Laundry and class

If you do your own laundry (or if a family member does it for you), you’re definitely not upper class.

If someone does your laundry for you, you’re definitely not middle class.

* * *

And if you're upper-middle class, you can go either way on this issue. In case people didn't get that.

Comments

[Turambar]

Interesting.

Since just 50 years ago it was common for a middle class family to have a laundry lady or to send their laundry out.

[Major]

Geez, what's with your obsession with class?

I'm sorry your law degree from Arizona State bars you from ever being elite. Just get over it, man.

[LoneStarStateofMind]

I disagree, unless the definition of upper class has changed. Household help is cheap enough today, at least in Texas, that plenty of upper middle class families (doctors, lawyers, small business owners), bona fide 99 percenters, employ housekeepers that do their laundry, among other things. Myself included... That's not to say I won't do laundry as needed, if I need something clean and Blanca won't be back for a couple of days. I am the 99%.

[Drole Prole]

What about the correlation between class and line drying washed clothes?

[Heh]

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/323801.php

"This is an effective use of the liberal infrastructure- four degrees from a who’s who list of Ivy League schools, a Wall Street gig, a gig at a liberal think tank, and now charm school at NBC. I say this with no bitterness- the Clintons are using the assets they have at their disposal to build a potent political weapon (and that includes the facial work Chelsea had done in her late teens and early 20s). Take note of this- this is what it currently takes to be part of the aristocracy. This, ultimately, is why you see kids of otherwise conservative politicos going to ivy League schools. Is the education any better than they'd get at State U? Debatable. But it's still the ticket into the big club."

[But does she do her own laundry?]

[Tom]

"Since just 50 years ago it was common for a middle class family to have a laundry lady or to send their laundry out."

No. It was common only until the washing machine became affordable.

BTW, I know a lot of rich people who do their own laundry and don't have a maid because they want to preserve their private life.

[Neopolitan]

I wonder how well this applies to other domestic chores? I still mow my lawn, but it seems increasingly like a waste of time for someone who probably qualifies as upper middle class(albeit just barely). I also still do things like clean my house's gutters. More and more, however, I've been thinking that it doesn't make sense to do anything which could lead to an injury (ladder work) if you can pay someone else to do it for a lot less than your own hourly wage. I wasn't raised with this mindset so it's hard to make the transition to hiring help.

[LoneStarStateofMind]

Turambar,
With the advent of the modern clothes washer and dryer, laundry became easier, and those middle class families no longer needed laundry help.

That said, my middle class, but cheap, Jewish grandparents still didn't have a clothes dryer into the late 1970's, and I can remember grandma hanging laundry on a clothesline in the back yard.

[Wade Nichols]

You're speaking from an NYC perspective!

I have laundry machines in my building basement, but my weekend time is too valuable to waste doing it myself, so I bring my laundry to the Korean place on my block. The only people that use laundry machines are the schmucks that don't make enough money to pay someone else to do it for them.

If I had a larger apartment and my building allowed it, I would definitely buy my own washer and dryer and do it myself in the evening. (It would HAVE to be SubZero or whatever the luxury washer/dryer brand is!) But not many NYC buildings allow washer/dryers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/realestate/23cover.html?pagewanted=all

[Peter]

Absurd. There is nothing whatsoever declasse about doing one's own laundry, especially with an expensive front-loading washer with matching dryer (have you checked the prices on those?).

"What about the correlation between class and line drying washed clothes?"

My guess is that many people who can easily afford expensive dryers do at least some line drying because they think it's more back-to-nature.

[anon]

class also blurs between generations. You very often see wealthy entrepeneurs (not just rich, but stinkin' wealthy) retain their middle class ways because they were hard-wired in before the wealth "kicked in". Their (adult)children, though, do not have these traits. If you do not do your laundry, you ARE upperclass, but you can say w/ less predictive value that if you DO your laundry, you are NOT upperclass. I bet Warren Buffet might do his own laundry, for instance

[gymquiz]

"What about the correlation between class and line drying washed clothes?"

That would definitely be a bimodal distrubution, with eco-SWPL's at the high end, and the poor on the other end. There's a Mexican immigrant cornerlot rental house nearby and it's fun to see their "chonas" flying in the wind!

[jeanne]

I knew a retired officer who lived with his youngest son, and they always sent theirs out every week. They wouldn't think of doing laundry. His pension was good but definitely middle class.

Then again he grew up in DC, where blacks did all the scut work, and then spent most his life in the Army where car pool drove you around and did everything else for you.

[D]

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Major. A law degree from ASU will always bar you from all things elite. Why did you go to ASU law anyways? Didn’t you graduate from a ivy league undergrad that is known for grade inflation? You mean to tell me that you couldn’t get a decent enough gpa and lsat score to get into one of the top 14 law schools?

[Tanizaki]

I hire people to wash my car and mow my lawn. Dry cleaning service comes by twice a week to pick up and deliver, but regular washables are done by my wife except on days when the housekeeper is here. What class am I?

Doing laundry in Japan is ludicrous, by the way. Everyone has a washing machine but no one has a dryer, so clothes are hung out to dry. This practice is so common that the weather report will feature a clothes drying forecast. When I was there, I said, "let's try this rustic practice." Well, it was horrible. The clothes are not soft and they smell. So, I would wash my clothes at home and then hike them down to the laundromat down the street to use a dryer. The point of the story is that they can make robots that can hop on one foot but still haven't figured out a home clothes dryer. (the western SWPLs, on the other hand, loved this bit of "green")

[Lexus Liberal]

HS

If one has read Paul Fussel's other works or "Conspicuous Consumption" by Thorstein Veblen, one would know that the real elite will spend money on not only maids and butlers, but professionals to provide entertainment for special house guests and cocktail parties.

One highly doubts the "90%" has ever paid a professional entertainer to perform during cocktail hour. Obviously hiring a stripper is tasteless prole nuave-riche behaviour, while having someone perform Beethoven's Violin Romance In F Major and offering authentic champagne is not.

[Lara]

My brother lives in New York City. He is mostly broke, but he still sends his laundry out sometimes.

[HS: A lot of people in NYC try to act upper middle class. And real upper class don't take their laundry to the cleaners, they have a housekeeper who takes care of it.]

[DaveinHackensack]

"You're speaking from an NYC perspective!"

I don't think it's even true from an NYC perspective. I dated a girl who lived in Manhattan and and had her maid do her laundry, and she was middle class. She just had a lot of underwear, so she could wait 2 weeks for her maid to do her laundry while she cleaned her condo.

[dearieme]

When we were young we'd drop off our laundry on the way to work at what was called in Britain a "service wash launderette", and pick it up in the evening. When we had a child we bought a washing machine and tumble dryer. But in spring and summer we still dry on the line - everything is pleasanter on the skin.

[J]

Interesting post. I sometimes find myself not doing laundry at all, wearing the same shirt and pants 4-5 times a week. It feels nice though, you know, saving the money.

Such is life when you are poor and in law school...

[DaveinHackensack]

"Obviously hiring a stripper is tasteless prole nuave-riche behaviour"

But misspelling "nouveau riche" by a country mile is tasteful upper-crust behavior? This is the sort of pretentious, asinine comment that another commenter used to make here repeatedly (I forget the name he posted under). What sort of entertainment, pray tell, do you think the wealthy hire for their bachelor parties -- string quartets? I hope it doesn't come as a shock to you that rich men like to look at naked women too.

[E]

Posted by: Tanizaki
"Doing laundry in Japan is ludicrous, by the way. Everyone has a washing machine but no one has a dryer, so clothes are hung out to dry.
...
The point of the story is that they can make robots that can hop on one foot but still haven't figured out a home clothes dryer."

One of the culture shocks that Americans have while traveling abroad is the realization that MOST of the planet does not use electric powered clothes dryers, not even in advanced countries. For example the French have figured out a way to build 58 nuclear reactors and make an electric train travel faster than 350 mph but despite this, hang dying clothes is still the standard.

[Anon]

I has me one of them Aut-o-matic washin' ma-chines. Is I high status or low?

[Luke Lea]

If you put your washer and dryer in your dressing room, four feet from your chest of drawers, it hardly becomes an issue. One minute of labor a load.

[Darwin's Sh*tlist]

There are three basic categories regarding this:

1) People who do chores and home maintenance themselves. (Middle class and below)

2) People who sometimes pay others on a fee-for-service basis for chores and maintenance. (Upper middle class)

3) People who pay employees for chores and maintenance. (Upper class)

[Drole Prole]

In the US, if you buy a top loading washing machine, you are most likely prole and/or have a low IQ. Top loading washing machines uses a lot more water, electricity and soap. They also wear clothes out quicker than front loading ones. Plus the vast majority of washing machines in Europe are front loading; therefore, it has the SWPL stamp of approval.

[Drole Prole]

American proles like top loading washing machines because they are too stupid to realize how inefficient they are and/or they are complacent due to being so used to them; proles fear change and stick with what they are used to.

[Nanonymous]

As a simple rule of thumb, that's excellent. Very true - but only if "upper class" includes only top 1%. Extend it to 5% and there will be way too many exception for this rule to be useful.

[Oberst]

Trust nobody to wash your clothing properly. And "E", most of your clothing should be air dried. And France is a fucked up place. But I had Kraut relatives who did enjoy their stationing there...

[jon]

Drole Prole: "American proles like top loading washing machines because they are too stupid to realize how inefficient they are"

A decent top loader fits twice the laundry load and costs twice less than twice more energy and water-efficient front loader. American proles who buy washers live in houses that can easily fit large and inefficient washers (basement). Do the numbers and you will find out that money-wise the proles are still ahead - and even if there is a parity in money, they still win in convenience of not having to do two loads.

[Lexus Liberal]

@Daveinhackensack

"But misspelling "nouveau riche" by a country mile is tasteful upper-crust behavior? This is the sort of pretentious, asinine comment that another commenter used to make here repeatedly (I forget the name he posted under). What sort of entertainment, pray tell, do you think the wealthy hire for their bachelor parties -- string quartets? I hope it doesn't come as a shock to you that rich men like to look at naked women too."

...Well Dave... pardonnez-moi l'francais, mon français est très rouillé. 以为，我現在学汉语。

I'm rarely tasteful after a Scotch binge, but accusing me of being foolish is ignorant and inane, primarily because my conclusions are supported by two substantial publications, which you haven't the vaguest clue of their existences.

Again a common misconception to think that every well off individuals are elite, again goes to dichotomy of old money vs. "nouveau riche" or more accurately the parvenu.

Please kindly find the quote where I mention that the elite hire string quartets for their bachelor parties. Do you really think they go on bachelor parties? You're so sarcastic, you must have a great sense of humour.

[Peter]

While mundane tasks like laundry are a different matter, some people who can afford to hire others to perform home-repair tasks will do so themselves because they enjoy using power tools and working with their hands.

[Blue Willow]

I would never send my laundry out. It might get lost or shrunk, or washed with other peoples' stuff. Yuck. I don't even think such a service exists in western Canada. Everyone has washing machines and dryers, or they have coin washers in their apartment building somewhere, or worst case, they go to a laundermat.

We have a front loader, but I'm not convinced it gets stuff as clean as the old top loaders. For awhile the stores stopped selling top loaders, but they are coming back now.

[d-day]

It's not that expensive to send your laundry out . . .

[Steve Sailer]

Nah, NYC is different from the rest of America when it comes to having laundry done professionally.

[Kyo]

I favor top leading washers because front loaders seem to always have the door hinges positioned as if everyone loads their laundry right-handed. If you're a lefty, the door gets in the way all the time. Top loaders, with the hinges in the back, open just fine no matter which hand you're using to put stuff in and take stuff out.