Man, do I ever hate sorting socks.
Over the past couple of years, I seem to have overstocked myself on boxers and dark socks. I won't say that I stop in every H and M that I see, but every couple of months I do find myself buying a few pairs of boxers and inevitably, a six pack of black socks.
Once I get home to put the new articles away, I discover unopened packs of socks that I had previously purchased, lying happily (and forgotten) in the drawer. Ah well, I will certainly need them one day I always tell myself.
I seem to have the same habit with shaving cream, shower gel, and fabric softener, also, due primarily to the fact that I am an impulse buyer, but I will leave that story for another day.
Because I do not let the dirty laundry pile up, the clothes get washed frequently, folded, then placed in the bureau, only to be worn again pretty quickly. Thus, I tend to wear things over and over again; wear clothes for the week, wash them on Saturday, then wear the clean clothes again the next week. Jeans and shirts all seem to be the same (in kind of a Nancy and Sluggo sort of way), always dark (ok, black) and in the same style.
In reaction to some pressure from some of the more fashion conscious I know, I now wear white socks less and less. In Germany, dark socks are key. This is not a huge issue, but it has created a bit of an imbalance in my laundry sorting.
Usually, I have to let the whites kind of accumulate, since they are only white t-shirts now due to the absence of white socks. Not a problem.
However, what can be a bit challenging is the fact that I have multiple loads of dark that have to be done each week. One for the jeans and shirts, and one for the boxers and socks.
With the sudden shift from constantly being at home to being on the road several days each week, or perhaps even longer, I have had to change my laundry strategy, if only slightly. I decided to put together little travel packets: sorting 5 pairs of underwear and socks in preparation for the next trip. This resulted in a couple of things: I could better rotate my socks and boxers, and even allowed for me to find some of the cool boxers buried deep in my drawer.
When I got home Thursday afternoon from Budapest, I took a look at the laundry situation and decided that I would do the majority of the wash on Friday and Saturday; no nead to run a load on Thursday. Keep in mind that one has to plan a little with this domestic task. I do not have a clothes dryer, so am limited to the hanging rack in my bathroom for getting the clothes dry.
Friday morning I took a train a couple of hours north to attend new employee induction day. Not the way I really wanted to spend my work day, basically because I had, er, a fair amount of work to do and no time to sit in a video conference talking about company history and where to find the link to company news on the intranet.
Fortunately, the meeting wrapped up about an hour earlier than I expected, so I caught the next train back to Frankfurt, stopped off at a pizzeria, then went home to have a very quiet night after a rather busy week. Before I sat down for dinner and a movie, I threw a load of laundry in the wash. I managed to watch all of St. Elmo's Fire, then hung the wash on the drying rack (noticing that there were a lot of socks), then went to bed.
This morning, feeling refreshed, I enjoyed a couple of coffees, then started another laundry load (sheets and towels). Then I looked again at the rack, and realized I had a bit of folding to do. Sure, the boxers (5 to a kit, please!) are easy, but the pile of socks seemed a bit intimidating, so I had another coffee before I attacked the pile.
One would think that such a menial task would not be so annoying, but with black socks, it just takes a bit longer to sort. In all, it took me a good 15 minutes, and while I was glad to get things finished and the stuff shoved in the sock drawer, I noticed yesterday's socks lying on the floor of my bedroom. I had forgotten to put them in the wash, so they will now sit in the hamper for another week.
The cycle repeats itself.
This long-winded little tale about my domestic life is brought to you today by Lenor fabric softener (Energy - clear blue flavor!) and the Clean Clothes Brigade, all to the soundtrack of an interesting mix of The Police, Joe Jackson, and Blaggers ITA.
Keep 'em clean, and keep the faith.
bryan
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