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New book _Laundry_ from the author of 'Home Comforts'

Laundry
by Cheryl Mendelson

Fans of Home Comforts, rejoice! Cheryl Mendelson has a new book called Laundry. NYT covers it (reg. req./expires):

Her book is filled with laundry erotica. I was excited to come upon subsections titled “How Good Girls Wash Their Underclothes” and “How Most Women Wash Their Underclothes.” But they turned out to be very clean. Indeed, she can sound schoolmarmish: “Doing laundry well takes little more time than doing it poorly.”

For those of us who agonize over when to add bleach - a substance I regard as almost as dangerous as enriched plutonium - the real laundry porn lies in the tips. Sprinkle baking soda in your hamper. A full dryer should be two-thirds empty. Dryer sheets leave their waxy coating on your clothes. Add bleach after the washer has been running five to six minutes.

She covers everything, including the minicrisis of sorting (now that there are so many types of fabric), the decoding of care-label hieroglyphics, and getting out protein stains like egg, blood and vomit. My eyes began to glaze over only when I got to sewing and a section titled “Living With Cloth.” Even I’m not that obsessed.

So getting this.

[ Via Ms. Stiness ]

Robert 'Groby' Blum's picture

You know, the biggest hack...

You know, the biggest hack of all concerning laundry is farm it out. Both my wife and I are working - there's not much time together, and we're not willing to let chores cut into it. If you farm it out, the net monetary difference is about $50 per set of laundry - two weeks of it.

It also takes about 6 hours of her or my time to do it. I'm lucky to make a good salary, so let's count her instead - $8 per hour. That's $48 - so even if you're in a low income bracket, having somebody do the laundry is $4 per month net difference. A small price to pay, I'd think...

(If you've got more time than money, that might be different - do the math)

 
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