It works! I'm doing laundry at my house! It is amazing!
But that did leave me with a small problem: Our dryer that we have hauled through three moves and four states is electric and our house isn't wired for an electric dryer. The bill to get an outlet for our dryer into our house would be upwards of a thousand dollars, and we just can't do that. Especially since I'm fairly sure our dryer did not survive all that traveling. We could by a new dryer, but is has to either be a propane dryer (super expensive. And also rare). or a gas dryer and we have to convert it to a propane dryer, and that's just a hassle.
Besides, The laundry was in the washer at that moment and it would need to be dried in fifty eight minutes. So I decided to take advantage of our huge backyard and ample sunlight: I've always wanted a clothesline!
And then I realized I couldn't buy a clothesline: I'm not allowed to buy anything new from a store until May 22. I could go to Goodwill and see if they have one, but what are the odds? And I didn't want to take the time to look on Craigs list: I needed a line in fifty eight minutes!
So I got creative:
The people that lived in this house before us were obsessed with TV. Two satellite dishes, and one more satellite dish posted in the front yard the size of a small moon. There are cables in every room of the house. They are ugly cables, and they are useless since Drek and I don't even own a TV.
So I went through the house, cut the cables from the wall, tied them together and...
Suddenly I was drying my sheets on a clothesline.
I love it. I am finding that hanging up clothes to dry is very calming. I think it's very therapeutic. I just love it. Maybe we just won't have a dryer.
Suddenly I was drying my sheets on a clothesline.I love it. I am finding that hanging up clothes to dry is very calming. I think it's very therapeutic. I just love it. Maybe we just won't have a dryer.
I bet you really could get away without a dryer! It seems like it's warm enough down there. And it's a good thing you are starting this now! My mom didn't start using a clothesline we were a little older and then we used to complain a LOT about how "hard" our towels were (we were pretty whiny =)).
ReplyDeleteI had an "umbrella" clothesline for years and I loved it! A hint for shirts: as long as it's not windy, hang them on hangers spaced out along the line (you can use clothespins to keep them apart)and then when they are dry you can put them right into the closet. That way it's not much more work than using a dryer. Also, hang things with the heaviest side down, so it's not bunched up under clothespins. They dry faster with fewer wrinkles.
ReplyDeleteI always hang pants waist side down for that reason. If I want jeans to dry faster, I spread out the legs a bit so the crotch gets dry.
I used to take the clothes and sort them by person. Then I would pray for that person as I hung them up. It turned a chore into a session with God and increased my love for my family members. Sometimes I got interrupted--no, no, T, don't fling dirt at the dog!--but I'm sure God understood. I bet he gets interrupted a lot too!
Enjoy the sunny smell of the clothes!
But what if you have a really soggy week?
ReplyDeleteNice. That's what we do in Japan, or at least used to do... My mom still put her clothes under sunshine. You know what is the best about it? The smell and softness of it. I just love the feeling and smell after dryed under sunshine. At the same time, if it rains, that will be the worst situation...
ReplyDeleteShe's in Sunland! There is rarely a cloud in the sky. I actually hung my laundry outdoors in all kinds of weather but rain and heavy snow.
ReplyDeleteYou can get wooden racks to dry indoors, or...if it really won't stop raining, go to a laundromat. It's okay.