As I am watching what is now Tropical Storm Isaac pound away outside my door, I wonder, could I be self sufficient if necessary? In some ways, I think I would be ok but in others, I realize how dependent I am on public utilities and being close to the shops and having my car to drive. This storm has made me realize that I need to find ways to be able to do things without having to depend on others.
It's funny. My hubby and I were designing our dream home last night. . . nothing else to do in a hurricane, LOL, and I told him that I just needed space for a washer that I did not need a dryer but he insisted on including space for one. Why is it we think that dryers are a necessity? I haven't had one since May and we have not had to wear dirty or wet clothes yet. My mom and I were talking yesterday and she commented that this weather makes it difficult for me to do laundry. I laughed and said, "What do you think I am doing now?" I was hanging laundry on my indoor clothesline. Yes, it takes it a little longer to dry and I have to do laundry EVERYDAY, including Sunday because I don't have enough room to hang a lot of it at one time, but it works just fine for me, and guess what, I don't have to spend my whole Saturday doing laundry because I work during the week and I let it pile up. My sister, a stay at home mom, only does laundry once a week and when she does laundry, it is an all day thing. Me, including washing, sorting, hanging, folding, etc., well I spend about 5 minutes sorting, 10 minutes hanging, 10 minutes folding, and the washer takes about 30 minutes for a cycle. I do two loads a day, one white and one dark. All of the clothes that hang up are immediately put on hangers when they come out of the wash and put on a stand up metal clothes rack so once they are dry, they go straight to the closet. (Minimizes wrinkles too!) White clothes, towels, etc, and hung on a wire clothesline stretched across the length of my laundry room. (I have a good sized laundry room.) I have a fan in there, (that's the air circulation) and it's not air conditioned (it gets hot here where I live) so presto. . . almost free drying! (Of course, I pay for the electricity the fan uses, but it is very minimal compared to a dryer. As a matter of fact, our light bill has dropped to almost half!)
Of course, on the weekends, I do use my outside line in nice weather. Sliding into sheets that have been dried in the sunshine is absolutlely wonderful and the sunshine helps kill germs so I do take advantage of that, but during the week, because I do work, I use my indoor clothes rack and line at night and by the next night, my clothes are perfectly dry and the rack and line are ready for the next load. Yea, it does look like my laundry is never ending, but hey, what are laundry rooms for and isn't everyone's laundry never ending!? LOL. So, I guess this post is just to let others know that line drying can be done even if you are not a stay at home mom. It just takes discipline to do the laundry every night and trust me, there are some nights I would rather just go to bed that hang up that last load in the washer, but I know that if I don't then I will have to spend about an hour at the laundromat down the road the next night because I don't have enough room to dry everything and it will mildew quickly here where I live. . . that usually motivates me enough to get it hung up before bed!
Just some food for thought. Have a blessed week and stay safe.
Peace,
Southern Ladye
