The problem with this idea is that I don't have a clothesline.
When Seth and I first moved in together (almost 5 years ago!) Seth had more than no interest in hanging clothes outside to dry. He loathed the idea. He said that the air outside is DIRTY and one shouldn't hang CLEAN clothes in it. I never really figured out how the air outside is really much different than the air in the dryer, in the basement, where Seth regularly fires up a motorcycle and fills the house with exhaust. (If anything, I think the air outside is cleaner.) But still, Seth maintains that if a bird were to sit in our tree and poop on our clothes, we would have to wash them again, and I really can't argue with that.
When we got home after our wedding, for some reason we had a ton of laundry. I think we left a bit of laundry and then came back with only dirty clothes. We did load after load after load of laundry, but the piles never seemed to get smaller. As I switched the clothes from the washer to the dryer for what seemed like the thousandth time, I thought "man, the electric bill is going to be a doozy this month!"
[Sidenote: I just looked up the word "doozy" because Google doesn't believe that its a word. So, I found it in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Here's what they say:
doo zy : noun : an extraordinary one of its kind.
Does anyone else find that definition hilarious?]
Anyway, the electric bill came. I suppose "extraordinary" could be an accurate description. Seth's eyes almost popped out of his head.
The next day, I needed to wash our sheets. Not only did I not want to use the dryer (and its huge amount of electricity) because of the bill, but in general I'm always trying to use less electricity, or at least get my electricity from sustainable sources. I can't control where the electric from the grid comes from, but I can control whether I use that electric or not. Sometimes. OK, I can at least take small steps to use less of it. Right?
Of course right. (name that movie!)
So I was interested in washing my sheets and not using the dryer. But I don't have a clothesline!
Don't despair, YOU CAN DO IT!
We don't have a clothesline, but here's what we do have.
A drying rack (for clothes that don't go in the dryer).
Two hangers with clips on them (for pants and shorts and things).
Two clothespins.
So, I put the sheets in the washer confident that when they came out I could find a way to hang them up to dry. And I did it! I positioned the drying rack in the middle of the dining room, hung the end of one sheet over one edge of it, and clipped the other end to a hanger, which I hung on a nail in the doorway to the kitchen. (Normally this nail is only used to hold Christmas lights up. I'm not sure what its original purpose was.) Then, I did the same thing with the duvet cover, hanging the second clippy hanger in the doorway to the living room - which also has a convenient Christmas light nail in the center of it.
I had the fanciful feeling of a 7 year old making a tent clubhouse out of quilts and blankets.
I attached the two clothespins to another hanger and hung the end of the last sheet from the door of the guest room, with the other end of the sheet draped loosely over the ironing board. I hung the pillowcases on the rack.
I did this around noon, (lunch break!) and everything was dry well before it was time to go to bed. I'd even say they were dry by the time we ate dinner! How exciting! How inspiring! I can do it! We can do it! We don't need a dryer!
When Seth came home ("this place is like a Bedouin tent") I told him of my electric bill theory and may have started rambling about mountain top removal, clean coal propaganda, unions, labor, solar power and windmills. He remembered doing load after load of laundry with me, and he thought perhaps the section of my rant that had to do with us not using our dryer had merit. I told him we should get a clothesline outside so I could hang ALL the clothes out to dry, and he said "Ok, and we'll just hang a sign on it that says '$$' so that I remember not to complain about it."
So I'm taking off and not looking back. I haven't used the dryer for all of June, and I don't even have to skimp on a load. (And I haven't even gotten a clothesline yet!) I hang most things on our drying rack, which is a pretty good size. What doesn't fit I hang on hangers in doorways. Everything is usually dry by that evening.
So - I'm going to see how long I can go without using the dryer. I'm shooting for - all summer. Who's with me!? I've already even started thinking I can manage all of this without a clothesline too. Who need a clothesline anyway, when you have a drying rack, two clippy hangers and two clothespins?
Not I!
You're lucky to have low humidity. Here it's usually 80 or 90 percent. So I have to use the clothesline that makes use of the sun and the wind. It's always a trick to get up early enuff to do the laundry, hang it before dawn so that it will be dry before the afternoon rains.
ReplyDeleteYenta, the matchmaker, Fiddler on the Roof. Get yourself a clothesline and a bag of clothespins. There's nothing like billowing laundry outside and then you don't have to dodge hanging sheets and duvets in the house. On the other hand you do have to rush to get it in the house when that unexpected Vermont rainstorm blows in. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou should have seen our house in Ireland! We had a washing machine, but, no dryer. We did have an umbrella style clothesline in the back garden, and so long as I ran out to gather the clothes before a shower, all was well in the summer. The winter, however, was a new story. The rain never stopped long enough to dry so much as a pair of stockings. I draped clothes, blankets, towels and sheets EVERYWHERE in the house. On the bannister, shower rods, chair backs... It worked. And, here in Western KY, I have two umbrella style clotheslines for our family! I'm proud of you!
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