Okay, so you’ve brought all your stuff down to the laundry room in the basement. You upend your underwear into the washer, throw in detergent and Downy Ball, set it on “Hot,” and slide in the quarters.

You’re halfway back up to your apartment before you realize that your keys were in the laundry basket — which you absentmindedly upended into the washer. Of course, by the time you’ve run back down and opened up the machine, it’s full of boiling hot water. How does one find those keys in this steaming, soapy cauldron, with no way to drain the machine short of waiting for the wash cycle to end?

Four words: Quick, Deep, Measured Plunges.