19 January 2009

How to fold a fitted sheet


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.


19 comments:

  1. No ego here or least not too much of one. Thanks to Youtube and you...that just knocked out one of my pet peeves. Hats off.

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  2. My pleasure! I'm going to foist this video on every one I know. Great blog by the way. Bravo!

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  3. GOOD TRY... I hate folding sheets! I will leave the job to hubby... I will NEVER tell that I saw the secrets... I saw NOTHING! ;) lol

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  4. Well at some point down the road, you'll know where to turn if you ever need to fold a fitted sheet in a laundry emergency.

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  5. How funny! My mother was over today as I was ironing sheets, and she asked me if I knew how to fold a fitted one!! I had to admit that I wasn't very adept at it, but now I can learn!!! Thanks!

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  6. You iron sheets?! Be still my heart!

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  7. Pamela, bless your heart. Me too! There is nothing better than freshly ironed sheets to fall into for a good night's sleep. My mother owned a mangler. Me, I have a skinny ironing board. I love ironing my pillow cases.

    I once had a boyfriend and discovered he never put a sheet on his bed. The relationship ended soon after. No sheets? A deal breaker!

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  8. Love the video. I was taught to do this when I was a child, but at some point (maybe partying in the '70s?) I forgot what to do after the 4 corners were together. Thanks for sharing!

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  9. You're very welcome. I feel like it's my lot in life to make sure that every fitted sheet in the land is properly folded and put away.

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  10. I thought this one of life's little impossibilities, like finding the other sock that the dryer ate. Or keeping horizontal surfaces clear of clutter. ;-P

    Thank you so much! No, no one taught me how to fold a fitted sheet (or any other sheet, for that matter). My mother was the worst housekeeper...and I had no grandmothers to speak of. Right now I only have one set of fitted sheets, and they stay on the bed until I wash them, then they're right back on. But I will remember this for the future. Ingenious!

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  11. It's my pleasure! How to do this mundane task is a skill that's being lost rapidly. I feel like it's my job to keep this sort of thing alive.

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  12. Please don't judge me for admitting that I fall into the crumpled-fitted-sheet category!! I really do try, but halfway through, I say a bad word (or two or three or eight) and just scrunch it all up and shove it into the closet :-)

    Thanks for posting the video. I promise I'll try harder next time I'm folding!!

    Kelly

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  13. Folding fitted sheets is like a drug Kelly. Once you learn to do it successfully, you'll want to keep doing it until you're ready to collapse.

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  14. Oh brother --I wouldn't spend that much time on folding a sheet unless I were going to sell it --for a lot.

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  15. I could no sooner imagine not doing this than I can imagine eating with my feet. But hey, that's what makes this world such a cool place --there's room for everybody.

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  16. LOL --mine always look like the top example. I just stuff it in the 'neatly folded' top sheet-- and then I stuff the whole wad into my linen closet that nobody ever looks in but me.

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  17. Would that I could be so relaxed. Pam, it's precisely the things that no one can see but me that keep me awake at night!

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  18. Some of us reach old age without ever discovering our life's purpose. I am so happy that hasn't happened to you, Paul :)
    Now, if after you visit New Ravenna, you'd like to take a side trip to my house, I have a closet (or three, plus a basement) that could afford you the opportunity to further develop your life's purpose!
    Oh, and then there's the back splash decisions to be made, and the barstools...

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  19. It's on my resume Sara, "Can fold fitted sheets."

    Did you ever find the Lucite stools you were describing to me?

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