At Nogglestead, I have promulgated a simple rule about the common areas: If an article of clothing is horizontal, it’s going into the laundry basket atop the dryer to be washed.
For example, in this tableau from December, the black sweatshirt is going into the laundry, but the jacket and oversized sweater are not:
This mostly applies to my beautiful wife these days, as she is prone to putting on and taking off overclothing in the house and laying it aside, leaving sweatshirts and the like in various rooms. My boys no longer take their pants off immediately upon entering the home, leaving them in the living room. And I mostly ignore their rooms–the oldest does his own laundry, eventually, and I only step in to take wet towels off of the younger man’s floor these days and exhort him to pick up his dirty clothes in all other circumstances.
As for me, the only occasion where I might leave clothing horizontal occurs when I put on my gi for a martial arts class and will put my blue jeans back on after the class. I leave my jeans on the bench so I can put them back on after class. They’re in no real danger of being put into the laundry because 1) I’m the one who picks up stuff in the household and does the laundry and 2) I pay a local tough guy to protect them while I’m away.
So, anyways, now you know a little more (than you ever wanted to know) about the daily life at Nogglestead and the arbitrary protocols therein.
