"Lara, don't you have laundry to do? I haven't seen you join us to wash on weekends", one of my roommates in the hostel asked me a few weeks after we have stayed together and I couldn't stop laughing at the question.
It wasn't my first time being asked such a question just because cleaning is an everyday routine for me. I don't joke with anything that has to do with healthiness and it is not only what we take through our mouth that determines the state of our health, our clothes and underwears matters a lot.
"I usually wash my clothes every day but you guys just didn't notice it", this is always my response when asked such question.
Most of them think I do give my clothes to dry cleaners but they were wrong. At a point when I was growing, I developed the habit of washing the previous day's cloth every morning and this is the reason why I stay longer in the bathroom.
My friends do mock me for always staying longer in bathroom, they do say that I can't get lighter than I am but toning my color wasn't my reason for staying longer than everyone.
Whenever I tell them why I stay longer, they are always like wow. Some do think I was just trying to claim a false standard but after observing me for a while, they don't have a choice than to believe my lifestyle.
Aside from my clothes, I don't allow my bedspread and pillowcase to get dirty before I wash them, the beautiful aroma they give me when clean helps me to sleep soundly.
It is a lifestyle or ritual for me and I get disturbed the moment something unusual like our hostel bathroom running out of water or something else happens. There are different benefit of this lifestyle and the biggest of all is that it saves me a lot of time on weekends.
Saturday is a traditional washing day and it is the only day I have in the week to have fun. Struggling to wash all the clothes and hanging around the spread space to avoid losing my clothes will only prevent me from enjoying my weekend. Moreover, I do hear students screaming that one or more of their cloth is missing and I don't want to experience such a thing.
Sometimes some students mistakenly pack clothes that don't belong to them and it might take a day or two before the owner gets it back so washing every morning prevents me from experiencing these things.
A few people around me have adopted that habit but it is not easy because if it takes 20 minutes to do the washing, you have to deduct it from your sleeping time if you are the type that leaves home very early.
Image was downloaded from Unsplash
https://unsplash.com/photos/aJN-jjFLyCU