Meet My Hyperfixation: Molly & Folding
Your washer and dryer are a constant hum, complementing your household conversations and activities. The dirty and clean clothes laundry baskets seem to be competing for which one can be the tallest. You're desperately trying to find a way to not stare at the tiny screen while you catch the flashing lights from the bigger screen in the corner.
Enter my hyperfixation: Folding. Folding clothes, folding sheets, folding towels, folding pants, folding dress socks, folding pajamas…
Sure, folding laundry — especially when you dump out a drawer of 9-month onesies for shits and giggles only to (re)fold them — can arguably be the literal last thing you wish to attempt in a single day…so, hear me out: It’s the after value.
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know that creating order is my happy place. If things are feeling out of control, I’m reorganizing the pantry. If I’m overwhelmed with a to do list, I’m emptying the deep freeze and doing an inventory on it. While not always a quick task, it’s the one that kicks off my momentum to get the hard stuff done. Creating order creates a sense of accomplishment. When you’re smack dab in the middle of a pandemic where nothing feels accomplishable, organization — and by extension folding — is soothing. Unlike bread baking (or some other lockdown-era hobby), folding has grown with me — and my family. So, the art of folding is truly an evolution of my organization girlie era.
As a mom of two tiny humans who not only amaze me with every new thing they learn but also make me wonder how my ears don’t bleed after hearing “hey, mama” for the 17th time in a minute, choosing their outfits each morning could make me want to poke my eyeballs out. But when I open Nellie’s middle drawer to reveal two rows of neatly folded onesies, the stressor of choosing an outfit dissipates.
By folding onesies with the arms tucked behind and into thirds, you not only fit more in the drawer, but they’re also displayed in a way that makes it easy to see the prints and colors for easy early morning decision-making. After all, one row is short sleeve, and one row is long sleeve. Because why spend precious morning minutes shifting through multiple kinds of onesies?
Say more about easy decision-making.
Well, right below the middle drawer of onesies is the bottom drawer of pants (because pants go on below shirts, obvi). And these pants are also folded into thirds to make the most of the space allotted in tiny nursery dresser drawers (seriously, why so shallow, Target?). And now we’re in a similar spot as we were with the onesies — being able to easily see the prints, colors, and sometimes styles, of the pants to seamlessly match the chosen onesie.
This moment of joy isn’t reserved for hectic school-day mornings. It’s also a great way to pack for a well-deserved escape. Now you’re not elbow-deep in your suitcase rummaging around for all the pieces of your outfit. Instead, an outfit is folded together into a functional package and you’re off galavanting with even fewer cares in the world.
OK, so you’ve made it this far into my hyperfixation and are wondering, ‘how exactly is folding relevant if I don’t have tiny humans?’ Fair question. Maybe you have an excessive number of yoga pants and you just can’t bear to part with them, but they also don’t fit in the drawer or shelf or wherever you try to store them. May I suggest a little afternoon of folding? I’d venture to guess in about two episodes of your latest reality TV obsession (with the sound on, please, we’re not teetering on insanity like Steven!) you could fold each pair of yoga pants into itself and get yourself a neat and tidy leggings drawer…and an excuse to go shopping for a few more pairs to round out the space.
So next time your dryer plays its obnoxious chimes because you got a Samsung dryer that has musical talents you can’t seem to figure out how to turn off, pour yourself a glass of bubbles (it’s been a long day, you deserve it!) and fold — don’t ball up — those yoga pants.
If this peek behind the curtain of Molly’s brain hasn’t terrified you enough, visit my fake friend and pandemic-era folding inspiration on the insta — @thefoldinglady.