GETTING AHEAD OF THE CURVE – MAKING PROGRESS: LAUNDRY

May 20, 2015 / lubimur / Leave a comment

As I stated in “The Challenges of Getting Ahead of the Curve”, there are just too many moving parts to keep up with for the paltry two days you get for doing everything that needs attention. Not to mention how much more so if you are actually trying to make some kind of significant change to your lifestyle. Nevertheless, there is no excuse to give up. You must keep chipping away, like Andy with his rock hammer in “Shawshank Redemption”. Eventually some progress can be realized, although it is often after changing the way we look at things. I think a critical change that must take place to accomplish this is to stop caring what other people think. The Bible would say do not fear the opinions of man.

Along that line of thinking I have implemented a way of doing things that my grandfather (pop) brought to my attention when I was like 12. This past weekend I was looking at my new pair of 501 Levis (they are worth the money because they really last) and something printed on one of the tags caught my eye. It said “ Wash Less, wash cold”, which reminded me of the lesson my pop had tried to convey to me so long ago. Every day when he got home from work he would immediately change out of his clothes and hang them up to be re-worn another time.

I’ve been doing that very thing for a couple of months now, but rather than rotating out my slacks, I merely re-wear the same pair each day and wash on the weekend if I have enough for a load, or leave them in the hamper and start the week with a new pair of slacks. I’ve also started doing it with my work shirts. It is always freezing at work so I never ever break a sweat, plus I wear a short sleeved t-shirt underneath my shirt so it is basically clean. I currently wear each one 3 times before washing. After a little more research I have discovered that denim should be rarely washed at all. Just freeze for 24 hours to kill any germs or bacteria. This won’t work with the jeans I wear when working in the yard, but other than that…

This practice is going to be even more important now that I am in full stride toward minimalism. I won’t have enough slacks or dress shirts to wear a new one each and every day. So now I have just freed up more time on the weekend, reduced the amount of electricity and water used (and money spent) for doing laundry by doing laundry less frequently, and my clothes should last longer thereby stretching my clothing budget some. More free time, less money spent, and smaller carbon footprint. Win win win.

As a side note, I also found a work shirt (which is actually a sweater) that I like so much I have bought two more – I now have a charcoal, a navy, and a plum. I no longer need to spend as much time in the morning deciding what to wear, I just don’t have that many options now. That’s ok with me, I don’t fit in nor belong in the corporate environment anyway. It’s not like I was ever going impress anybody. I also threw away an older pair of slacks that I wore all of last week but are too big, and I’ve kept around “just in case”. I did not wash them first, just took them off and pitched them. I feel like I am making progress; I feel good.

Fridge Rant Follow Up

April 16, 2015April 22, 2015 / lubimur / 1 Comment

It is 4/16, and I just ate a piece of the lunch meat I mentioned in my previous post, which was bought on 4/4. It has been in my lunch box with no ice packs or anything for 2 ½ hours, it is pretty much room temp. It smells ok and tastes ok, except for the fact that room temp lunch meat is weird even if it is fresh, lunch meat should either be hot from the stove or cold from the fridge, but whatever. I have put the remaining meat back into a mini fridge and will finish it later. I will resume this rant in a few hours to update my health status.

For full disclosure I should note that I am a God fearin, Jesus believin man, so it is possible that I may be kept from getting sick eating the crap that others might get sick eating. Just sayin…

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Ok, it’s 1 ½ hours later and I’m still ok. I’m starving so I just ate another piece of meat. It smells ok, and no slimy or weird texture. It does taste a little old though, probably from being out of the fridge for so long earlier, but at least it was cold. I’m going to eat one more.

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It has been 5 hours since I first ate the meat, and I am fine. So to recap, I had this lunch meat opened in the fridge for 11 days not counting today, took it out of the fridge at 7:30 and ate some at 10:00 after having spent 2 ½ hours in my lunch box with no ice pack. Throw away after 3-4 days indeed! At some point in the future I am going to push the envelope a little more with various types of meats, both cooked and uncooked. If it smells suspect then I’m not going to risk it, but if it looks and smells fine, I am going to go for it. I don’t have the luxury of extra money, and the more realistic our information is on leftovers, the more resilient we can be.

Critical Thinking Skills

April 15, 2015 / lubimur / Leave a comment

13 lines of reason that form a foundation for critical thinking.

1) Does it / will it affect me (us)?

a. If not, then who freaking cares? Why let it bother you?

2) Do not resist something that has no power.

a. If you do

i. you give it power – even if it is just marketing.

ii. You have given it more attention than it ever would have received if you’d ignored it

iii. You have essentially become its tool

b. Do not be misled

3) Does it increase the power of one person (or group) over another (involuntarily)?

4) Is it Constitutional?

5) Does it (will it) make people that agree on 90% of issues fight among themselves?

a. If so, the issue may exist solely for that purpose

b. see #1

6) Does it break a previous agreement?

7) What will it cost, and what is the ROI?

a. Who pays?

b. Who benefits – Cui bono?

8) Is my personal bias influencing my judgment on this?

9) What is the result – what are the consequences?

10) What happens if we do nothing or leave it alone?

11) Could it potentially lead to more government intrusion in the future, or intrusion into more areas?

12) Do I really need to have an opinion or get involved in this?

13) Make the opposing side’s argument for them.

a. Play devil’s advocate

b. what are their supporting arguments? Are they valid – do they make sense to me?

Fridge Knowledge – Take 1 – Meat

April 14, 2015 / lubimur / Leave a comment

SuburbanResilience

It is time to end the ridiculousness. Every time I try to ascertain via the internet whether the leftovers in my fridge are still good, I get the same BS. With the exception of a microscopic number of websites, pretty much all I can get is the party line from either the FDA or the USDA, and considering who these institutions (organizations?) actually are and the level of corruption and underhanded dealings they traffic in, I do not believe the recommendations.

It’s not just that I don’t believe them on principle, but I know for a fact based on repeated personal experience that the recommendations I am reading are hogwash. (I wanted to say horse sh1t, but didn’t want to be too vulgar). So I am here to pass on what I have gleaned from my daring. Let’s start with what got me on this rant in the first place…

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Resilience efforts de jour, 3/30/15. Sometimes you have to do it exhausted.

March 31, 2015March 31, 2015 / lubimur / Leave a comment

After working 10 hours at work on a Monday – the start of a week where corporate politics has crapped all over everyone’s good mood and job security – I came home, cooked dinner, and kicked up my feet to watch a documentary (Farmageddon) with my first born before heading off to an early bedtime. I knew she only had about 30 minutes of watching before she had to take off to go exercise with some friends, but that was cool because I figured she wouldn’t be that into it anyway. She was digging it and as she was leaving she said she was going to finish watching it this week. I settled in to watch the rest before going to bed, but after about 10 more minutes I was so disgusted with the way of things in this society, and the drive to free myself from my shackles was so great, that I got up and went outside to dig and plant even though it was getting dark. I planted another tomato plant and some snap peas. It wasn’t much but it was something.

If I’m not going to do it tired, then it might not get done at all. I am so over being dependent on the way things are. It’s exit strategy time.