Closing Pandora’s boxes

Back in the ’80s, British comedian Jasper Carrott had a sketch about the mysteries of odd socks appearing in the laundry. His conclusion was to replace his entire sock wardrobe with identical black socks.

It might have started as a joke, but I think it is an excellent idea and have periodically gone out and bought 21 pairs of identical black socks. It simplifies laundry and eliminates one decision from my morning, saving time and mental bandwidth.

Thank you!

One thing I have learned over the years is that when the time comes to replenish the stock, it is prudent to throw out the last survivors from the last batch. I am not someone to throw away usable clothes, but if you don’t, you quickly discover that you are back to sorting mismatched socks, losing those time and energy benefits – keeping things simple it turns out, is not always as easy as it should be…

Which brings me to the not normally exciting topic of food containers. If you spend any time lurking in the health and wellness rabbit holes of the internet, you will learn that plastic food containers are full of estrogenic chemicals that will undermine any middle-aged man’s attempts to stay lean, strong and healthy.

The answer of course is glass containers (in Germany, yogurt is still commonly sold in glass jars, so very easy to come by), but panic buying a collection of glass food containers starts to replicate the mismatched sock chaos as lids and containers fail to align, leading to a mystery draw of assorted containers that may – or may not – have a partnering lid. Glass containers are also impractical for taking lunch to work (heavy and easily broken) and really do occasionally crack in the freezer.

I still use glass containers for anything hot, but apply the same principle as sock replenishment – buy a batch of glass containers in max two sizes, and a big set of identical, small BPA-free plastic containers for ferrying homemade protein bars, lunch etc. to work.

Keep it simple. Choice is not always your friend and will burn time in the long run.