I can't stand spending more money on laundry detergent and fabric softener
It's in the small details that we get nervous
Looking at the archive of this newsletter, I realized there are more positive reports than negative ones about my experience as a digital nomad.
As someone inclined towards optimism, I try to balance as much as possible. My goal is not to have a cheerful newsletter (I don't believe in people who are always happy), but I also don't want to be the one who only complains. It's about being an honest newsletter (I asked for feedback in the previous edition, and reader Margella Furtado described No Direction Home as an honest newsletter. I liked that).
I need to unburden: I can't stand spending more money on laundry detergent and fabric softener. When I left my house, the solution for doing laundry seemed simple: using the washing machines in Airbnbs, and, when unavailable, using nearby laundromats.
Indeed, that's what's happening. But what I didn't expect is that I would spend so much on laundry detergent and fabric softener. Since I stay an average of one month in each place, there's not enough time to finish the entire package of both. And I won't carry them from one place to another. The next guests always get the leftovers.
And since I'm not so lucky in this aspect, there's never any leftover fabric softener and laundry detergent in the Airbnbs I arrive at. So, I always need to go to buy a new one.
In April, in Rio de Janeiro, I stayed at a friend's house who would be in Europe. I thought, "Now, I won't need to spend money; she'll have some for two washes." But when I listened to the audio with her instructions about the house, she said, "Oh, and if you do laundry, I'm out of fabric softener and laundry detergent, you have to buy some, haha."
But nothing is worse than what I'm experiencing now, in a building in downtown São Paulo. The washing machine must have been the first Brastemp model in history, maybe from the 19th century.
I was foolish enough to buy (again) fabric softener and laundry detergent without testing if the machine from the Flintstones era was working. And, obviously, it wasn't. I had to take an Uber to a laundromat. More money wasted.
So, those who read this newsletter and are interested in being nomads, travelers, or having a more flexible life, think about laundry detergent and fabric softener. It's in the small details that we get nervous.
Part 2
Today, I'll share my misfortunes. The Booking I'm staying at didn't have... towels! And I ignored that in the ad. I don't carry towels because they occupy too much space in my bag. And I don't have those beach towels that occupy little.
I realized this around 9 pm. So I went to get a towel on Avenida Paulista at that hour. The only one I found was one of those tinier-than-beach towels. And I've been drying myself with it for the past 10 days. Fortunately, it's not very cold.
Part 3
I wasn't even supposed to be where I am now. But the accommodation I was supposed to stay blown up for the 90-minute game. I stayed at a friend's house until I found where I am. Like I said in January, in my first month as a nomad, shit happens all the time. If you don't know how to 1) deal with it and 2) not stress out, you're not ready to be a digital nomad.
Positive readings:
How Rita Lee's death made me realize that I can live multiple lives in just one
How I travel with my mother as a digital nomad, something I will be proud of in the future
That’s a real problem the lack of laundry detergent. I always have in my backpack a bar soap and, in the last Airbnb, I had to search on YouTube how to use a bar soap on a washing machine, because I didn’t want to buy a laundry detergent. Unfortunately, it’s better to you carry some products in the luggage.