White Socks are Evil

Or, A Laundry Epiphany.

I have too many clothes. This simply stated fact was driven home to me at Camp Singalot.

I had to pack light for the trip because I was riding in planes and other people's cars. Turning it into a design problem, my parameters were:

• Carry all my gear alone through airports without needing a cart
• Stuff same gear and myself into an already-loaded car
  
• Have enough clothes to get me through 10 days of camp and still be wearing clean clothes on the trip home
  
• Bring my own bed linens
  
• Bring a pillow too (if I had read the fine print I would have seen the camp provided pillows but I like having two pillows anyways)
  
• Laundry machines were available at the camp

For luggage I chose my trusty internal-frame backpack from my trip gallivanting around the UK in 1982 (25 years ago, yikes!). To make packing more efficient I got some vacuum compression bags. There are travel versions that you just roll up to squeeze the air out. Very spiffy for single-destination travel, get 'em at your local purveyor of plastic household goods.

The real epiphany started when I was choosing clothes. I said to myself, "Self, you don't want to do two loads of laundry when one will do." So no whites. Luckily I have a half-dozen pairs colored cotton socks, including a couple pair of rainbow tie-dyes for those special occasions. Tighty-whitey underwear is a thing of the long past for me, not that you necessarily need to know that. A spare pair of jeans and a few shirts later, and I had a single load of laundry that would clothe me for over a week with one washing. I even had room for some nice trousers for the concert on the last day (which could be laundered with all the others if need be). No sorting, no hassle, almost no time needed to get it all laundered and taken care of.

What a contrast to life at home. I have a tall dresser and half a closet full of clothes, some of which I haven't worn in over a year, and many of which require special laundering. The other family members are also over-wardrobed to varying degrees, tho I shan't name names. Among the 4 of us we can easily go two weeks without doing any laundry, at which point we will suddenly realize we have 12 loads of laundry to do. Just gathering it and sorting it, just getting started, can take over an hour, let alone the time to clean, dry, and fold each carefully sorted load.

When my current batch of white socks wear out they are so not getting replaced. Every piece of clothing I acquire will be carefully considered in terms of, "How much of the rest of my life will I spend caring for this thing?" I'm paring down the clothes I already have in the same light. The dishes are next. After that the tool shed or the office. Goodwill won't know what hit 'em.