My last post was sent on Saturday instead of Friday. I thought I could go under the radar, but some of you guys got wind of my mischief! If you have an opinion on the time for posting, fire away in the comment section. Friday is random for me, so we might as well choose something that works.
Also see here a guest post wrote for Dialogos, my good Substack friend Minter’s publication, which touches upon fostering more meaningful conversations. I wrote about my process in designing home together with the client.
Walking towards the supermarket aisle that smells like hell broke loose in a chemistry lab. The lights are somewhat dimmer here than in the rest of the supermarket. We, my friend, are deep in grocery gulag, the place where lower management goes to die.
There's never anyone around at laundry and detergent. Just you, and a never ending multitude of choices.
I skip the very big brands. That's easy enough to scan through. Then there are the ones in pods, which I don't buy. The supermarket's brand might be an option if it actually cleaned clothes. My eyes and feet then move further and further to the left until I reach toilet paper. Go back, scan again. Remember to look carefully all the way down. I'm not even gonna bother looking at prices, this is a lost battle anyway. Finding a detergent that will clean, be decent to the environment and not cost twice the others? No freakin' way Jose...
AArrgghh... My brain is already dizzy from scanning the ingredients in my ham, origin of my apples, and the amount of sugar in my jam. You can do this Jo. I know I can!But couldn't this be a simpler task, not an exercise in defining one's life principles?
Oh, and then there's packaging. I'm tempted to go for those refill plastic bags with a tiny cap? Or is it just a ruse for us to use plastic instead of cardboard boxes with powdery stuff? Yesterday I saw, in the farmer's coop, a box-full of soap shavings, that you take home, add to hot water and make your own soap for laundry. I was very pleased with the idea of course. It looked like a simple way to solve a real problem. Yes, at this point, taking the time to make my own soap for washing clothes sounds like the simple option. If it takes away the rumination and choice paralysis and gets me out of this aisle, I am all in. The thing that stopped me was that it simply cost triple. Triple I kid you not. Now I know we all have to make sacrifices and all, but triple the money for the pleasure of making your own soap like it's 1869? Ain't nobody got time for that.
So I'm back in Knockturn Alley, between papaya-scented dish-washing soap and brooms. There's an enormous baby face staring at me from an upper shelf toilet paper pack. Oh honey, you have no idea what's coming for you.
Now let me think. The cheaper one with the pink and blue has an unappealing hazard sign on the back with dead birds and fish with their belly up. So no.
The green one with a frog on it. That one smells nice, I like that one. Oh no, that's the one we fell for two months ago! We bought the big bottle and it turned out it causes cancer or something.
So the hypoallergenic one with the trendy tree logo. This one we haven't tried. It's expensive so it should wash right? It looks like they care, comes in a refill bag. Doesn't have those ugly hazard signs...
Brian is coming towards me with a big cart full of stuff. I've been missing so long he thought I'd fallen into Narnia. I show him my options and arguments for and against each. He thinks this is easy and says "just take this one!" “That one,” I retort appalled, “that one, my friend, is part of the monopoly-enjoying Unilever group, the domination of which we're trying hard to diminish.”
"Oh. Right. Well, then this one!" "No!!" "OK, honey, step away from the broom and calm down."
We take the fancy tree logo one and head to choosing morning cereal.
Wish me luck,
Yours as always,
Jo
Omg yes. “Triple the cost for the pleasure of making your own soap like it’s 1869? Ain’t nobody got time for that.” Line of the week.
Ha! This is so relatable. I'm about to do my first load of laundry with eco-friendly plastic free detergent sheets. I'm hoping they are perfect in every way and I can use them for the rest of my life and think no more about laundry detergent ever again. Fingers crossed.