Laundry Limbo report (an Unthinkable case closed)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:34:05 -0500 (EST)
From: Daniel Saunders <xxxx@qlink.queensu.ca>

This was number 1 on my list of unthinkables, that is conundrums of trivial
daily life, usually just below conscious awareness, that slow me down:

1 What to do with laundry that isn't dirty, but also isn't clean? (ie
pants that have been worn only once or twice)

In other words, what to do about laundry limbo? So here are the results of
asking my friends, including some other observations about laundry:

JAMAL * Notes that washing is hard on clothes.
* Clothes need to air out to be ok to wear. Drapes them over a chair, would
ideally hang up on a clothes rack before putting in closet again. (3 bin
system)
* If exposed to strong smell, like cooking oil or cigarettes, immediately
dirty.

JULIE 4 bin system:
1. Clean clothes. In dresser
2. 1 or 2 wears, good enough for school. In a specific area of the floor.
3. Sweaty or horsey. Good only for stable or gym. Another specific area.
4. Dirty/unwearable. Dirty clothes hamper.

JIM * Has current clothes on the floor. Always wears those clothes when he
wakes up
* Replaces parts of his outfit in the morning as they get dirty
* Exception to the system: half-dirty socks. Lay them on top of sock box.
* "I don't think I've ever washed a sweater" Correction: what he said apparently was "I think I have sweaters I haven't washed." As in since he bought them not that long ago.

PAM * Put clothes back in the drawer, folded.
* Just remember how many times each worn (don't wear shirts more than once)
* Also mentioned smell/stain override.

MAGGIE * Freshly laundered on one side of the shelf, worn on the other.
* Remember # of times worn

ANNA Put back with clean clothers, memory aided by the fact that they're on
top of the pile.

JEN Washes sweaters after two wearings.

TYSON'S FRIEND The only 1 bin system: dirty, clean and partway all rolled into
a ball.

JEN (girlfriend of my housemate Eddie) * Folds laundry and puts on chair
* Tries to mix up outfits to give the illusion of always changing clothes (like
many of us) so has several sets on the chair at a time. (Eddie less bothered by
wearing same clothes several days in a row)
* Goes by memory how many times, launder if in doubt.
* Half believes in the "airing out" idea: that if you don't wear them for a day
or two, and they aren't crumpled up, they become more acceptable.

Eddie and Jen believe dirty clothes, even ones that aren't damp with sweat, can
contaminate clean clothes.

Everyone agrees:

* There needs to be an override system if things get obviously stained or
sweaty (I don't think wearing lasagna remains on a t-shirt will ever become a
fashion statement)
* Wrinkles are undesirable, and a good system should prevent them.

However there are significant issues on which people differ, which seem to be
the parameters that generate their systems:

1 Contamination or not. Jim and Pam don't believe in dirty clothes
contaminating clean clothes, as in transferring their scent, and neither do
others based on their system. Eddie and Jen do.
2 Airing out or not. Does it help to hang clothes up between one wearing and
the next? Either in the sense of reducing funkiness, or preventing an increase
in funkiness?
3 Rotation or not. How important is the impression, presented to your lab,
classmates and the world at large, that you change outfits every day? The
drawback to heavy rotation is that you have many sets of clothes in the
limbo state, and must remember how dirty each article is. Jim's system, with
only one outfit partially dirty at a time, takes much less cognitive load.

The results of self-examination: I do believe in contamination, I don't think
airing out is necessary, and I do rotate heavily, that is, every day - but
maybe I don't need to so much.

The principle that my system is based on: *limbo cannot contaminate limbo.*

ONE GREY CHAIR system

I will drape all of my limbo laundry, that can be worn at least once more but
is not clean, over the back of my extra chair (which is grey) in the corner of
my room. So this is a 3 bin system. If I think I could wear a pair of socks
again, I will put it on the seat. I will use memory to decide how often an item
of clothing has been worn. I'm not going to worry about wearing the same outfit
two days in a row.

Based on the first two weeks I've been trying the one grey chair system out, *I
may never have clothes lying on my floor ever again*. One concern was that
items would rarely move to the dirty clothes, however I am addressing that by
going through the mound on the chair on monday on the weeks that are not
laundry weeks, that is, every other week.Other potential drawbacks:

1. It's hard to get individual items that might be a bit buried
2. The chair was originally for guests to sit on. Will I need to buy a new
chair??

But so far I'm very pleased with it. Thank you, recipients of this email, who
helped by contributing your systems and thoughts! Now that that's off my mind I
can really get back to marking. Ug.

BONUS UNTHINKABLE CLOSED CASES

3 What does it mean when honey goes granular? Do you have to throw it out?

Honey hasn't gone bad when it's granular, in fact it can be restored to
liquidity by heating it for a while in the microwave. (thanks Pam)

10 How to deal with butter - it's hard and unspreadable if it's kept in
the fridge, but doesn't it go bad when it's out?

Butter can last a long time out of the fridge, definitely more than a week. The
solution is to cut off a portion of your butter in the fridge, the amount you
think you will use up in that time, and put it in a covered butter dish on the
counter. If you just don't use that much butter, margarine is the only option.
(thanks Maggie)

--
Daniel Saunders