The amount of time it takes to fold laundry

In listening to a recent episode of Filmspotting, I became acquainted again with a type of movie co-host Adam Kempenaar has put forth into our taxonomy of movie types: the type of movie he likes to watch while folding laundry.

I totally get the concept, and the movie they were discussing, Rustin, totally fits that description. It's kind of like filler between movies you watch more intentionally. Pleasant, but not a needle mover in terms of movies you will one day consider personal favorites. (Unless, of course, the movie really surprises you, in which case you regret the way you underestimated it.)

I did wonder, though: Exactly how much laundry does Adam Kempenaar's family have?

More than most, to be sure. From having listened to Adam for more than a dozen years now, I've come to learn a fair amount about his family, including the fact that they have (I believe this is correct) four biological children and one adopted child. It could be five biological children. Anyway, it's a lot.

Still, is it enough to spend a whole movie folding laundry?

Even if every piece of clothing every family member had worn during a week's time were washed within a few days of each other and placed in a large pile for folding -- this large pile sits on one of the chairs in our living room in our house -- I still can't envision more than about 25 minutes of laundry folding. Meaning that even in the shortest of movies, you still have to find another mindless activity for the remaining hour.

Plus it's likely less than that, as I am pretty sure his oldest is off at college now. 

I've actually watched a movie while folding laundry before, but in my house, 15 minutes is the most amount of the movie this activity could occupy. Granted, I do have either three or four fewer children than he does.

If I'm really trying to pull off this sort of multi-tasking, the better activity for me is ironing. In my closet at any given time, I have at least ten and probably closer to 15 shirts I never wear because the fabrics that comprise them require ironing for them to be worn for anything more than the most informal occasions. Instead of doing that ironing, I usually just don't wear them.

However, maybe it's time for another good ironing session, which really could take that whole movie, and probably I'd still only have half of those shirts looking good by the end.

Thank goodness for polyester blends, I say.