THE ZEN OF HAND WASHING CLOTHES

The ordinary acts we practice everyday at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.        Thomas Moore

Five years ago, one of the simple things I started doing when I downsized and moved to my tiny apartment, was hand washing my clothes. 

I began doing this because schlepping my clothes to the laundromat once a week has never appealed to me. This is the first time in my life, since my early 20s, that I have been required to go to the laundromat, having always the luxury of a washer and dryer. A luxury I didn't fully appreciate until I didn't have it. And so it goes. 


When I downsized drastically five years ago, I knew I was going to have to sacrifice having my own washer and dryer for awhile. I would, as a dear friend calls it, have to "monk it out" for awhile. 


One of the ways I'm doing that is hand washing my clothes. On Sunday afternoons, I gather and sort my clothes into little piles, and prepare to wash them for the next week of work. The activity has become like a Zen practice for me. I almost like doing it. Really.

BUDGETWISE SUNDAY

Life is not always a matter of having good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.                                               Jack London

 All of us failed to match our dreams perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.      William Faulkner

You know, when I was younger I always thought I didn't like writers like Jack London and William Faulkner, but as I read these quotes, I thought that perhaps I should give them a second chance. These quotes reminded me of some of the lessons my mom tried to teach me. Like London and Faulkner My mom was a good survival teacher.