02 October 2010

Early autumn re-runs: How to fold a fitted sheet



This post appeared originally on 19 January 2009. If having standards is a crime then I'm guilty.


I have occasional occasion to house and dog sit for an unnamed friend. This unnamed friend is someone I love like a brother and my life would be far less rich than it is without him in it. That said, he's not the most gifted housekeeper I've ever met and it's not an unusual thing for me to spit shine his house while he's out of town. I'm not the uptight, retentive person this is sounding like, really. But there are certain standards that until I met this unnamed friend, I assumed every one learned to maintain from childhood on.

As I said before, I'm not uptight and retentive, but there are limits to how much slovenliness I'll chalk up to a quirky personality even when I love the quirky personality like a brother. Well, the last time I was over there I opened his hall closet and saw before me a collection of wadded up sheets and pillow cases that make me shake my head even now. Someone claims no one ever told him how to fold a fitted sheet and so he just wads them into a ball and shoves them into a linen closet until he needs one. Appalling. Appalling! Am I the only one out there who had a grandmother around to impart these kinds of life skills? I mean, what kind of an adult can't fold a fitted sheet?

Without asking for a show of hands I know that there are far more unable-to-fold-a-fitted-sheet people out there than I want to know about. So in the spirit of public mindedness, I found a public service video that explains in simple, approachable terms, how to fold a fitted sheet. The video even stars a middle-aged man who's wearing a wedding ring, so that way no one's masculinity need be bruised in learning this vital life skill. So ladies and gentlemen, I now give you How To Fold a Fitted Sheet. Lights down please.



10 comments:

  1. Oooh, it's like a miracle. I've heard this described (very confusingly) but never seen it demonstrated. My sheets *are* folded btw, but not so evenly!

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  2. Hurray! My service to humanity project is working!

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  3. Um... Even if I didn't have a grandmother, Martha Stewart or WikiPaul I'm pretty sure I could look at a sheet and figure SOME way to make that pliable fabric behave in a way that resembles a neat square. I also fold the fitted sheet around the top sheet and pillow cases to create one unit so everything is hugged together. I must be a genius.

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  4. Hey, now that's a trick I'd love to see. Please make a video of your all-in-one folding technique.

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  5. ha! I mean I fold each separately but since the fitted sheet isn't quite as flat I tuck the others in the last bi-fold of the fitted sheet. But I'll work on the all-in-one technique... it'll be my contribution to the world.

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  6. My mother was a nurse when I was a child and instilled in me not only the ability to fold fitted sheets but the proper way to create hospital corners on my bed linens. Somehow this ability has not been well passed on to my children unfortunately. I cringe to go in their rooms and see the messy edges.. but I'll be damned if I'm going to remake their beds..

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  7. Poorly-made beds are a gateway to heroin you know...

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  8. Oh! I'm totally going to start telling people that!

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  9. It's an unassailable position.

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