So I needed a clean shirt today, but was feeling too lazy to go to the laundry. So I decided I’d do the ol’ sink-and-hang. Shirt goes into the sink with some detergent, smoosh it around a bit, rinse it out, then toss it on the fire escape to dry.
Only there was a problem. It turned out that it is rather chilly today instead of the bright and sunny spring day I was expecting. Alas, my shirt will not be dry in time!
So I took it in from the fire escape and said, “Shirt, I’m gonna light a fire under your ass.” Thereupon, I plopped my soggy shirt in a frying pan and turned on the gas. After spatching[sup]1[/sup] it around for a few minutes, I was the proud owner of a clean, dry shirt than only smelled a little like tomato sauce!
This was truly one of the best ideas I’ve ever had.
[sub]1. That’s what you do with a spatula.[/sub]
friedo is in Queens. Draelin is in northern NJ. If the two of them got together and did laundry, the greater New York Metropolitan area would be in ashes inside of two hours.
Also, if the item is damp rather than dripping, you can iron it dry enough to wear. Back in my single bachelorette studio apartment days I did that all the time. Sometimes the seams were still a little “cold” when I put the garment on, but body heat takes care of that quick enough.
I’m going to go hug my husband and clean my house now.
For more bachelor homemaking tips in a similar vein, check out The Bachelor Home Companion by the one and only P.J. O’Roarke. Very funny, and some of it actually useful.
(A not so useful tip: Put a spoonful of instant coffee in your bathroom glass before you go to bed. In the morning, take the glass into the shower with you. Voila! Hot coffee in the morning!)
This is kind of the reverse of using culinary implements for laundry, but I knew a guy in college who’d use his steam iron to make grilled cheese sandwiches.
I didn’t recognize the weird toast pattern at first… then I was kind of stunned.
I have faith in the intelligence of dopers, but I think this needs saying anyway: Do not put a bra with an underwire in the microwave! If it is plastic it will melt, if it’s metal you get that not-so-cool sparking effect.
Psh. The only appliances you really need are a 3-cubic foot fridge, a clothes iron, and a hairdryer. Everything else is for those who simply aren’t all that creative.
Every have that problem where you toss a sock still all crumpled up on itself in the laundry, and it doesn’t un-crumple in the dryer, so it’s still all wet? You can dry it with a hairdryer. You cannot, however, put it on the hairdyer as if the appliance were your foot. That will either A) cause the hairdryer to overheat and do Bad Things to your dorm’s electrical system, or B) automatically shut of your hairdryer and cause it to stop working for the next half-hour.
