Domesticity — Death by DVR

 I watch TV while I do laundry.  It’s one of my least favorite chores to do, so I figure I may as well zone out to the boob tube for some entertainment while doing it.  It used to take me only about twenty minutes per day to begrudgingly get it done, but now that I have a DVR, I typically take a full hour to do as much as I can tackle.

While on the surface, this doesn’t seem like such a bad thing (especially for anyone who has ever witnessed one of our out-of-control laundry piles).  But it dawned on me as I looked around my house the other day that every other domestic chore is suffering as a result of my new laundry + DVR habit.

I figure, if I have to do something I dislike as much as cleaning, I might as well choose a chore that comes with entertainment.  Mopping?  No TV in the kitchen.  Vacuuming?  Can’t hear over the noise of the vacuum.  Scrubbing toilets?  Well, the DVR isn’t the only excuse I pull out to avoid that one.  But laundry, which used to be my biggest hurdle, is now the chore I do most often.  Yes, partly out of necessity in this family of five, but mostly because I don’t notice the work I’m doing while I’m entertained.  The DVR is keeping my family in clean clothes.  Who knew?

The downside to this discovery was also the realization that I would much rather fold laundry while watching a decent show than use nap time to tackle the myriad other tasks that await me.  While the DVR is my laundry lifesaver, I think it is taking its toll on all the other chores.

I realized a long time ago that I will never be able to simultaneously enjoy a clean house, have dinner cooked every night, and keep up with the laundry.  But I also can’t afford to ignore the rest of the house in favor of vegging out to the boob tube while folding laundry, either.

Yes, the DVR has killed any chance I had at a clean house.   Now, if only I could find the remote under all this clutter, I might be able to turn it off and get something else done!

(First published in “Because I Said So” for TheAlternativePress.)