The stockings were hung by the chimney...

A few weeks ago, I took a wonderful overnight trip to Seattle to visit my friends.  I went alone, no kids.  It was wonderfully relaxing and grown-up.  My friends live right next to Green Lake, near Zoka.  It's a wonderful place to live with lots of families.  I got up a little early in the morning, walked to the coffee shop, read a little, then took a stroll.  I kept hearing a humming sound while I walked by houses that morning... and soon figured out what it was.  Dryer vents.  Everyone was doing laundry.  But more than that... everyone was running their dryer.  Like, I walked from Zoka to the lake, and back again and  I heard at LEAST 5 dryers going.

If you live in the United States, you're probably wondering what my problem is.  But you see, I associate this city, this neighborhood... with enlightening me to the issues of sustainability.  Friends living here exposed me to organic foods years ago, environmentally-friendly cleaning products, political living.  This was a long time ago, but we've all moved on, grown up and all that.  But I'm realizing that everyone is still using a dryer.  And this is a middle-class neighborhood with lots of stay-home moms reading Mothering magazine taking yoga classes.

My friend Pat was visiting last year.  During her visit, I needed to do a bit of wash and started hanging up my wash to dry.  She practically screams at me, 'OMG YOU ARE HANGING UP YOUR LAUNDRY??  NOBODY IN THIS COUNTRY DOES THAT!'  Well, I certainly hope she was wrong... but she had been living in Cambodia for a number of years, and was noticing things like that.  I noticed it when I moved back to the states from England a few years ago too.  We didn't even HAVE a dryer... neither did any of our friends.

When we moved here, I did not feel compelled to start using a dryer.  You know, once you get used to doing something like hanging up your laundry, it's not such a big deal.  But at the time we were living with my parents while we looked for jobs and a home.  I found out that in their subdivision (as in many) there were rules stating you were not to hang your washing out in your yard.  !!!!!  (I mean, does the QUEEN live next door or something?)  I was stunned.  I hear all this awareness about the need for energy conservation, and living more 'green'.  But I see nobody getting out the clothes pegs and let their clothes dry. Apparently, it just wouldn't look right.

I know other people live a busier life than we do.  Both parents working, kids in after-school activities.  Maybe people here are busier than families in the UK?  (No... busy families there too, I can assure you.)  I know many people would LIKE to use less energy and use their dryers less.  I'm pretty sure it's because they don't know what it looks like to hang your wash dry.  It's kind of like growing up in a house where nobody cooks.  You just don't know what it looks like, what you need, what you do.  It's unfamiliar.

Or you think it means having laundry hanging all over your house.  But it doesn't!  People who do this have all sorts of clever drying racks.  I have one here that is strung up over my washer/dryer in the laundry room that I use for 90% of my laundry.  I'll show you pics.

Or it's the TIME!  But I hear about entire days devoted to catching up on laundry.  And I've seen these laundry rooms... HEAVING with laundry piled on top of the machines. I know I don't work a full-time job, but I also don't spend that much time doing laundry.  I used cloth diapers for both my kids.  Had both in diapers for a year!  Still... only used the dryer once or twice a month to catch up or when someone was on a marathon puke-fest. I'm not saying this to show off my eco-virtues.  I'm saying it's not a big deal.  I'm not a natural house-keeper and I don't enjoy doing laundry but I can do it.

CLOTHES DRYERS USE UP A LOT OF ENERGY... BESIDES... THEY SHORTEN THE LIFE OF YOUR CLOTHES!  WHAT ABOUT JUST LINE-DRYING ONE OR TWO LOADS A WEEK?

That water heater keeps things nice and warm in here (along with the chest freezer).
I hang slow-drying stuff right over it to speed things up.  Sometimes I'll turn on a
little fan to circulate air when it all seems a little stale.

Just make a board w/ the eye hooks screwed in and mount
it to facing walls.  Then thread it with some clothes line.

We made our main drying line with eye-hooks and string, but you can buy ones that retract when not in use.  Because it's in the laundry room, it's totally out-of-the-way.

You can buy racks that fold away.  I know, I know... you don't want a whole room with laundry hanging up.  You know, I don't either.  We have a small, open-plan home.  But if you hang things in the evening, they are dry early the next day.  Besides... we are so lucky to have so many different rooms for things... what is our home for, if not for the activities of living?  Besides, your friends will think you're cool for doing it when they come over.  (OK, maybe not.  But let's face it... we're just not gonna be cool anymore.)

Now, if you think you don't have time... you do.  The hanging and pulling down is the only real difference in YOUR time.  And kids can do a lot of this.  A 4 year old can do the taking down off racks (it's like destruction, so it is fun).  If you're wondering how to make this happen for yourself, here is my trick.  Don't get behind on your laundry.  (You know what the FlyLady says... 'A load a day keeps the chaos away!')  I find if I do a load most days, it works.  I can skip one day, sometimes two... but never three without a dryer or a few hot days to dry outside on the line.  Everyone is different there.

• Day 1: Wash load A, hang to dry. (10 minutes of your time)
• Day 2: Wash load B, pull down dry 'A' clothes after starting washer. (5 minutes). Hang 'B' load (7 minutes).  Before bed, fold 'A' load in front of the TV and put away (15 minutes).
• Day 3: No wash, fold and put away dry 'B' load (15 minutes).
• Day 4: Repeat Day 1.

Note: Folding and putting away needs to be done even with a dryer.  I know, it's my least favorite part of the job too.

Those first 3 days took a total of 55 minutes (including folding and putting away).  If you repeat this cycle twice per week, that's LESS THAN 2 HOURS PER WEEK devoted to laundry.  And your Sunday is free! I wonder if ANY mother out there spends less than 2 hours devoted to laundry on a Sunday (if she did it all herself).  (You might think this is sexist, and I will change the gender of this if you can show me five husband/fathers who are in charge of the laundry.)

There are many friends reading this who are literally pissing themselves with laughter that I, Karen Kennedy, am dispensing housekeeping advice.  But this just proves my point... if I can make this work, any slob can.

When I bought my washer and dryer, I knew what I needed.  I had a baby in cloth diapers and I wanted a little insurance.  I bought a really good front-loading washer.  Front loaders generally have a faster spin speed so they get clothes MUCH dryer.  The dryer I got off craigslist for about $30.  When you only use them once per month, they last forever.  The washer and dryer do not MATCH... but I don't showcase them in my living room, so who cares?  Save your money for new boots, sister.

See, drying all sort of things over my washer.  It has only broken once,
which was a blessing because it made me find the BEST appliance guy in the PDX
metro area and he showed me how to fix it myself.

How do I dry?  May through October... the sun.  I have one of those umbrella clothes lines that I love.  I'm happy to leave things out overnight, if needed.  I can hang wash in the morning so that it's dry by eve.  But I've often hung out the wash at the end of the day to dry the following day.  I remember my neighbor in Bristol... she used to just leave her stuff on the line for days just waiting for a few hours of sunshine.  I'm not that patient.  I've got 2 indoor options.  In my laundry room Steve ran 4 lengths of thin rope over my water heater and washer/dryer (above picture).  The water heater keeps it warm year-round in there, and it's out of the way so I don't have laundry drying all over the house.  But I also have a few free-standing laundry drying racks.  In the winter time, I can dry clothes in just a few hours by putting them in front of the wood stove, under the ceiling fan.  It might surprise you to know that inside drying is actually more convenient once you have a few good racks.

In front of the fire.  Instantly dry.  Even floor mats.

BUT WHAT ABOUT SOFT TOWELS?
      I WANT SOFT TOWELS!

I don't know what to say to you there.  My towels and wash cloths do come out a bit cardboard-like most of the time.  I guess it just isn't a big deal to me.  Maybe you could slip them in the dryer for 10 minutes for that little luxury in your life.  I try to do it when I have company coming who appreciates that (I certainly enjoy it when visiting other peoples' homes).  At some point, I just started weighing the benefit of things like that to ME against the cost of it to EVERYONE ELSE.  Then the towel just becomes a convenient instrument of exfoliation.  Saves me a trip to the spa.

I've been doing my laundry this way for over 6 years in this house with children (I don't count non-parent years since it's not really work).  It's not a big deal.  I don't get bloody minded about it.  When life starts to get insane, I cut myself some slack and pop things in the dryer.  Yes, my friends see laundry hanging up in front of the fire when they come to visit sometimes.  But again, I just don't get that uptight about it.  I mean, it's clean!