The Sock Experiment
Who hasn't wanted to run some sort of #sock #experiment? That's when you are looking at your #socks and #thinking, "Didn't I just buy these socks? And already one of them has a hole in it? Should I fix it? Is it worth my time? Should I just buy new socks? How much does it cost to own socks anyway? Is it worth my time to 'darn' these socks? How many uses should I even get out of a pair of socks? By the time I am done with these socks, will washing them have cost me more than their initial purchase price?"

I have many more #questions that all fall under the #rubric of #TheSockExperiment. How do I even run this sock experiment? I need new socks. I impulsively bought new socks the other day. They were #expensive, I think, but if I wear expensive socks a hundred times and cheap socks twelve times, the "expensive" socks are actually a better #bargain. How will I ever know? I have to run the sock experiment. I have to do it at least once to establish a #baseline.

What are the #materials required? What is the #data to be gathered? What is the #methodology? First are the socks. I have them and I have the receipt. Next, I think I need a mesh #laundry bag. I will keep these socks separate from all the others in their own special bag. Maybe this will affect the outcome, I don't know. I'd have to run another, different sock experiment to find out. I just don't want to be losing any socks I am experimenting on. What data? When I wore them and when I washed them. That's simple. I will note when put them on, and when I take them off, they go into the mesh laundry bag. Each pair gets one wearing between washes. That's easy.

It may take several days for me to accumulate enough black clothing to justify a "dark" cycle of laundry, and I have back up socks for that time. So sometimes these socks will be #idle, just laying there, #dirty. But that seems to be normal for socks. I will have to #inspect the socks after each use cycle. I will #alternate washing them inside-out and inside-in. I don't know how I will keep track of that. I don't know if it makes a difference. I would have to run another sock experiment to determine that.

What kind of data am I looking for? How long socks last, mostly. I will have to come up with some way of estimating how much it costs to run a pair of socks through the laundry. If it's something like a #penny, and I do it 100 times, then that's a dollar per sock. But who knows? What do you go by? Weight? How many #gallons of #water are in my #washing #machine? I have no idea. How much #soap am I using? Am I wasting soap? I have no idea. I have to run a soap experiment. There must be rough figures out there. And I haven't even considered the #dryer.

More questions than #answers.