My husband and I have been having a heated discussion. We disagree on sheet changing etiquette when visiting family. My husband believes that you should strip the bed that you have been sleeping in at your Grandma Flo’s home before you leave. I believe that you should just simply make the bed as usual and say your good-byes… never mentioning the mysterious stain under the left pillow.
I personally prefer my house guests to not strip the bed. I would rather they just make it up and straighten the room as they go. This way I do not feel obligated to actually do the wash that day. If they strip the bed, I will wave good-bye to them and walk back into the house and start cursing because they have given me a chore to do RIGHT NOW because all of the sheets are piled up right next to the washing machine begging to be cleaned. My thinking is this, if you call me and say “Hey June, I am going to be coming out to visit you next week… you buy the beer and I’ll pay for the male dancer” well then I will march right into the guest bedroom and strip the already made bed in order to wash and re-make the bed with fresh sheets. So if you strip the bed when you leave, and I wash the sheets that day and re-make the bed, I will just have to do it all over again the next time you come in town. So unless you have spilled a strawberry margarita on my great Aunt’s antique quilt that she left me when she died… please don’t strip the sheets.
I also keep reminding my husband that we are no longer young kids. We are old. When our friends come over, they do not get so drunk that they have to “crash” at our house. The necessity for clean sheets on a bed has diminished with age. When we were first married a few of his friends did end up crashing at our house from time to time… but I burned those sheets. No washing required.
My husband on the other hand thinks that stripping the bed is actually helping the person who owns the house. Silly, silly man… when has handing a chore to a woman been listed under the “Big Help” list? He thinks this is the proper thing to do and believes it is rather rude to leave the bed all made up and sitting there with dirty sheets for God knows how long before Grandma Flo gets to it, as if we are so disgustingly dirty that the sooner we get those sheets cleaned the better. It may even be a matter of National Security.
So, we have come to a peaceful agreement. When we visit my family, who I feel is much like myself in their house chore beliefs (meaning-the less you have to do the better) we will not strip the bed but simply make it up all nice, remembering to never EVER plan a surprise visit… or we will be sleeping on the dirty sheets that have yet to have been washed since our last visit.
When we visit my husband’s family, we will strip the bed and put the sheets smack dab in the middle of the laundry room, and then go and tell them that we have stripped the bed for them and put the sheets in the laundry room for their attention. This works well with his family-especially his brother, who on the day you are leaving his house, will clean your bathroom before you have even finished your shower and vacuum you out of the house as he is waving good-bye. God love him.
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