Laundry day

Last night I did a load of laundry.

In the bathtub.

With my feet.

I had remembered watching a documentary called "No Impact Man" about a family in New York City who went off the grid for a year. They showed how they did their laundry in the bathtub, stomping out the dirt like stomping grapes for wine.

As my feet stomped and swished the clothes around in the soapy water, I thought about how there are millions of people in the world who don't have washing machines. Or dryers. And I remembered seeing on television people in India doing their laundry in the river. I felt a bit humbled reflecting on the contrast between that and my own life that is full of machines doing work for me. I noticed that my legs were getting a good workout from agitating the clothes and that the water started to run clear after a couple of rinsings.

My clothes got clean. They are still hanging to dry - I am resisting the urge to throw them in the dryer. Heh.

This probably isn't something I will do on a regular basis, to be perfectly honest. But I will not hesitate to do a small load by hand now and then rather than wasting a wash cycle on a few items.