Can we take a break from social commentary and heavy life stuff for a minute? I this problem, I've had it for years, and despite my best efforts I just can't figure out what to do about it. Maybe you can help.
What do you do with clothes that aren't dirty, but aren't clean either?
I rewear clothes. You might think I'm gross, but it's because I'm not a shopper. My closet is meager by any girl's standards, and my limited wardrobe and the five flights and two blocks between me and my laundry mat means I'll work a pair of jeans nice and good before I throw them in the hamper. I still shower regularly and everything, but I just can't bring myself to believe that that my favorite pants or the occasional t-shirt is unwearable after one round. Am I disgusting? Should I be embarrassed? I can't tell.
But that's not my problem. My problem is that, in any room I've ever inhabited since the age of 13, I accumulate these clothes in cleanliness purgatory, and they pile up on the biggest available surface. This time around, it's the cute little loveseat we have in our bedroom. I think I've sat in it twice, and the rest of the time it's served as a large, open-air hamper for clothes that I don't want to fold back up and put in my bureau but that aren't ready for the wash pile.
So maybe you have some advice. What do you do with your still-good clothes? Do you put them back in the drawers to mix indiscriminately with the Downy-fresh unworns? Some sort of rack or hooks on the wall? Or does anything you touch go straight to the hamper? Is it odd that after thirteen years I'm still finding this difficult?
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Friday, November 30, 2007
There's Still So Much I Haven't Figured Out
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18 comments:
I use hooks and do not wash my clothes after each use.
Rhea, who is very orginzed folds and puts hers away. She is Greek and does not spill much on herself. For the first several years of her life I hand washed all our clothes so she has been taught to wear them as long as possible. The clothes last much longer this way and it helps the environment.
I do wash my work clothes each night as they get kind of gross.
Well, you clearly got your putting- clothes-on chairs habit from your mother.
But, be assured, no one washes all their clothes after every wearing: many people have things that must be dry cleaned, and those clothes always must be hung up for more wearings. Other than underwear or clothes that get soiled, people wear things two or more times.
I always think about how malodorous the olden days must have been; big heavy wool or cotton dresses and so forth that couldn't possibly be washed frequently or maybe even at all. Hence, things like collars and cuffs, dickies (also called "partlets"), and aprons--things that soiled easily and all which could be washed and reworn over and over. Hence perfume, to cover the smell of overly "seasoned" wool or cotton.
The real question is the second one you raise: where to put those not completely clean clothes. Certainly hooks behind doors are really good. A coat rack in a corner could work. I now have some built-in wire mesh drawers in my closet and I keep one for to-be-worn-again sweats and hanging around clothes. Stuff I'm recycling for work I hang (but I do use the smell test before I wear it again).
While married to a neater person, who hated clothes being left on furniture, kept me fairly neat for years. Post marriage I had to develop a better superego voice, so I now think, "What if someone comes by?" or "Won't I love coming back into the room seeing the bed--or whatever--uncluttered?" These questions help me put the stuff out of sight.
Good luck with your survey. I hope that some very organized folk (DB for example) will share their secrets.
I usually make a little pile during the week between my bed and hamper of what I have worn. Then on the weekend when I do my cleaning I put everything away again. Although if the clothes are for work I sometimes put them neatly away at the end of each day to avoid unecessary ironing.
I love this one . . . and the answers are so wonderfully serious!
when I don't spill big lumps of oatmeal on the front of my shirt, for some officious man to notice, but not mention to me, I definitely will wear an item more than once. I have hooks behind my bathroom door and use them until they are basically falling down from the weight of the clothes . . . then I put them away . . . folded, if I have the presence of mind and time (and will) to do so. Otherwise, I have been known to throw them in a closet until a later date . . . when I am feeling more patient.
All and all I think this is a dilemma that one can work on throughout a life . . . I wonder what psychologists would say about how we choose to deal with these not dirty, not clean items . . . hum . . .
I've spent the past 2 days reading your entire blog - and can't get enough of it. In just 48 hours I'm an addict, and can't wait to read your next account.
As for the clothes thing - it is definitely in your blood I'm afraid. I've been a stacker since moving out of my mother's home. Dirty clothes clearly go into the hamper, hanging clothes can go back in the closet or hung on the door, but those wear again drawer items are oh so easilly thrown on the rocker for tomorrow, or next week...or even later. It is pretty disgusting when I dig down in the stack and find some wonderful item that I'd completely forgotten about hiding under all that other stuff. I hope you find a way out. thirteen years...Not as bad as thirty-three....Perhaps there's a patch.
Wanda,
Oooh do I love when I find something I forgot I had. It's like geting it new all over again.
Just wearing something doesn't make it dirty. You wear it, you leave it on a chair for a day or two, and then you hang it up.
If, as you say, you don't have all that many clothes, chances are you'll recall when you last wore and last washed something.
It's a little understanding between you and the garments. A pact.
....i love this blog entry, Mir, as it has unleashed this fabulous sense of everyone munching pizza, passing a bottle of wine, and glancing at a chick flick, while talking...
....we never wash jeans or pants until they've had a few good times out, ditto for sweaters and heavier shirts.....we use hooks and doors - at any given time you'll find things hanging over bedroom or closet doors - also double hooks on the door frames (for bearing the weight) work well - but the best secret for folding things away is cedar and lavender - find it in any form and tuck it away with clothing - everything smells fresh and new when you pull it out to wear again.... : )
Ok, Sal - I have to ask - why does being Greek mean that you don't spill on yourself?
Greek children do not get their clothes dirty , at least not in my old neighborhood. I was a constant embarrassment to my family as I always spill things down my front. Things have changed but when Rhea was a baby, washing machines cost apx. 1000 US dollars. In addition water was scarce. I had to hand wash all our clothes, sheets, towels and the table cloths for our restaurant in a bucket. If my nephews spilled something on their clothes it resulted in a slap across the head and being called the Greek word for stupid.
When I lived there, I found that most Europeans did not have an excessive amount of clothes like we Americans do. They had a few things that were really good quality and they did not wash their outer clothes very often, only when needed. I do not think Italian or French children get their clothes dirty either.
I remember when I would come home noticing how messy American children would be in comparison. The Greeks did not put their child in a high chair and let them eat, they held them and fed them until they were old enough to eat without making a mess. They are very concerned that the kids don't eat enough so they follow them around with a bowl of food and a spoon and shove a bite in their mouths whenever they can. Yannis' grandmother would put him on her donkey and follow him around feeding him.
Oh , talking about malodorous,try riding in a bus full of Greeks dressed in black, in august, on a friday afternoon,(saturday was the weekly bath day) I will say no more.
Another trick I read about is putting dryer sheets in your drawers to keep things smelling fresh.
...oh, Sallie - hand washing for your restaurant???...bless your heart...i don't know how you managed and lived to tell the tales (there's a book needs writing in there somewhere)...and i do notice that some friends from europe have fewer and of better quality clothing that they wear again and again before washing...
....when my kids were little i bought them Hanna's (all cotton - from Sweden)...Kiersty wore them and then Nick and then they went through two more children of a friend before going on to yet another child...i have a few of the adult Hanna things that are at least 10 years old and only just beginning to show some wear...
....sighs....i wish we produced such quality for a fair price in the states... : )
Robin, I have to add that I often had to carry the water from a near by fountain as the town water would be shut off.
Some one stole the parts to our new cistern for our restaurant when we were shipping it over on the ferry. We opened in July in the middle of the busiest season and had to carry all the water from the fountain for cooking, dishes and flushing the toilet. Despite it all I am proud to say in 1986 we had the cleanest bathroom on IOS! Greek bathrooms were really gross in those days.
Miranda, sorry to hijack your blog Robin got me walking down memory lane
Oh, Sallie, I do SO hope you get your pound of flesh...
....and with a small child to think about...I cannot even comprehend....but I think it's great you're sharing it here...I don't know about anyone else, but a correction to my romanticized view of your Greek adventures was LONG overdo...and it is the stuff of inspiration for writing...
....my latest fantasy is to begin a shared novella....we each contribute a paragraph and send it along to the next woman in the family....my concept for such a lofty (ahem) theme would be the travels of said women to a shared destination... each one immersed her chosen book for the journey...and each one discovering the reading selection of the other upon arrival and time spent visiting...inner musings...gentle criticisms....warm debate (not heated)....honest confessions ...laughter...tears....great stuff, that....
...on second thought - make it a screenplay...
...hugs...: )
febreze.
then hang it up and fold it.
(if i am lucky this happens.. usually they all just sit on the floor until i just think they are dirty again and wash)
Ah , Febreze,I forgot about that, great suggestion,
I used a lot of febreze when I lived in the camper without water, it worked great!
Robin, I love your idea, perhaps Cyn's chapters could be the flash backs bringing in some of the family history, lots of good stories to tell there.
I wish I had the writing talent that runs rampant in this family as I do have plenty of tales to share.
Glad you pictured your aunt living a romantic life all these years, I like those visions. However, it is the hardships that teach us the real lessons in life so I would never take them back.
Robin, If it takes suffering to grow, we have both earned the right to be called wise women at this point in our lives don't you think.
...indeed i do, Auntie....i learn daily that the quiet wisdom gained from suffering is profound in the face of ignorance...and that is a calming comfort to me and to those around me....
....but, being on the young end of all things Wise Woman, i think that we have far to go.....and the wonder of it is in recognizing the Wise Women around us and their contributions to our own journeys...
...you know....if we keep this up - we might hold the record for the longest thread ever, on Mir's wonderful blog.....and, you do write well, silly.... : )
in my new apartment there isn't a closet in my room. the landlord promised that i would have a closet and just installed security cameras so that he can watch me back my car up over the completely illegal parking space that he overcharges for each month that requires me to drive over a curb that SCRRRAPES everytime. finally they ("they" being all of the enthusiastic pizza box photographing minions who appear to work for this landlord who also helped my roommates and i on our way to our first $120 violation for said pizza box left on the stoop) brought in this monster of a box-closet that after only 8 days of limited use decided it resented me as much as i it and when i pulled its vinyl lined door open the wooden frame detached and hit me squarely in the face....really hard...regardless...i digress..my main point is that i use baskets....beautiful baskets that my mother bought me during her very courageous time in my apartment during the first week of classes....she has since mailed me ear plugs and a sleep mask....and as much as she continues to make me feel ashamed for not folding (something which she has spent her life working to achieve) the baskets finally mean that nothing is on the floor......they live on a pretty nice backless bookcase and after clothes get worn they slowly move from folded clothes baskets to unfolded clothes baskets and eventually to the laundry (when the underwear runs out)
i should be worried that my mother will read this and know finally the hard cold truth....my closet is an elephant graveyard full of shoes and coathangers..and that all my clothes are shoved in the beautiful baskets...and when i can't find anything to wear i dump the baskets out and then shove everything back inside
it's horrible i know..barbaric even....but it is easy
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