Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Cost cutting

Today I am "out of office" on unpaid furlough day. I will visit the river with Ellie, and pretend to dry clean in the meanwhiles.

In an effort to cut costs, I am now wearing old suits, broken up with jeans, blouses, etc. They never get much wearing because they are labeled DRY CLEAN ONLY.

I get around that by throwing the worn item in with a clean dryer load. In a normal morning, I can do this two or three times, allowing several trips through the dryer for the same piece.

Seems to work. Obviously, this is no good for a dirty item, just a one-time-worn item. Dirty items get a Dryel or "Dry Cleaners' Secret" treatment first, followed by a thorough airing.

Don't try this with a load of new clothes, or their dye will ruin your dry-clean-only item. Furthermore, a load of new towels could conceivably leave a lot of lint.

We don't have much trouble with "new" anything around here, these days. And with the long commute and its associated gas costs, we are not likely to buy much soon.

At least I have a wardrobe for the position in Johnson City. Four old suits equal (with a couple weeks dieting; hooray for Lent!) a lot of different mix and match opportunities.

pb
Little Pond

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