Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Not Antisocial, just non-social

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Not Antisocial, just non-social

Lately, the relative merits of living alone have been rising to my attention. The real question is... do they balance against the alternative?

I can probably afford to live alone, even in this beautiful home. The 50/50 cost split that used to exist has been drifting the last few months. After years of stability, the ledger has gone pretty far in a direction unfavorable to yours truly. Several good quality AR's worth of unbalance. Taking that into consideration, it would not be a stretch for me to take up the rest of the slack. Really, once the plus's and negatives are added up, it would only be a few hundred bucks more a month tacked on my expenses. I could make that up just in reduced electric, liquor and sushi costs.

There may also be something to say for not having to clean up the same messes.... over and over again. I don't have children living at home, yet I still go around turning off lights, closing cabinets, and wiping food off the counters and floor. I do dishes, lug in firewood and lug out trash. I take care of the wood stove, mop floors, clean the sinks and toilet..... just about everything but laundry.

I can learn to do laundry.

I can learn to do laundry.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: After years of being bitched at for my laundry skills (among other things), I took steps to reduce the noise level. It was expensive, but very much worth it.

I now use the washing machine as a laundry hamper in quiet solace; everything in, save brand new colors (those I do separately a couple times to avoid tinting everything), set temp on "warm," set cycle on "normal," dump in detergent (I found a recipe for homemade at Uncle's that works great - 18 lbs of detergent for $18 - punch "start," walk away. It beeps when it's done. Easy-peasy.

I also found that laundry isn't the only thing that got easier.; January 27, 2014 at 7:23 AM
Carteach said...: Someone once told me "I've got being alone down to an art form".

I wonder if I will be good at it?; January 27, 2014 at 7:39 AM
og said...: There's a local place that does laundry by the pound. I have enough underwear and socks to last me three weeks, and shirts and pants for two. The whole shit and caboodle, when washed on a weekly basis, used to cost me $12. You never know until you ask, you might just find it cheaper than maintaining a washer and dryer.

I think most people would like for me to live alone.; January 27, 2014 at 5:49 PM
Old NFO said...: I do everything except windows... sigh; January 27, 2014 at 7:43 PM
TheWayfarer said...: You will find life SOOOO much better alone.
I cut loose the femin$tazi deadweight over a decade past & have soared to new heights!; February 2, 2014 at 9:35 AM

Post a Comment

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"