If you've ever needed some help with or inspiration for doing laundry, cleaning, or home repairs, you need to acquaint yourself with Melissa Dilkes Pateras, who describes herself on her Instagram this way:
For some reason I'm famous for folding laundry.
She's part of that weirdly mesmerizing corner of TikTok known as "LaundryTok"—on her TikTok ("Laundry, DIY, Cleaning") and Instagram, she shares videos of mundane tasks that she somehow makes way more interesting. She lives in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. In 2020 she started making videos during COVID-19 lockdown, and they just took off. "Before I knew it," she told the Peterborough Examiner, "I was the laundry lesbian." She continues:
"I've had so many positive comments talking about how the pandemic has been the worst time of our lives and we may never go through something like this again in our lifetimes and then 'you give me a few minutes to smile each day,'" she said, noting that kind of feedback makes the daily pressure to create content somewhat easier.
"As long as it's still fun and people are still enjoying it, I will do it," she said. "If it's making even one person laugh, I'm in."
I find her funny and engaging, with her dry sense of humor and soothing voice. Her videos are also educational. Here she is cleaning a toaster oven, renovating a bathroom, folding guest towels, making a DIY glass and mirror cleaner, quizzing her daughter on laundry symbols, demonstrating how to do a "towel roll," talking caulk (CaulkTok!), and showing us how to fold a fitted sheet and how to clean a front-loading washer.
