Friday, August 25, 2006

Do you take your underwear rare or well-done?



I am ever vigilant in my efforts to save money here in the Big Apple. While really good deals are few and far between (I miss the $5 Little Caesar's pizza), I refuse to give up the search.

My quest landed me in our building's laundry room this week, where a helpful woman explained to me that the middle dryer was the hottest of the bunch. At the time, I thought I had met another deal-finder who was sharing a way to save a couple of quarters. Hotter = Less Drying Time, right? Now, I believe she was warning me.

I burnt our clothes.

They weren't blackened or scorched, but boy howdy!, did they have a strange odor. Let's see-- a fitting analogy...Have you ever held the iron on a shirt just a couple seconds too long? How about a curling iron that was a little too hot? It smells something like that. When the drying cycle was finished, I reached in to get the clothes and couldn't touch them because they were too hot. So I parked the laundry basked under the dryer and with a few "oh, ow's"and minimal contact, I swept them into the basket. I had to let them cool for a good half hour before I could comfortably fold them. Lesson learned. Fresh, un-cooked clothing is worth more than 25 cents.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey girl,

That reminds me of college and I would stuff as many clothes as I could in the washer/dryer so I didn't have to spend money and then they would smell like burnt rubber. I would also get little holes in some shirts from the washer.

I also heard a great show on npr that you would enjoy. It's from the show This American Life. The website is thislife.org and the show about living in Paris. It is about people who feel out of place since they are not French. It's pretty funny. The first one is an interview with David Sedaris (you may have heard of him). On Monday you can download the show free. Let me know if you like it.

Anonymous said...

Hey Dana,

I've been in contact with Lisa Perkins and she updated me on your new adventure and shared your blog site with me. I have loved reading your stories - email me sometime if you get a chance! jmumaw@hotmail.com

Jenny

Michelle said...

Oh Dana. I guess I'd prefer my undies well done.

Dana said...

I love This American Life.

It makes normal people seem so interesting, doesn't it?
I'm going to catch the Paris episode.
Thanks.