The M.O.M. Story: Laundry is leadership.

When I moved into my first NYC apartment, I spent so much money on fees and down payments, I literally only had a blow up mattress, a bookcase (of course), and microwave (the last one I would ever own).

By about 2007 or 2008 I decided it was time to start making my apartment a home. I got very intentional about how I wanted things organized and situated.

Soon. She entered my life — Martha Stewart.

I started getting her newsletter every week. I was not enamored by the cooking or the design. What I drooled over was the organizing tips. She suggested things like storing your sheets folded into your pillow cases, and how to use a tension rod for storage under the kitchen sink. This I spent hours thinking about and trying in my own home.

On the surface, this was about being clean and orderly. However, at a deeper level, my childhood home was always a bit chaotic, and I spent much of my childhood seeking more stability. And I found it in folding sheets and hanging tension rods.

I also found it in blankets and throw pillows. These items make my home soft and inviting — both for myself and for those that enter.

Then, I met my minimalist friends who took no spend challenges and kept only the clothes they actually wore. While I fantasized about labelled bins in well manicured garages, they spent time ridding themselves of unwanted items.

And that is when I started realizing just how personal home management is. There are those of us who warm our homes with blanket and throw pillows, and others who warm our homes with space and light. And I started to embrace more minimalist principles. For example, when my microwave broke, I just didn’t get a new one. Another time in my life, I gave away all of my pots and pans except one of each. I’ve never felt the need to get more of them. But I never gave away my blankets and throw pillows.

Through this process, I came to realize we are all people who warm our homes in the ways that suit our needs. We all have different patterns that help us meet our needs. Some of us minimize to very small amounts. Others of us organize lots of items we love and cherish. But all of us are mothering and caring for ourselves and our loved ones.

And the longer I work on organizing, minimizing, and mothering with intention and thought, the more I realize something very important.

Laundry is leadership.

Hear me out. This feels like a big jump. But, really, it isn’t.

Laundry seems mundane, and, quite honestly, it is seen as women’s work. Women are rarely considered leaders. So of course the idea that laundry is leadership sounds a bit ridiculous. But perhaps what is ridiculous is a way too narrow definition of leadership.

Consider this, clean laundry may have won the American Civil War. Remember, during the 1860s, the science around hygiene was still developing. It was not uncommon for doctors to go from patient to patient using the same scalpel blade without evening rinsing it in between cuts.

But one thing happened like clock-work — women did the laundry. Women travelled around with the troops making sure those men had clean clothes. And those clean clothes did much more than ensure that the men felt comfortable. Those clean clothes protected the men from illness and disease. Cleaning of the clothes also killed bugs that spread viruses.

Hence, laundry is leadership. Women during the American Civil War took the lead in making sure the troops were ready for war, and without these women, or people doing “women’s” work”, the war could have ended much differently.

Home management — whether your style is to minimize, organize, or somewhere in between — is leadership. Today, more often than not, this work is still done by women, and if it isn’t done by women, it is still considered women’s work.

So, today, on the third day of Women’s History Month, I offer the idea that the problem isn’t that women don’t lead. Rather, the problem is that the definition, and our recognition of what it means to lead needs to be changed and expanded to include the “mundane” task of home management.

And that is the story of M.O.M. — from Martha Stewart to a recognition that laundry is leadership.

M.O.M. is here to empower those of us interesting in organizing and minimizing our homes.

M.O.M. is about recognizing that leadership is too narrowly defined, and should include the “mundane” tasks like laundry.