Zen and the Art of Laundry

My obsession with efficiency has nothing to do with a desire to be more organized or to optimize my productivity. My main concern is eliminating work with as little effort as possible, so that my time can be spent being comfortably UN-productive.

Example: The task of laundry is to me what the boulder is to Sisyphus-- an unending toil and a personal hell. Washing machines in general have introduced MORE work into the household since they were introduced in the 1950's. Sure you don't have a washboard, but the ease of use in washing machines means that people ended up doing their wash much more frequently... And more than necessary IMHO.

Over the years I've learned to adapt some routines that help me liberate precious minutes of my life from this onerous domestic burden. For one, everything is machine wash cold and 60 minutes in the dryer. Everything-- whites, colors, towels, sheets... My laundry loads know no boundaries. And my loads are LARGE.

Sure some clothes get ruined because I don't properly wash them. But the truth is they were weak and unworthy garments and would have been ruined eventually. Nietzsche had a similar philosophy about human existence.

Of course keeping things out of the laundry helps as well. Since I have to dress semi nicely for work I like to change when I get home. If I can remember I hang up the nice white collar clothes for another wearing since they rarely even see perspiration. The grungy around the house outfit is usually on the floor by my bedroom door. It's nothing I care about and is fine for comfortable lounging and brief forays into public. I use the same clothes all week for this.

I re use workout clothes too. This may seem nasty at first but the only purpose in keeping them clean is to eliminate persistent odor. I don't sweat that much so I can get away with it.

The primary goal is to get down to one or (at most) two loads a week. I could probably go longer but there are two things I don't re-use: underwear and towels.