Here's the blog entry all the power companies will sue me for...
You need a line to hang your laundry on.
BEHOLD! my loyal minions, I have declared that is must be so.
The biggest power munchers in your house are your HVAC unit, your refrigerator (and freezer if you have one) your water heater, your stove, and your dryer.
Now, we will cover each of these in their due time, but first up is the dryer.
Back in the days of the caveman, when Dick Clark was young and AT&T was not a monopoly, we hung our clothes on the clothesline after removing them from the washing machine (or nearby river). And as we say in the Masonic Lodge (to my chagrin) "if it's good enough for my Daddy, it's good enough for me." Thus progress is thwarted.
This is a simple device. 1: Find a length of rope. 2: Find a bunch of clothes pins. They are cheap, look for them in the dollar store to get them really cheap. 3: Find two stationary and inanimate objects to tie the rope to. These can be trees, telephone poles, two posts you have set in the ground, a few Congressmen (because the NEVER move), whatever. I put mine between the bathroom exterior wall and the screen porch. This gives me two lines about 10 feet long each. They are close to the house and over my rear deck. I may put up something longer soon though. use what works for you.
Now, as we have established, I know what you are thinking. (you and your filthy mind) Yes, you can and should dry clothes outside even in the winter. I have hung clothes when the temperature is in the twenties. This is also the temperature at which Southerners cease to exist, so be careful. It takes longer but it still works. If you can put your line in a sunny area, or an area where there is a good breeze, that's better.
I line dry everything except the baby's clothes. Her stuff still gets the dryer so it will stay softer.
CAUTION Be sure to remove the clothes before it starts to rain. This may seem obvious, but not everyone is an Erskine College graduate, so I have to be sure I cover all my bases for those less fortunate than me. (kidding... maybe)
If you are nice I will tell you about the car show I went to this weekend.
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3 weeks ago
You have added another to your minions...
ReplyDeleteBeing a southerner, I take offense to your assertion that we cease to exist when the temperature is in the twenties. It's actually more like the thirties and we become pale, wan and sluggish when it is in the forties. BTW, great blog post.:)
ReplyDeleteMy 8 year old electric dryer died in early November and I too learned that clothes dry outside in freezing temperatures. It's a pain in the fingers to finagle the things onto the line in the cold and our clean laundry often smells like smoke from the neighbors woodstove but we're saving $40 a month in electric and about $10 a month of cost of ownership for a dryer. I'm hoping to get an umbrella dryer this spring and install it right by my back door. Currently our lines are 50 feet from the house and 2 feet from the fence and barking of our neighbor's aggressive dogs. Urg.
ReplyDelete