I HATE SHEETS

I have a secret.  There is one thing I really, really hate in housekeeping.  SHEETS!  I hate washing them.  I hate folding them.  I hate making the bed with them.  I don’t know why I hate them, but I do.  I don’t mind cleaning the toilets - I don’t consider it a fun activity, but I don’t mind - but sheets!!!!

One thing is that I am short just over 5 feet tall and therefore have short arms and I have to stretch them waaay out to hold the sheets.  Our bed is a queen size, but I don’t like twin size either.  Pillow cases are fine.  Mattress pads are fine.  Strangely even blankets and quilts are fine, but not sheets.

Growing up mom made our beds for us after we left for school - we usually used a quilt on the bed and mom would also put a bedspread on the bed.  When we were older mom went back to work and we were expected to make our beds - the bedspreads were no longer used, but a quilt is easy to spread out and mom still changed the sheets.  

Then I got married.  We got an apartment.  We bought two sets of sheets and pillowcases and blanket.  It was up to me to  make up the bed before we moved in - as well as after.  My husband grew up in a home with a top sheet and a blanket tucked in - we did not have a top sheet when I was growing up and we agreed to a compromise - we would get a blanket and top sheets and when the blanket was replaced we would get a quilt - and use a top sheet with it.   Our bedding has changed over the ensuing 37 years and we used a quilt for quite some time, until we had bed bugs - we then read that it was hard to heat a quilt in a dryer enough to make sure that any bed bugs died and we switched back to a blanket - in winter 2 blankets.  Early on we had something to do and it was change the bedding day - and the other set was in the laundry (I had to go to a laundry up the road to do the laundry then and had not gone.) So we bought a third set - and have remained with 3 sets ever since - 1 on the bed, 1 in the laundry, and 1 waiting to be used.

Because I hate sheets I would plan to change the bedding in the morning and then not do so and plan to change it at night.  At night we were too tired, so the bedding did not get changed as often as it should. .  I finally came up with an idea - I strip the bed in the morning, the bed gets to air out, and I make it up before we go to sleep - I have to or we can’t go to sleep.  This has worked well and also lets the mattress air out that day. 

I was changing the bedding on Mondays for decades.  Then, after husband was home full time, we started going to a classic film showing on Mondays at 1 pm ($2 each, popcorn and soda included if one wanted same - we were among the youngest there).  This made a problem with Monday bedding change, so it was moved to Tuesday where it remains, even though the films have since been discontinued. 

Weekly I change the sheets and pillowcases.  On the first change of the month I also change the mattress pad (we own 2) and the underneath pillow cases - you know, the ones with zippers that are inside the nice looking cases.  Since the bed bugs our mattress and box spring is each sealed in a bed bug proof case and our pillows have a 3rd pillow case inside the zipper cases which is also bed bug proof.  The bed bug covers on the mattress and pillows are not normally changed, but I have just bought new bed bug pillow case covers as several years of use and summer sweat have made them unpleasant to look at.  They have been heated in our bed bug heater and will be washed with this week’s load of sheets and pillowcases to be used the start of next month.

The reason I thought of this subject for today is that I tend to wash the bedding as the last load for the week and, once again, I did not get around to folding the sheets for an entire week - just in time to be able to do the laundry again.

I have figured out over the years that sheets do not have to be perfectly folded as if they are to inspected.  If there are wrinkles in it - I don’t care.  If the edges don’t meet perfectly - I don’t care.  The fitted sheet - I match the corners (trying hard to figure out which way the sheet is long and which way it is wide so I will unfold it as needed to make the bed), then fold in thirds as well as it folds and then in thirds the opposite way - again just as well as it folds - to be stored.  I fold the top flat sheet by finding the corners of the larger hem and matching them, following the sides to the bottom and matching those corners and then gripping all 4 corners with one had and following the sides to new middle fold and then on from there.  When I make the bed it all - more or less - unfolds to match how it has to go on the bed.  

The bedding is kept in a linen closet just outside our bedroom door in the hall.  I have a hanging wire shelf which holds the pillowcases and a second one which holds older pillow cases which are still good from sheets we no longer use in case spares are needed - we threw out the sheets we had when we had the bedbugs as there was evidence of the bedbugs on them.  Next to the stored sheets is a roll of paper towels (unrelated to this, but it is there and should be mentioned) and then the spare mattress pad is on the shelf with the spare under pillow case, zipper covers on top of it.  Our sheets and pillowcases are now white or off white since the bed bugs.  The shelf with the pillow cases hangs just below the sheets.  The mattress pads are the type without sides and with elastic on the corners.

We also own a set of twin bed sheets and spare pillowcase as we have a twin bed in our spare room (I may have mentioned “the teddy bears’ room”) which was intended as guest room for our moms, but has not been used other than by niece and nephew once when they were young and two more times by my niece when she was junior high age.  Some of the teddy bears and dolls do enjoy sitting on it.  I keep a thin quilt (what we called a summer quilt in my family) on the bed over the mattress pad and made it up when someone was using it and then stripped the bed and washed the bedding - then stored it in the same linen closet as our bedding.

Several years ago when we bought our tiny RV I had to buy bedding for it also - more sheets.  That bed is very unusual and has to be assembled to be used - it takes a minimum of 45 minutes to make up.  It makes up into a short king size bed, but I make it as 2 twins immediately adjacent to each other.  I will post at some future point (probably when I make it up the first time this year) about it and the heck of doing making it up - it is like a comedy routine. 

There is another use for sheets that also makes work for me they can be used as fairly cheap fabric.  We have cut them up and made table covers for our tables for craft shows.  We needed some extra curtains for our RV for quicker use on the road (so no one can see in our windows when are stopped and not in the RV) - black sheets worked very well.  Older sheets are used as covers over tables which are not ours at craft shows and demonstrations and also to cover over the items on tables in situations such as this when the tables are left for the night.

So, despite my hatred of sheets I have to spend part of my life dealing with them and have resigned myself to doing so, trying to make it as easy as possible.

Do you have a chore you hate to do?  What is it and how do you deal with it?