Monday, August 11, 2008

Don't Ring My Doorbell!

It's been awhile since I turned on my clothes dryer. When it's hot in the summer, I'm loathe to make it even hotter in my house by using it. I used to just do it at night once it's cooled down, but with the washer and dryer sitting right between the wee ones' bedrooms, and Little Miss especially being a light sleeper... well, that was a little hard.

I started out just not drying certain things. Swim suits are never dried to keep them from getting yucky. And I don't dry pjs to avoid removing the flame retardant. Oh and team jerseys should never be dried. In fact, they should rarely be washed in my mind.

But this summer, my house has started looking like this on laundry day.

And this:


And this:


And yep, even this:


I just stopped drying more and more things, and then it seemed so silly to run the dryer with so few clothes in it. And we've been so busy that I rarely had time to run more than one load in a day, so the clothes would sit waiting to be dried. This just seemed better.

And then I started thinking about the energy I was saving. I felt a little green. And then I saw a little more green as my gas bills were a bit lower -- or at least the usage was lower; gas rates have gone up a lot this year! That made me feel a little better.

My husband started questioning it when he saw the assorted laundry. He brought out the redneck factor, which I repudiated with the cool green factor. And really, I do sort of tend to get my way in the house. Especially since he's banned from doing laundry after ruining enough of my clothes. Have you ever seen a silk blouse after it's been through the washer and dryer?

My plan has been to get an outdoor line drying something. But I can't find what I'm really looking for. I don't want the lines that attach to the house and pull out because I don't want anything attached to the house. I don't want the ones that are out in the middle of the yard because I want to be able to put it away when I'm not using it (and I don't want to have to pour concrete in the yard). I need something bigger than the normal line drying racks, as the sheets need enough space to be hung. Really what I think I want is something like the one that gets planted in the middle of my yard but that sits in my patio furniture umbrella stand and folds up and goes away when I'm done.

Really, I'm probably not looking hard enough. I have searched a few times, in my defense.

So in the meantime, my house looks like this when I do laundry, and I'm ok with that. Fortunately, we have a lot of bannister space. The only time we have a problem is when I realize that the mom of a friend of Mister Man's is over to pick up the pirate hat her son left behind after a playdate and will be standing in my foyer staring at my whole family's laundry. Whoops.

14 comments:

Angela August 11, 2008 at 8:28 PM  

This I need to see! Where are the pics, LOL!?

Michelle August 11, 2008 at 9:11 PM  

Angela - It's a Monday, and I was up at 5:40 again. Really, do you expect my brain to work by the time I get home? Really? Thanks for the heads up!

Angie's Spot August 11, 2008 at 9:33 PM  

THAT is hysterical! I applaud you for your green efforts. And I know about not letting others near my laundry. My mother was BANNED from EVER doing my laundry again after she washed and dried my suede skirt. Yes, suede. I cried.

xxxx August 12, 2008 at 1:07 AM  

HA ... I TOTALLY do that sometimes! Hey, it works, right?

Jules August 12, 2008 at 10:02 AM  

Ha ha. Too funny. Thank goodness you have stairs, isn't it? Where would you put them all if you didn't?

Cookie August 12, 2008 at 11:06 AM  

I love the new decor!
If you ever go to a Japanese store or even Korean, They sell these foldable hanging things with clothes pins attached. You see them all over Japan hanging out of windows with socks and unies attached. If you go into people's houses it's not uncommom to see them in the living room even!

Karen August 12, 2008 at 1:53 PM  

Ha! That's hysterical. Dont you worry about the wood getting damp?

Michelle August 12, 2008 at 3:53 PM  

Angie - Oooo a suede skirt? That's ROUGH. Ironically, my mom still does all my sweaters :)

Swishy - It TOTALLY works. And my cats have fun playing under the sheets, too. Win-win-win.

MaBunny - The bannisters and stairs are a godsend. Glad you can confirm the redneck look ;)

Jules - It's possible that I'd use my shower rods, door handles (hung on hangars first), maybe tie string across my bedposts?

Cookie - I may have to check that out the next time I head down to Mitsuwa. The problem is sheets -- I need wide spaces for that. That's part of the reason so many of the potential solutions I've found don't work!

Karen - I'd never thought of that! Ummm, it's sealed wood? And everything dries quickly? And my cats seem to think that the bannisters are balance beams but they are HORRID gymnasts, so I need to replace the bannisters altogether (white oak) once the cats are old enough to not jump up anymore.

angela | the painted house August 12, 2008 at 9:31 PM  

This is HILARIOUS! And, ingenuitive!

Michelle August 12, 2008 at 10:21 PM  

Angela - Thank you! I'm blushing. And off to go remove more laundry from the bannisters now.

Anonymous August 13, 2008 at 10:53 AM  

Wow - it's a good thing you have staircases! I would have to hang mine from... um... I guess the fans. Or the kids, or something.

Thanks for giving me a reason to be glad mine are in the garage. This winter when it is -14 degrees again and I'm getting frostbite trying to pull the clothes out of the washer, I'll cry and say...

"at least my house wasn't even hotter last summer!"

Cookie August 14, 2008 at 12:43 AM  

OMG! You have Mitsuwa????! I'm jealous! We used to have that store in NJ, but none here in Seattle :(

Michelle August 14, 2008 at 8:17 AM  

Cookie - Yes, there's a Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights which isn't too far from us. And we go there ohhhhh just every once in awhile. We haven't made it to any of their festivals because they tend to happen during naptimes, but as they get older we will!

Irene August 16, 2008 at 7:46 AM  

That is HILARIOUS!!!! It reminds me of a year when I lived with 3 roommates in a townhouse. One roommate had a washer, but no dryer. So we all washed our clothes and then covered the townhouse in our laundry to dry. My bedroom floor would seriously be covered in laundry.

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