As I get further into middle-age, I’m sure I’m not the only one who questions now and then how good my memory still is. At one point today, while doing laundry, it occurred to me how many details we remember about something as simple as laundry, with all the clothing items we own and the differences in how best to wash them.
There’s a lot to remember while doing laundry. Each item seems to have its unique quirks, and I remember them all, once I’ve washed the items once or twice. I always dread washing a new item the first time. Washing instruction tags are sometimes dead wrong. You never know what will happen. When washing something new, all standard sorting rules apply, and then some. Once I get to know an item I can relax certain rules.
I remember it all, from washing day to washing day. Which items can be washed together? Which need to drip dry? Which are safe to bleach, and with chlorine or the other kind? And so forth. I remember long past laundry errors, such as washing a bright red shirt years ago with some whites and winding up with lots of pink. I remember exactly which red cotton shirt did that, because I loved it and refused to get rid of it even after it ruined other things. (I only washed it with black clothing from then on.) I wore it until I wore it out.
I remember that this red t-shirt I own now can be washed safely with almost anything and at almost any temperature, and I shudder to think what chemicals or polluting processes were used to get it so colorfast. I also sometimes worry that I’ll grow so complacent about that shirt’s colorfastness that I’ll make the red shirt error in the future with another red shirt. I remember where I bought certain clothing items, how long I’ve had them, and in some cases who gave them to me. I have some pretty old clothes, so that’s some fairly long term memories. I remember to turn one particular shirt that I hardly ever wear inside out to dry it, because otherwise the metal buttons will make so much noise in the dryer that they drive me to distraction. I remember which item is made of so clingy a fabric that it has to drip dry, or it will pick up every speck of lint in the load, even with an anti-static dryer sheet — even if I don’t cut the dryer sheet in half to save money. I remember which wool socks are the type of wool that won’t felt, and I happily toss them in with everything else.
As I finished loading the dryer for the last time today, I thought doing laundry provided a decent test of my memory, and I felt great about the state of my memory. I felt great, that is, until I paused before closing the dryer door, and couldn’t for the life of me recall whether I’d tossed in a dryer sheet.
Great post. Not to mention highly instructional. Washing instruction tags?? Wow. Who would have guessed. Where do they keep those?
Laundry doesn’t require much memory on my part. Remember where the washing machine and detergent are. Remember to let water into the machine, and put the clothes in. Close machine, turn it on….voila! (See, I can even recall foreign languages!)
Don’t worry about forgetting to put the dryer sheet in. It’s more important to see that the wetter sheets are in there first.
You are so right ! Everyday ordinary tasks are really just a series of steps. “Knowing” that particular task means knowing all the different steps and how they proceed logically, having all the right equipment and knowing how to work it, not to mention the planning involved like making sure you have laundry detergent and dryer sheets.
It is amazing to me that business has been analyzing workers tasks for years and putting processes in place to make them more efficient and less costly yet in our homes sometimes we often employ magical thinking and assume that these tasks are so simple and so mundane that they will get done without any forethought.
Now if you have all this information stored in your head about how to take care of each individual piece of clothing what happens when you are not able to do the laundry and someone else has to do it??
I dunno what U R talking about. Throw the clothes in. Spin the knob to “hot.” Add 3/4 measure of Tide. Wait for the buzz. Put into dryer. Spin another knob. Wait for another buzz.
Then leave the crumpled remainders on the couch for six days.
Several years ago I bought tie-dyed shirts that had been hand dipped in dye. You remember them, I think. They were all the psychedelic rage. Problem was, the colors ran and ruined not only the shirt but every other item in the load.
Then my mother told me about washing the new tees with salt. Regular old sodium chloride. Sets the color (only have to do it once per garment). I tried it and it works. When I remember to do it! Problem is, I think of it just about halfway through the wash cycle and then it’s too late.
There is color remover stuff, but it is very caustic and doesn’t always work.
All of this from a lifetime of doing laundry. When are they going to invent self-cleaning clothes?
Great post! After reading what you had to say, I realized that I know that stuff too. There’s even more to that than remembering computer passwords. And if you goof, you may have years of “pink” clothes (or whatever other terrible thing that can happen) to help you make sure to remember next time.
Cas
And I just hate new red clothes - same reasons.
Ha! There are some perks to getting really old…like me. You just forget to do laundry!
Happy Holidays, Barb!!
there’s just way too much to remember and our poor little human brains are stuffed so full by our age that they just can’t hold it all…this is what my son’s girlfriend (also a Neuroscience Ph.D. student … whose lab is all about memory… told me.
As another writer who has just written a blog entry about doing the washing, I thought you might be interested to have a look:
http://odyllicforce.blogspot.com/2008/12/most-disappointing-book-i-ever-bought