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The Dryer Wars

The dryer woes continue, but they have made for a rather amusing adventure in getting my weekly laundry done. And this has made me wonder about my laundry habits in the first place.

While I own enough different outfits to wear for maybe two or three months without a trip to the laundry room, that number is greatly reduced by the number of clothes that fit the size I currently wear. Thanks to sticking to a regular exercise routine and being mindful of what I eat, a lot of my clothes are too big for me. I still want to hold onto these articles of clothing, mainly out of fear I'll gain back all the weight I lost. So in other words, I wear maybe a quarter of the wardrobe I actually own.

I own a lot of T-shirts (mainly bands I was really into while I was in college), and while T-shirts are fine to wear to my workplace, I prefer to not wear them everyday. Pretty much every work week involves khakis, loose button-down shirts, and socks. I wear clothes until they fall apart, so I have many of the same pants and shirts in the washer and dryer every single week.

I like the routine of doing my laundry during the week, but when I can't stick to that routine because of issues that I have no control over, I get really crabby and antsy. I prefer to keep my loads of laundry down to three a week. That way, doing laundry takes up an afternoon and nothing more. Doing more loads infrequently is almost unfathomable for me.

For a few days after our new breaker was installed, the dryer worked just fine for Matt. But when I went to dry my clothes, the dryer wouldn't start. It was like the dryer quoted Superchunk and said, "I'm working, but I'm not working for you." So, out of the graces of my neighbors upstairs, I got to do a load of laundry including my bedsheets and workout gear. Those items are, in my mind, essentials.

The deal was, due to the fact that my neighbors were leaving for a trip the following day and needed to do their own laundry, I could only get one load done. I was thankful to get that one in, but I had to think about how I could dry my two other loads of laundry. I didn't want to take them to the semi-seedy/nasty laundromat around the corner from my house, so I came up with an idea.

Since I was going to a party at Jason's house on Friday, I asked if I could dry my clothes at his house while I was partying. He and Dana were kind enough to let me do my business, so the laundry got done.

But now it's Tuesday and I want to start laundry the first thing in the morning tomorrow. My landlord, who's been out of town for the last few days, hopes to come out tomorrow with an electrician to see what the problem is. I certainly have the patience for that to happen, but what has made me more antsy is just trying to understand why the dryer works for other people, but not me. I know I'm stretching one of the Four Agreements here by trying to not take things personally, but I'm just wanting an answer or two about this whole thing.

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