Home & Hearth Update
Do you like ironing? I don't. I am terrible at it but when I have to have a go at it I spend an infinite amount of energy on each piece, especially the complex piece of clothing known as the shirt; I am sure most of amatuer "iron-ists" have had that frustrating experience where a crease erased on the shirt front leaves a crease on the back and vice versa. Since I will be shortly required to give up my default "bush" style of dressage, this will be a critical skill I will have to acquire. From a time-cost tradeoff outsourcing laundry (at $1-$1.50 a shirt vs. 30 minutes minimum per shirt that I take; soon this would translate into $30 in real world earnings - yes, time is money) is clearly a no brainer, and that is what I will do.
Yet, given my absent mindedness and general disorder, I am sure plenty of situations would crop up in which I will be required to do some basic ironing. For this purpose I spent the last 30 minutes boning up on ironing shirt "how-tos" (such as this illustrated one by BBC folks). Hopefully this will enable me to cut down on the time it takes to slay one shirt. That said, if I fail to make any headway in this business, I am seriously hoping that the home management will be able to rustle up a suitable girl skilled enough in the art of ironing as well. I guess such a lady would have to have that very desi college degree called "Home Science".* However, in order to avoid being attacked by "feminist" minded readers for being on the look out for a "servant" instead of a wife, I also open to the other option of getting out of the corporate-hood as soon as possible, and do something where creased clothes are prefectly kosher, for example, writing.** Meanwhile, someone should please tell Siemens to start selling the uber cool Dressman (at around $500 instead of the current price of £999 or $1900) in USA as well; this may save desi men like me from the "tyranny" of an arranged marriage.***
*This list made me realize that you can get not only a Bachelors but a Masters degree in Home Science!!
**So who wants to be my sugar momma? I will write (and cook, garden, clean house etc sans ironing) while you shall bring home the big hunk of bacon (or dal-chawal).
***Actually the current price point of £999 for the Dressman is not bad at all under the following calculations (thank you "McKisney bhai" for making me learn finance):
- Assume a two-person family that needs at least two pressed shirts/ blouses/ or shirt-like garments every morning.
- Assume that the life of the Dressman is 5 years.
- Assume that the price of getting one item ironed stays at around $2 (or £1) over five years.
- Assume a 15% interest rate.
- Assume all inputs that go into making the Dressman work, such as power, don't cost you anything.
Given this, the Net Present Value (NPV) of this investment is +ve (£890).
It would have been even better if the Dressman could be extended to handle other types of clothes such as trousers, dresses etc.
My Daily Notes
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I guess you could try no-iron shirts? I hear they're trying super duper hard to make them a little easier on the eyes :)And what's wearing a tacky shirt compared to "the tyranny of an arranged marriage." Those home science degrees sound dangerous :) --K
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I love ironing. I find it relaxing. In insist on ironing all his shirts too. Not that he minds. :)
- CloMe
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Ironing Search
K,
Non iron shirts usually have too much synthetic stuff that choke you; so I prefer cotton. But yes, I have one or two of those now in reserve.
CM, You call that "relaxation"?!! Seriously, I will have now to find a lady who finds ironing "relaxing".
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