The prosecution: Anita

double quotation markThe basket is huge, ugly and it stinks. Dirty clothes can go straight into the washing machine

My partner, Jayden, and I have just moved in together. He is a big fan of this wicker basket that he’s shipped from his old flat, but I want it gone.It’s not small or discreet, it’s massive and ugly, and takes up a whole corner of our bedroom. It’s this big, clunky thing that sits there full of smelly clothes. I honestly don’t see the point of it. Why shove dirty laundry in a basket for a week when you can put everything straight into the washing machine? At least if it’s in the washer, it’s where it belongs and ready to go.The basket just delays the inevitable. It’s like having an unnecessary middleman. And it doesn’t match the flat, and dominates the room like a dead piece of furniture. I don’t want to spend money and time making the place look nice just to have this smelly thing lurking in the corner.It’s also unhygienic. Wicker is impossible to clean. If it gets damp, it smells even worse. Jayden says a laundry basket is “practical”. But I think it’s more practical to wash clothes straight away. I get that this isn’t always possible, and if I can’t get clothes straight into the wash, I’ll shove them to the bottom of the wardrobe.I know that’s not great, but it is very rare. If I had my way, dirty clothes would be washed the same day. They would go straight in the machine, job done. No festering. When Jayden sees my dirty clothes at the bottom of the wardrobe, he adds them to the laundry basket. That drives me mad, because I can’t find anything in the basket, it’s so big. He likes to do a big mixed laundry load every 10 days or so, whereas I prefer to wash more regularly. If we got rid of the basket, this would make it easier, as there wouldn’t be anywhere for clothes to pile up.The other thing is smell. Clothes sitting in a basket for a week – socks, gym gear, sweaty T-shirts – make the whole room stink. Jayden goes to the gym at least three times a week. At least in the washer, the smells are contained. But the basket smells. So I don’t want his cumbersome old basket in our new flat. New flat, new start.The defence: Jayden