Is it bad luck to clean and do laundry on New Year's? The story behind the superstition

If you've got New Year's Day off and a pile of laundry or leftover Christmas clutter lying around, you might be tempted to start the New Year off with a clean home. But could you be inviting bad luck for the year ahead? Superstition warns that if you haven't gotten around to cleaning by New Year's Eve, you should avoid it until Jan. 2. 

One of the many widely discussed New Year's myths forewarns that washing clothes or laundry could cleanse your of any good fortune for the next 365 days. Similarly, taking out anything from the home that day could remove any future prosperity. An even darker superstition is that doing so could "wash away a loved one," meaning somebody could die in the next year.