And when he piles them up, they aren't even turned the same way so the big fold can be grabbed without unfolding the towel in the process. Sickening.

Here's a towel folding lesson:

Step 1. Fold the towel in half. Not along the short side. That's just silly. Put those stupid little seam thingys together. What's with those anyway? Anyone know why they exist?


Step 1 1/2. Move the kid out of the way, so you can take some more pictures. Isn't she cute!


Step 2. Fold it in half again. Along the same axis. Duh. Don't go switching directions yet. And make sure that the short sides don't stick out.


Step 3. Fold it in half again. Now we switch directions. No, don't leave the stupid seam out for everyone to see. Keep it in the inside of the fold. No one needs to even know it exists. See, isn't that much better?


They stack up so pretty that way. And when you pull a towel off the stack, you only have one fold available, so it comes off still folded up pretty.


And the seams are hidden on the inside along with the edges of the towel.



Now you know how to fold towels. Aren't you glad? You're excused to your linen closets now to apply what you've learned.

p.s. The stores fold them wrong too. But their towels aren't all raggedy after being washed umpteen million times, so it doesn't look so bad. I very rarely re-fold towels in the stores.

p.p.s. His mom folds them that way too, but it's easier to deal with. After all, she has no responsibility for the laundry. She's just doing it to help out. Thanks Darra. I don't usually re-fold the towels after you've left - only sometimes. :)

p.p.p.s. My mother also makes you re-fold towels if you fold them inside out (the folded over part of the hem is visible). She has issues, but not me because, well, I'm not THAT crazy.