h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

1. How to sort clothes for washing. An arcane instinct that women are born with tells them on what occasions it is allowable to throw a few black socks into the white mix.

2. Ecological concerns: How much powder to use, what heat setting to choose.

3. A brief mention of twin tubs. Wonderful things, they were. Could link to the Calvin and Hobbes Entry.

TRiG.

I must not be a woman yet, because I just chuck everything in and set it to cold.

I see washing as being another example of survival of the fittest. Treat all the washing harshly (ie exactly as you mean to go on!). Anything which survives you keep and buy more of. Anything which doesn't survive you discard and avoid buying in future.

Yes, excatly, I can't be bothered with clothes that say: 'dry cleaning only' ( sometimes, you don't pay attention when buying clothes). So either they survive a washing, or they're not worth bothering with anyway.

Oh, and the answer to the sock thing is to buy "indestructible" socks (yes, they really were called that). Not only are they well nigh indestructible (decades of wear) but they are colour-fast, apparently dye-resistant, nearly self-drying and surprisingly non-allergenic. I do wonder if their near-indestructibility is what contributed to putting the shop out of business though - people didn't need to buy many more.

Meanwhile, on (2), stuff the ecological concerns. There are approximately only two washing powders which are at all safe to use in the immediate environment/ecology, ie me! And the temperature needs to be high enough to kill dust mites (deep freeze for a week being the alternative).

The real trick to using a washing machine is something you didn't even consider. I've found it's very important to turn on the water supply to it first. Electricity helps too of course, but that's usually more obvious.

I have two kinds of wash. First there's the 'chuck it all in at 40 degrees' wash for dark clothes, and then there's the 'chuck it all in at 40 degrees' wash for light clothers. Although there's a sort of Venn diagram crossover between the two.

I agree with B'Elana. The key is looking at the wash label BEFORE you buy your clothes. So you avoid acquiring anything that doesn't fit in with your usual washday regime.

Sorting socks was always my biggest problem. While all black socks are black, they are not excatly the same black. Similarly while a size 6 is always a size 6, size 6's from different manufacturers are not exactly the same size.

I hit on the idea of buying all my socks from the same manufacturer and all of the same style. My theory was that as long as I could tell the colours apart I would be fine.

HA!

Unless you buy a couple of dozen identical socks and throw them all out at once and start again, the differences between different batches, and the difference as some socks are washed more than others (or by different wash programs) is just enough that you can't tell them apart during the sort, but can once they are on your feet.

In fact you usually can't tell until you look at your socks after you have left the house, and are too far away to turn back without being late.

Maybe I should just wear sandals!

Once, when my long suffering mother took a few days off, my brother decided to do a wash. After filling the washing machine with cold water he asked me, "How do you heat the water in the washing machine?"

My answer was "You don't, you put in hot water."

His next question was, "How do you empty the washing machine?"

The temptation to answer "With a teaspoon." was almost overpowering.

Are those 'HJ Indestructibles' you were talking about back there SEF? I have two pairs of those I was given for Christmas in 1980 or 81 and they're only just starting to show any signs of wear. Good thick hiking/working socks they are, which means that they've had a lot of use over the past 25 years - the standing up, walking around, carrying heavy stuff sort of use that wears socks out very quickly.

I've retired them from that kind of thing now and only use them at home.