Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that not everything needs to be folded. There
Speaker 1: is no point in making extra work for yourself with
Speaker 1: things that don't really matter to you. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: another this week, comes from Casey Davis's book, How to
Speaker 1: Keep House While Drowning. This book is about how to
Speaker 1: maintain a functional home even during very busy times, or
Speaker 1: if you are dealing with mental challenges that make executive
Speaker 1: functioning difficult. Davis recounts living with huge piles of laundry
Speaker 1: in her laundry room after she became a stay at
Speaker 1: home mom of a toddler and a baby. She could
Speaker 1: never get the laundry folded before something else called her away,
Speaker 1: and of course, after both babies were in bed, she
Speaker 1: was so tired that folding laundry was really the last
Speaker 1: thing she wanted to do. Then, one day, as she
Speaker 1: was folding a baby onesie, she asked herself a question,
Speaker 1: why was she folding that onesie? It wasn't really going
Speaker 1: to get wrinkled, and if it did, who cared? So
Speaker 1: she just started putting away onesies and T shirts and
Speaker 1: athletic clothes and pajamas without folding them. Pulling out the
Speaker 1: handful of items that truly would get wrinkled and hanging
Speaker 1: them up took just a few minutes. The whole laundry
Speaker 1: process became much swifter as someone who never folds athletic
Speaker 1: wear or pajamas or anything like that. I am glad
Speaker 1: that she had this realization. As Davis notes, a lot
Speaker 1: of people are walking around with stories about what it
Speaker 1: means to be a good home manager. Sometimes we assign
Speaker 1: moral weight to this. If you fold your kid's clothes,
Speaker 1: you are a good mother, and if you just shove
Speaker 1: them in the drawer, you are a bad mother. We
Speaker 1: could substitute father here, of course, even if we all
Speaker 1: know who is more affected by these narratives of domesticity,
Speaker 1: But chores are morally neutral. The question is whether things
Speaker 1: are functioning or not, And I assure you that a
Speaker 1: house can function marvelously without children's clothes being folded. Instead
Speaker 1: of folded clothes, you have more time, time that you
Speaker 1: can spend relaxing or maybe even having more fun with
Speaker 1: your kids. Not everything needs to be folded. This realization
Speaker 1: is true on its face and it is true in
Speaker 1: a metaphorical sense if you enjoy something that is great,
Speaker 1: but if you don't, maybe it is worth considering if
Speaker 1: you are spending more time on something than you need to,
Speaker 1: just because you are telling yourself a story about what
Speaker 1: a good person does. A good person gets her inbox
Speaker 1: to zero every day. A good person cooks elaborate meals
Speaker 1: from scratch. A good person makes her bed every morning.
Speaker 1: But if chores are morally neutral, then this opens up possibilities.
Speaker 1: Being a good person has nothing to do with whether
Speaker 1: you make your bed. There are everyday saints who just
Speaker 1: buy that rotisserie chicken and bag salad and call it
Speaker 1: a day. There are good people who realize that not
Speaker 1: every email was asked for, and who rationally decide that
Speaker 1: it would be better for them to spend time inquiring
Speaker 1: into a colleague's life than responding to every email. When
Speaker 1: you find yourself spending a lot of time on something,
Speaker 1: consider why you are doing it. Maybe there is a
Speaker 1: good reason that truly gets at one of your values,
Speaker 1: or maybe there isn't. Consider whether you have things in
Speaker 1: your life that do not need to be done. Not
Speaker 1: everything needs to be folded, and sometimes not folding things
Speaker 1: makes a better life possible. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.