I live in a house with a few other people. All of us have different and often changing schedules for both school and work. This makes doing laundry a rather challenging endeavor especially when others have to do laundry on the same day. As my luck would have it, there is always someone doing laundry at the time I need to do it (much like how there is always someone in the bathroom when I need to go). This fact has forced me to let out this particular rant.
For those who would suggest a laundry schedule, that is not practical considering that no one ever has a guaranteed day off every week. Working in the service industry means that I personally have a varied schedule depending on the week. This means that I have to do laundry whenever I have to and the machine is free. If someone else is currently doing laundry I'll patiently wait until hey are done before starting to do my own washing. However, if they leave the house for work and leave their laundry in the dryer I get very irritated. I can stand waiting for a couple of hours for their laundry to be complete, but I refuse to wait for 8 or more hours simply because they're forgetful.
This leads me to the dreadful deed of moving others laundry. In order for me to complete my laundry I have to use the dryer so I have to move other people's clothes out of it when they forget them there. It is very unpleasant for me to touch other people's clothes partly because I don't want to touch anyone's underwear and partly because I have no where to put it except on top of the machine which makes setting the machine more difficult. To make matters worse there are a few people I have lived with who complain when I move their clothes so I can dry my own. Most often they argue that I could have waited, to which my response is that they could have move their clothes before going to work. As much as my actions may be seen as impolite, I find it even more impolite to leave stuff lying around in a shared space.
Even though a necessity the laundry room is a shared space, and so should be kept clean when not in use. If the machines aren't actually running then the room is not actually being put to use and therefore should be cleaned of any clothes. It is only the polite thing to do when you live with others who need to use it. I get annoyed by people leaving clothes in the washer or dryer in the same way I get annoyed when someone leaves their toiletries all over the rim of the bathtub/sink in the bathroom. It's fine if you're the only one using the room, but when you know others have to use it too you should be polite and keep your stuff to your space. If you don't do that you can't be surprised if someone moves your stuff in order to make use of the room.
I understand that sometimes you get busy and have to do laundry along with a million other things, but that is not an excuse for forgetting your laundry in the machine. Everyone has cell phones (at least everyone I've lived with) and there are timer apps for all types of phones, so you can easily set the timer to remind you to get your laundry. I've been guilty of leaving my laundry in for too long as well, but I also left my laundry basket on top of the machine so the next person just had to put my laundry in the basket and place the basket out of the way on the floor. That's how it's done in a number of communal living settings.
For example, when I lived on campus there was a sign on the laundry room door stating that if you left your laundry in the machine someone else could and most likely would move it so they could use the machine. They also suggested the basket rule, where you always leave your laundry basket on or by the machine you were using so that if someone needed the machine right away they could just move the laundry into your basket and not on the floor.
It basically all comes down to planning. If you're going to do laundry plan to do it at a time when you'll be able to be home to take it out of the machine at a reasonable time. If you're laundry is in the dryer for an hour then you have time to go out and do some errands for an hour, if it's only in for a half hour then you have to be home to take it out in a half hour. If you know you wont be able to be home when it finishes then leave a basket there so there's somewhere to put the clothes. If you do none of this then don't be surprised to find your clothes in a pile on the floor and/or discover that your roommates have been stewing about laundry issues for a while.
I think that's all I have to say on this matter. It's been one of those weeks so there may be more rants on the way....
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Stubborn People
After watching several documentaries on the degradation of the earth I find one thing very interesting. Even though there are people dying from cancer because of pollution of water, and there are farmers who are going bankrupt because of changes to the land has caused flooding on their land and damaging crops, the average person still doesn't understand what it has to do with them. I can't get my mind around that.
It seems that no one is able to see the big picture or their place in it. There are two things that we use daily that are slowly disappearing: oil and water. There are multiple studies prove this is true and suspect that it will happen in the next hundred years or so. Unfortunately, there's currently no way to prevent this unless people change the way they live. We have been taught from a young age that it's humans that are polluting the earth and yet we don't want to change. We'll take convenience over saving the planet. The most ironic thing is that by keeping things convenient now we're making things worse for the future. There is no need to have three cars, or seven shower heads in your bathroom, or an olympic sized swimming pool, or a green lawn. All those things may make people think that you're well off, but that's going to mean nothing when things start running low.
I understand the want for nice things, but why not put in a nice looking high efficiency toilet instead of a specially designed one? If you want to show off your wealth why not buy solar panels for your house and use them to charge a brand new electric car? Or you could put in a filtering system that takes your waste and cleans it so it's safe to drink or water your plants. And for goodness sake you don't need to take an hour long shower to get clean! You also don't need to do laundry every other day. It's a waste and even though shortages may not be affecting us now, it will eventually.
The average persons part in the use of oil is obvious, you can see it whenever you try to get to work on time. However, although many are still in denial about their part in oil depleting, most people still don't understand how fast fresh water is disappearing and how it will eventually effect them. Here's how it works: without water crops fail, farmers go out of business, we have to get food from other sources which raise prices, soon those sources are overwhelmed and price rise again, in order to keep the minimum amount needed cities have to either limit water to households, or tax water use. Not to mention that water is used in the production process of almost everything we eat, wear, drive, and drink. Therefore water shortages could effect the prices of those things as well. However, there are simple solutions.
There are personal, municipal, and national things that can be done. On a personal level you can choose to get a toilet that uses less water than others, take shorter showers, only wash your car when you have to, only do laundry once every week or two, turn off the tap when you're not using it, and by sucking it up and going to public places to swim (or to a lake or ocean). Cities can help by placing taxes on water usage. Obviously each household has to be given an appropriate amount of water for how many people live there, and a monitor should be placed on the water line going into the house so the inhabitants can know when they're approaching their limit but a fine should be set up for those who go over the set limit. Towns and cities can also choose to build "water recycling plants". That is, they could take the sewage that they normally just dump in an ocean or river, and take the water out of it and clean it up. If the process is done right the resulting water is almost as pure as distilled water. On a national level there can be laws put in place to put pressure on provinces to encourage their cities to put into place the above measures, as well as ensure that all companies are held to the same if not stricter standards as residents when it comes to water usage.
Well, that's all I have to complain about for the moment. I realize that I ended up taking more about water than oil, but I feel that more people are informed about the oncoming "oil crisis" than the shortages of water. Of course my opinion is tainted by growing up in an area with forest fires that required us to limit water usage, but considering the state of things I believe that the same measures that were taken then should be applied everywhere. For those who like their long showers, go cry me a river, the world needs another one.
It seems that no one is able to see the big picture or their place in it. There are two things that we use daily that are slowly disappearing: oil and water. There are multiple studies prove this is true and suspect that it will happen in the next hundred years or so. Unfortunately, there's currently no way to prevent this unless people change the way they live. We have been taught from a young age that it's humans that are polluting the earth and yet we don't want to change. We'll take convenience over saving the planet. The most ironic thing is that by keeping things convenient now we're making things worse for the future. There is no need to have three cars, or seven shower heads in your bathroom, or an olympic sized swimming pool, or a green lawn. All those things may make people think that you're well off, but that's going to mean nothing when things start running low.
I understand the want for nice things, but why not put in a nice looking high efficiency toilet instead of a specially designed one? If you want to show off your wealth why not buy solar panels for your house and use them to charge a brand new electric car? Or you could put in a filtering system that takes your waste and cleans it so it's safe to drink or water your plants. And for goodness sake you don't need to take an hour long shower to get clean! You also don't need to do laundry every other day. It's a waste and even though shortages may not be affecting us now, it will eventually.
The average persons part in the use of oil is obvious, you can see it whenever you try to get to work on time. However, although many are still in denial about their part in oil depleting, most people still don't understand how fast fresh water is disappearing and how it will eventually effect them. Here's how it works: without water crops fail, farmers go out of business, we have to get food from other sources which raise prices, soon those sources are overwhelmed and price rise again, in order to keep the minimum amount needed cities have to either limit water to households, or tax water use. Not to mention that water is used in the production process of almost everything we eat, wear, drive, and drink. Therefore water shortages could effect the prices of those things as well. However, there are simple solutions.
There are personal, municipal, and national things that can be done. On a personal level you can choose to get a toilet that uses less water than others, take shorter showers, only wash your car when you have to, only do laundry once every week or two, turn off the tap when you're not using it, and by sucking it up and going to public places to swim (or to a lake or ocean). Cities can help by placing taxes on water usage. Obviously each household has to be given an appropriate amount of water for how many people live there, and a monitor should be placed on the water line going into the house so the inhabitants can know when they're approaching their limit but a fine should be set up for those who go over the set limit. Towns and cities can also choose to build "water recycling plants". That is, they could take the sewage that they normally just dump in an ocean or river, and take the water out of it and clean it up. If the process is done right the resulting water is almost as pure as distilled water. On a national level there can be laws put in place to put pressure on provinces to encourage their cities to put into place the above measures, as well as ensure that all companies are held to the same if not stricter standards as residents when it comes to water usage.
Well, that's all I have to complain about for the moment. I realize that I ended up taking more about water than oil, but I feel that more people are informed about the oncoming "oil crisis" than the shortages of water. Of course my opinion is tainted by growing up in an area with forest fires that required us to limit water usage, but considering the state of things I believe that the same measures that were taken then should be applied everywhere. For those who like their long showers, go cry me a river, the world needs another one.
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