What kind of need does cleaning meet?

Last night I thought it would be a good idea to get my washing done the next day as it was going to be one of the last days that it was guaranteed to be a nice day before the wet weather sets in again and the last thing I wanted was my wet washing sitting around all weekend. 
 

So I got home from the gym and grabbed the parts of my washing I don’t like to put through the machine because I’m scared that our washing machine will chew them to pieces and ruin my clothes. I washed these ones in the shower with me (a little trick I learned in Chile) and then rung them out and dabbed them dry with my towel. 

I put all my other clothes into my washing bag and lugged it down the stairs to the laundry. When I got there I found that my flatmate had beaten me to it but her load didn’t have long to go so I just left my stuff in the laundry and went upstairs.

Next time I went down to the laundry the washing machine was still going, turned out she had put a second load on and bet me to it again! But since it was a towel load I added my towels in with it so at least something was washing. It was only an hour till class and I was starting to panic that I wasn’t going to get my washing out on the line before I had to go to class. 

I found myself counting the minutes and starring at the washing machine hoping that it would finish any minute now. It was already 11:30am and we don’t get a lot of afternoon sun at our house so I had to hope the wind was going to dry it now. I was starting to feel a bit helpless about the situation wondering whether I should wait till the next day to do the washing but I had already started the process so I soldiered on.

I fast tracked my flatmate’s rinse load and put it on to spin – lucky I did because or else I wouldn’t get mine in at all before I left for class. Finally the load had finished and I basically chucked her washing into the basket and threw mine in, got the powder in and turned it on, I was actually now making progress. 

I felt bad for fast tracking my flatmate’s cycle so I hung her washing outside quickly and I hoped that she might hang out mine in return while I was at class. I lined her washing up nicely; leaving space between so that it would dry faster so then some of it could come down when I was going to be putting my washing up.

I felt like I didn’t have much control over this task and it left me feeling frustrated. 

Woodside & McClam (2011) discuss that a way of meeting human need is to identify basic human needs and then ask if they are being met. So when we look in depth at this activity there are some clear needs that this activity meets.

The first need washing meets is health. Health has been defined by the World Health Organisation (2006) as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This activity’s need is to meet health firstly on a physical basis, the upkeep of my personal health and ensuring that my clothing is clean which in turn creates a clean environment. The mental well being is being met as it allows me to complete an activity which allows me time to myself to think about what I will do for the day and to relax a little, even if I did find this activity stressful!

The second need that washing clothes meets is my need for systems and order. I wanted some clothes to be washed in particular ways and chose to wash them in the shower as I didn’t trust the washing machine to complete the task in the same way I could. Also I wanted to get my washing done on this particular day as this was a day I could get it washed and dried all in one day which is a preferred system of mine as I don’t like my wet clothes sitting on a clothes horse all weekend attempting to dry in a cold house. This task is something I do once a week as Green (1968) appropriately states that it is not only necessary; it is also endless. Once done, it must be done again. So if my washing takes several days to complete the task seems endless from week to week.

REFERENCES:

§  Bonita, R., Beaglehole, R., & Kjellstrom, T. (2006). Basic epidemiology. (2^nd Ed). WHO Press: Switzerland.

§  Green, T. F. (1968). Work, leisure and the American schools. New York: Random House.

§  Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2011). An introduction to human services. Brooks/Cole: California.