Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 95 stories

“Mid-Cycle” by Christopher Hudson

Submitted to Contest #31

On the second Tuesday of every month, Mr. Ajax went to the local Tilt-A-Wash Laundromat where he did his routine laundry. His apartment complex, Friendly Palms, didn’t have any washer or dryer hook-ups, nor did it have any units for public use. All it had was a lot of palm trees and tacky stone tiles placed almost randomly along a poorly kept complex garden. It was an insult to Mr. Ajax that he had to be seen passing the awful display on his journey to the laundromat or the grocery store or anywhere he chose to make his presence known. He wo...

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“A Marriage, Neatly Folded ” by Stephanie Yang

Submitted to Contest #31

The bundle of clothes is warm, dry. After gently putting the pile onto their – her – bed, Sharon bends over it and picked out a T-shirt. She always liked to start with the T-shirts – the repetitive and rhythmic motion felt so calming. Tuck the sleeves in. Fold the shirt in the middle. Rinse and repeat until all of them were in a neat stack. Here was a shirt that she’d had since college. Funny, that. It had been five years since Sharon had last been to an alumni event, but she was still was wearin...

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“Meanigful Chore” by Kendra Shaw

Submitted to Contest #31

Michelle sighed heavily as she watched the strong wind blowing the dead branches of the trees in her empty backyard; maybe spring would come soon and stay this time. She had always loved this window, but lately it seemed to be less appealing to her. She would watch her boys play in the yard, building forts, shooting Nerf guns, playing in the mud, wrestling, climbing trees, anything their little imaginations could muster up. This particular window allowed Michelle to watch her boys while doing her least favorite chore, folding all the ...

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“Messy and Beautiful” by Jessica Tomaselli

Submitted to Contest #31

Saturday morning - Vanessa struggled into the laundry room with her children’s hampers, looking for a place to stash them while still leaving room to sort the clothes. Above her the shower turned on, indicating that her husband, Daniel, had finally woken up. She knew he would be playing on his phone for five minutes or so while the shower warmed up. He looked at that thing more than at her. The other night she had seen him smiling at it in the way he used to smile at her. She missed those days. It annoyed her how long he spent in the bathroo...

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“Stained Red” by Jena Pisani

Submitted to Contest #31

Twenty years of life and I don’t really remember the first time I did laundry. I must have been young because my father always told me a girl grows into a woman and that meant laundry was my midday snack. Proper nourishment for a growing girl, like I’ll have dishes for dinner and ill vacuum for dessert. I learned the art of laundering before most kids can pronounce washer. I was folding clothes before my family began folding in on itself. A mundane task, repetitive motions keeping some stability from washing away. The mixed load seeping colo...

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“Laundry Day” by Cheyanne Solis

Submitted to Contest #31

Shoot, I don’t think I brought enough quarters. I never bring enough quarters. The hum of washing machines and dryers accompanied the warm wafts of fabric softener sheets as I dropped my basket of darks. I began to dig in my bag for loose change, but crumpled receipts and forgotten pens whose ink leaked over my fingers were the only items that ran through my hands. I felt the judging glance of a man sitting on the bench by my machine. In rundown sweats, he’d most likely stripped from his work clothes and thrown on the one ou...

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“Striped Pajamas” by Christine Peterson

Submitted to Contest #31

No one hangs their laundry outside anymore. A few of the backyards on our block still have old clotheslines swaying like worn-out trees, but no one actually uses them.No one but Miss Ada.Old as the hills and as wrinkled as tree bark, she hangs her wet laundry on her clothesline every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the yard next to ours. As reliable as clockwork, she talks to herself while she pulls old-fashioned clothes pegs from the pocket of her flowered apron and uses them to pin dainty cotton house dresses and striped pajamas on the li...

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“Love flies free” by Blake Johnson

Submitted to Contest #31

She enters the room to see an overwhelming mound of clothes piled up on the bed from the days before when she still hadn't felt up to doing them. Dishes wrapped around her room already littered with snacks she had devoured and didn't have the care to get up and throw away. She felt as if everything around her was ganging up on her, making her feel weak and tired. Did it matter if the laundry was folded? Would it be fine here a few more days? The twins ran around the house laughing and running together around their mother as she stood before ...

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“Laundry Room Visit” by Frank Turner

Submitted to Contest #31

Marcus had no clean underwear left. In fact this was going to be his third day in a row wearing the same pair. Marcus wasn’t normally such a slob but this had been a bad month. It was a month of seeking frequent refuge in his bed, laying a large bath towel down so as to not dirty the fitted sheet and mattress, and masturbating himself to sleep, sometimes for the night, sometimes for an hour in the middle of the day. There wasn’t any circumstance that would appear to necessitate such repeated retreat, but just a lot of feeling bad about himse...

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“It’s just clothes” by Laura Garcia

Submitted to Contest #31

Quarters and telenovelas. Spanish radio stations every now and then. People sorting, waiting, talking, coming and going. All accompanied with the constant hum and buzz of machines running. It’s laundry day, a mundane nuisance that he would’ve gladly tackled out of the way before it happened. Now, this was....hard. This was his lungs slowly turning to stone where it would’ve been a song in his head as he took the basket out of the trunk. It was only one load, filled halfway, but it somehow seemed so heavy. People mind their own busi...

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“Bleach” by Yair Ron

Submitted to Contest #31

Sarah hummed to herself as she hung her wet clothes to dry on the rack. One by one she took them from her basket, placing each carefully on the five taut steel wires, making sure they had the room they needed, stretching them just so. The morning sun warmed her skin pleasantly, and Sarah smiled. The clothes would dry quickly.Her nose tingled, filled with the fresh smell of summer and flowery soap and sharp bleach. It was a clean smell, a new smell. Sarah liked it.She was hanging the last piece when her arm stretched too far. A twinge of pain...

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“Mom's Shirt ” by John Settles

Submitted to Contest #31

“Jack,” Jason cried out, “where did you put Mom’s shirt?” “I dunno, you’re one the one that always does laundry,” he yelled back. He swore, if murder wasn’t illegal, he’d be an only child by now. But instead of being upset with him about the missing shirt, he took it out on the other poor wrinkled shirts, shorts, underwear, and sweaters. If he couldn’t take it out on his stupid idiot of a brother, the clothes would certainly feel his wrath. That’s when his dad walked in on his rampage against the clothes in the drying machine.&nb...

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“Mother’s Memories” by Tammy Letart

Submitted to Contest #31

So today is Mother's Day! Woo-Hoo, a day dedicated to just me. ME! ME! ME! ME! Me and my crazy maternal emotions that is! Mother's Day is a day to honor your Mom, but as a Mom myself, I found it to be a day to thank God for my own little blessings. As I end this Mother’s Day dropping tears in baskets of laundry, I will share my beautiful day with you. My (now ex) husband had been out of town on business and sadly he was absent on this day that means so much more to me, more than any one man will ever know. Why will he never fully understand ...

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“The Normal Cycle?” by Isabel Flynn

Submitted to Contest #31

I must tackle the laundry today, or I’ll never do it. I’ve delayed washing his clothes now for five weeks. It’s just been all too much. I’ve put aside his one good cashmere pullover to nuzzle at night when the loneliness and grief set in. It helps.Okay, here we go. My expensive eco-friendly washing powder, 1 scoop.Set the dial on normal wash. Start.Now sort the darks from the lights just as my poor old mother taught me.His lovely check shirt, how smart he always looked. In go ...

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“Around and Around” by Lindsay Berg

Submitted to Contest #31

Leslie watched as the clothes spun around and around. The washer was nearly done with its cycle and she was excited to help. Finally, the machine played its little tune and Leslie ran to fetch her mother. Her little hands were almost shaking with anticipation as they lifted the lid too peer inside. "Yup." Her mother said, "looks like it's done. Would you like to get your stool so you can help with the dry clothes?" Leslie nodded vigorously and ran. After all, the faster she left, the faster she could get back....

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Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 95 stories

“Mid-Cycle” by Christopher Hudson

“A Marriage, Neatly Folded ” by Stephanie Yang

“Meanigful Chore” by Kendra Shaw

“Messy and Beautiful” by Jessica Tomaselli

“Stained Red” by Jena Pisani

“Laundry Day” by Cheyanne Solis

“Striped Pajamas” by Christine Peterson

“Love flies free” by Blake Johnson

“Laundry Room Visit” by Frank Turner

“It’s just clothes” by Laura Garcia

“Bleach” by Yair Ron

“Mom's Shirt ” by John Settles

“Mother’s Memories” by Tammy Letart

“The Normal Cycle?” by Isabel Flynn

“Around and Around” by Lindsay Berg

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a short story about someone tending to their garden.

Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.

Write a short story about someone going to the corner store to buy an everyday item.

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

Contest #31

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

373

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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