laundry list

In honor of National Hanging Out Day today, I will share my hard-earned lessons about doing laundry in an environmentally-friendly fashion:

• If you scrub hard enough, you'll get a blister. Scrub too hard and you'll end up with a bunch of them.
• Rinse, rinse rinse. Dirt and soap stay in the clothes well into the third rinse "cycle."
• Don't bother washing sweaters or jeans unless it's real warm. Or you prefer a three-day drying time and clothes that stink a bit.
• As soon as you see blue sky, start washing the laundry. Wait too long and you'll miss the sun shining on your side of the building.
• To get rid of that cardboard feeling of line-dried clothes, smack 'em around a bit. Take your frustration out on that stiff towel and it'll make drying off after the shower just a tad nicer.
• Wash that white t-shirt every time you wear it, despite the length of time it's on your non-sweaty body. Then rinse about ten times or it'll be grey in two short weeks.
• Don't wash the comforter unless it's real warm outside lest you find yourself sleeping without a blanket for a night or two.

The sun gods shone down on us today and I wasn't the only one hanging laundry outside my dorm room.