This is our journal about our happy, little rural life... our daily adventures and mishaps as we live in this modern society, with all of its wonder & horror. We are g r o w i n g each day; learning to live happier lives, making c h a n g e s that will effect ours & our children's future.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Speaking of dirty laundry...

For the last 30 days, I have not used a clothes dryer.  It's been another challenge for me, but so far I've managed much better than I expected.  It started out of necessity- our electricity went wacky after a lightening storm.  My husband tried to explain the problem to me, but it sounded like the grown-ups speaking on Peanuts (Sorry, babe).  Basically, we couldn't run our air conditioner or our clothes dryer.  Boo.  
Oddly enough, this is not unlike the situation which lead to our television-free home.  It's been well over two years since our we've had television programming and we don't feel we need it.  We do enjoy watching movies that we select during some of our free time, but regular television is no longer in our lives.  
So, I have always hung the occasional load of clothes to dry out on the clothes line.  Usually clothes would get hung indoors to avoid rain or dogs tearing down the clothes, but I've always enjoyed hanging the clothes outside.  So serene and peaceful to hang out a load of clothes, while a gentle breeze sweeps the stresses of the day away.....
Well, with a fairly dirty family of five and two using cloth diapers, housework without a clothes dryer meant a whole new routine.  Every single sock, panties, bras, nursing pads, diapers and doublers, thick jeans, bed sheets, bed sheets for potty training boys, more diapers, quilted comforters, bath towels, dish towels, face towels, socks, socks, socks......   (deep breath....)  Every piece of dirty laundry still has to be washed and dried- and now I have to physically hang it up and take it down, AND still fold it and put it away.  At any given moment, I usually have clothes drying in several rooms of the house because my small outside clothes line and rainy days make it difficult.  
I totally took the luxury of my clothes dryer for granted.  Being able to throw a load of clothes into the dryer and head to bed was SO nice.  I've grown to love hanging clothes out to dry much more than in the past, but as soon as I have a functioning dryer again, I will use it for whites (socks & sheets), towels & jeans.  My thick, fluffy towels are waiting patiently at the bottom of the shelf for now.

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