Day 11 of 28: Of logic and inconvenience... in laundry

It had come to my attention last week that not only was my laundry starting to build up, but I was running low on clean underwear. The latter of the two was a far more critical issue however.

Usually this situation results in this reaction: "Well, time to do some laundry." 

Not this month however. And it's all because of an empty laundry card.

Here's the thing. Last month, my rental building changed laundry card providers, meaning that for awhile, our access to laundry was restricted due to the changeover. I ended up switching the card when I paid our rent for February, after I started this new regime of limiting my spending to $100 this month. In cash.

The laundry card can only be loaded up using debit or credit card however.

Not to mention, a wash and dry cycle at my building's laundry costs a solid $5, which on its own is beginning to really make me regret that $30 cab ride on Saturday. Not that I didn't already regret it. That could have looked after my laundry problem easy, alongside my food math as well.

Either way, that was in the past, and no amount of regret was going to fix the fact that I was down to the last few pair of underwear that are worn so infrequently they are its own built in warning system for when things get grim in the lingerie department. And buying more obviously is not an option with only $30 left to spend. (True story: buying more was actually once an option for me)

Really there was only one solution to this problem that didn't involve me stealing money from my roommates. 

I hand-washed every pair of dirty underwear I could find this week. Because I can do this for free + the cost of the detergent I used. And the time to wash and wait for it to dry.

Okay it wasn't a huge revelation nor was there really anything magical behind me coming to this decision. Years ago, when I lived with the parents and doing laundry meant I needed change, I hand-washed my underwear all the time out of general necessity. (Made necessary by the reality that my mother pilfered my loonies and quarters and I had none when I was running low of clean underwear)

What got me however is the fact I don't do it anymore.

Underwear is about the only thing that subscribes to the one-use only rule with my clothes (socks are case-by-case). Everything else, I can usually get a solid handful of uses out of them before staining, smells or dirt becomes an issue. Not to mention, I own enough clothing that I can more or less go about three months without getting into serious trouble with clothing availability. Maybe even more. So when it comes to my laundry, my underwear is usually the ones that takes the most abuse from the dryers and washers and for that reason, is the first to wear out on me.

And dryers and washers as a general rule are actually pretty brutal on your clothes and often does impact the quality and longevity of your items. As a whole, hand-washing is much more gentle and even sometimes more thorough and therefore better at washing your clothing than the machines.

It's like the difference between using a dish washer and hand-washing your dishes. One is always going to be more reliable than the other. So why don't I do it more often? I already hand-wash dishes (though mostly because there is no dishwasher in this unit) so why is hand-washing my clothing such a foreign idea?

Ultimately it comes down to convenience. It's really easy to just throw my clothing into a washer and dryer, underwear included, than to handwash each individual piece of clothing. It's less labour-intensive and time-consuming. And all of that is worth about $5 of my time working.

Going back to hand-washing my underwear made me think about that money I spent for the convenience. I also thought about the damage it does to my clothing in the meanwhile. How much more money has those machines cost me in the long run thanks to the damage done to my clothing as a result of them? 

When this month is over, I will need to do a huge amount of laundry. My sheets are in desperate need of cleaning not to mention the aforementioned clothing that is still waiting this month. And it will need to be done, and I will do it.

Except while my sheets and my towels and some other items will hit the dryer run, the rest of my clothing will not. I thinking of moving away from the dryer cycle in part. Not only will it save me money in the short term to the tune of just under $2, it will also save me some money in the long, in that I will no longer be subjecting my clothing to the torture that is a dryer. And hopefully extend the life of my clothing as a result.