MemeMachineGo!

For most of the past several years, laundry day has meant attaching my B.O.B. Yak trailer to my bike, putting my laundry basket in it, as well as filling my baskets with large bags of laundry, and biking to a laundromat. Lots of fun to try to time it around the weather during the rainy season.

At the end of last year, I bought a washing machine. If I'd had any idea how relatively cheap they were and how long I'd be in my current home, I'd've done it long ago.

I only have the washer, not a drier, or even an external clothesline. I hang my t-shirts on plastic hangers, and put everything else on drying racks. This appeals to me in a couple of ways: I'm consuming no energy to dry the clothes, and there's less wear and tear on the clothes and they'll last longer.

The only catch is it takes about three days for a pair of jeans or thick socks to fully dry under those conditions: I need to plan ahead in a way I wouldn't have to if I used a drier.

This is a running theme in consuming less: one needs to learn to do without the convenience of lameness. In many cases it needn't incur any penalty to one's standard of living... if one plans ahead, and doesn't count on using a car to run last minute errands because you forgot to pick something up, or catching a fast food cheeseburger because you didn't pack a lunch. I consider the mindfulness it encourages to be a good, useful, and healthy thing of itself.

And having all my underwear on display makes a great conversation piece for visitors.