Odd Traits
Rotation Quirk
Topics covered in this document:
Introduction
Okay ... you have to promise not to laugh when you read this. Promise?
Otherwise, you can't continue reading.
And no snickering either.
Now that I have your word on that, I can continue.
You see, I have this certain habit ... notice I didn't say compulsion
or obsession ... of rotating things. Lots of things. Enough to have raised
the eyebrows of people who have seen it in action.
Clothing Rotation
I suppose my coworkers don't notice that I rotate my shirts because
they don't usually pay attention to what I wear. But if they ever did
pay attention, they'd realize that I wear my shirts in a certain order.
I guess it'd be a bit more noticable if I had just a few shirts ... but
I have enough of them so that the same shirt doesn't come up in rotation
for two to three weeks.
Daily: Wear Shirt on Left
Every morning, I take the shirt that is hanging in the closet on the
left ... in order ... and that's what I wear. The color of the shirt also
determines which pair of pants and which shoes I wear. The shirts alternate
so I wear brown pants and shoes one day, black pants and shoes the next,
then brown again, and so on, alternating between the two.
Unless it's hot and I get sweaty (which is seldom because I work in an
air-conditioned office ... and only rarely go outside for any length of
time in the summer), I wear each shirt twice before washing it.
Direction Shows if Worn Once/Twice
I know whether I've worn a shirt since washing it because of the
direction the shirt faces on the hanger. When I hang up my shirts after
washing them, I hang them buttons facing left on the hanger. After
I've worn it once, I hang it up at the end of the day buttons facing
right.
When I take the shirt from the left to wear that day, I notice which
direction it's facing. If it's facing left, I know it's the first time
I've worn it since washing ... and I leave the hanger on the left.
If on the other hand, it's facing right, I know it's the second time
I've worn it since washing ... and I move the hanger to the right end of
shirts ... and shift all the shirts left one slot. [My ex-wife used to
tease me because my shirts tended to have a two-finger space between
hangers caused by this constant shifting.]
Determine When Time to Wash
This makes it easy at night to know if it's time to put the shirt in
the laundry basket. If the hanger is still on the left end, then I hang
the shirt facing right and place the hanger at the right end. If the
hanger is already on the right end, then I know it's time to wash that
shirt.
Shirt Rotation Summary
It actually sounds much more complicated than it really is. In the
morning, always take from the left ... and move the hanger to the other
end if the shirt was facing right. In the evening, hang the
shirt up again if the empty hanger is on the left or put it in the
laundry if the empty hanger is on the right. My casual, weekend shirts
go through a similar rotation within their own area of the closet.
In any given week, I don't normally have more than three or four
shirts in the laundry ... so it's easy to hang them up after washing
and still maintain the correct order. And the system works for me
because -- unlike many other people -- I don't have any particularly
strong feelings about what clothes I wear.
Don't Feel Clothes
Some less compulsive people ask me: "What happens if you don't
feel like wearing the shirt on the left on a particular day?"
All I can say in my defense is that I don't feel one way or another
based on what I'm wearing. I pretty much feel good every day,
irregardless of what I happen to be wearing.
Underwear Rotation
I also rotate my underwear [now we're getting kinda personal] in a
similar manner ... except I don't try to keep them in any particular order.
No, I don't put them on hangars either.
I maintain four separate stacks on the closet shelf: one for my
underwear, another for the socks I wear with my brown shoes, another
for the socks I wear with my black shoes, and one for the socks I wear
on weekends with my running shoes. The newly washed items are placed
at the bottom of their respective stack.
Food Rotation
I eat cereal almost every day for breakfast (two mornings a week, I
go to McDonalds for breakfast). Can I say which cereals without getting
in trouble with the other cereal manufacturers?
Post Cereals
I only eat Post cereals, never Kelloggs. My favorite two are the
Post Morning Traditions cereals: Blueberry Morning
and Banana Nut Crunch. I also like most of the Great
Grains varieties.
Anyhow, when it's time to fix breakfast, I take the cereal box from
the left ... shift the others over ... and replace the one I'm eating
on the right.
Spares
Since I love 'em so much, I never want to run out ... so I keep two
extra boxes of each on a separate shelf in the pantry ... which I also
move down as I eat the cereal from the shelf below.
Canned Goods
Canned fruits and vegetables also get rotated in the pantry. That way
I never have to worry about something passing the expiration date.
Other Rotations
I don't want to bore you with all of this ... so I'll just briefly
mention a few other things that get rotated around my house.
Shave Lotions
I rotate my after shave lotions (I keep three different scents),
using the one on the left for a week, then rotating the next into place
every Sunday.
Toothbrush and Toothpaste
I rotate my toothbrush once each quarter (January, April, July, and
October) ... relegating the used one to a general cleaning utensil.
I rotate my toothpaste, using a different one for morning, noon,
night, and before bed.
Videotapes
I rotate my blank videotapes ... using the one on the left to record
a TV program ... and replacing it on the right after I've watched it.
That way all my tapes get about equal use. With the more advanced
technology available today, however, I don't videotape that many TV
shows any more.
Dishes
I rotate my dishes, putting them in the dishwasher in a certain order
so they can be replaced in the cupboard in the correct order after
being washed.
Spouses
Hmmm ... do you suppose these "irritating" habits have anything to
do with my being married and divorced so many times? Naw ... must be
something else.
I don't rotate spouses, however.
What Next?
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Have a pleasant day!
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