It's 90 degrees and partially sunny today in Columbus, OH.
I don't think it's too much to ask this of my fellow Americans (and others worldwide): If you are able-bodied and have reasonable access to a clothesline (inside or outside), you should not be using a clothes dryer on a day like this.
You wanna know how hot it is? Lemme tell you:
It's so hot that a load of clothes has dried before the next load is ready to hang!
That's hot, folks.
There is no reason to burn dinosaur when the earth is positively throbbing to help you out.
I just did a few loads, and it really didn't take much more time and effort than if I had chucked them in the dryer. I was amazed how easy it was. I think it becomes harder when the air is cooler and you have to conserve line space and let things sit out longer. But in weather like this, they'd dry even rolled up in a ball in the bucket.
I'm not trying to guilt anyone, but let's be reasonable. Consider how outrageous it is to use a clothes dryer when just letting them hang out in the air for the same amount of time can accomplish the very same thing.
The sun is also a bleaching agent, and the smell of freshly dried clothes is wonderful!
I have no fence around my yard and I fear my neighbors would abscond with my clothes. Cuz, you know, everyone wants to dress like me... ;)
ReplyDelete(I don't trust those teenagers walking across my yard, either...)
Excuses, excuses...
ReplyDeleteActually, I hang up most of my clothes (in the basement in my laundry room) because I am afraid of them shrinking. All of my bike jerseys and most of my work clothes, including pants, end up hung up to dry... I only use the dryer for my underwear and cotton t-shirts and jeans.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I only do my laundry like once every two weeks so I'm barely contributing to the burning of dinosaurs. I've got a lot of clothes so I only need to run the wash when I'm starting to run out of stuff to wear (and usually lack of underwear is the break down point...)
TMI. But, hey, you put it out there.
TMI?
ReplyDeleteA lot of the "cookie cutter" housing subdivisions forbid clotheslines (along with a multitude of other "aesthetic" regulations) in their Homeowners Association By-Laws. So ridiculous...
ReplyDeleteCathryn,
ReplyDeleteGlad you stopped by!
You are right, that is crazy. I'd hold up your example as a symbol of our culture: We're always working against the grain, and it is going to cost us dearly, environmentally speaking.
After having to take clothes to a laundromat for a while, I got into the habit of air drying everything at home. I got a big drying rack and fold all my shirts in half and fill up the rack. It's very compact space-wise compared to clothesline and seems to dry quick enough. (They can take a whole day or more without any problems.) Shirts that are too wrinkled I do put through the dryer for a couple minutes and then hang on a hanger.
ReplyDeleteFollowing the path of least resistance, I end up leaving the clothes on the rack, which saves me from the worst part of doing laundry--folding stuff, when you know you're going to be wearing it all again soon enough!
The question is, what do I end up doing with all this free time that modern laundry conveniences have given us??
Scott, I am a believer (as Michael Pollan writes) that many so-called "modern conveniences" really don't save us much time, effort, energy or money. Some do.
ReplyDeleteIn order to sell their product, they usually wage a margeting campaign convincing us how much they are going to help us out, but gosh these are salesman, why are we believing them?
We have grown dependent on these products and forgot how to do things without them. We just assume we must be doing things easier with our house chock full of these "conveniences."
My experiences with cast iron has shown me that it is not really any harder to use than teflon. Cooking a dinner doesn't have to take any longer than it would to hop in the car and drive to a so-called "fast" food joint (as Pollan suggests). Hanging clothes on the line doesn't take much longer than tossing them in the dryer when you consider all the extra time folding and all that. Like you, I also usually leave my clothes hang on a rack when I'm drying indoors, so my folding and drying are actually the same step, and you can't do that with a clothes dryer!
I think it relates to the deodorant issue. Why are there all these fancy and high-priced deodorants when simple vinegar or baking soda work just as well? People want fragrances and maybe there is a small % of improved efficiency, but not so much that I have noticed. People just assume that a product with packaging must do a better job, and most of us never learned from our ancestors that simpler items do the job just as well.
There was a time in recent history when the word "artificial" was actually a word of prestige. Root of the word is "art" and it was a compliment to refer to something as "artificial." In our current day, "natural" is considered more respectable. But during those periods when artificial items were considered better, maybe that is when we lost many of these traditions.
They also can't charge as much if they sell vinegar as deororant, so maybe that is also why they avoid it. Who knows.
Looking at the car this way, the statistic I like to quote goes something like, the amount of time it takes to earn enough money to own and maintain a car can work out to be the same as if you took that time off work and walked to work instead. And that doesn't even take into account how that would improve your health.
ReplyDeleteIn my post I was actually thinking more along the lines of the clothes washer, and not having to take hours to wash clothes by hand. I think the refrigerator/freezer would also qualify, cutting down on food preparation time, or at least making the food more healthy (frozen meat rather than salted and dried for instance). I guess in general nowadays with this extra time we're being forced into working at a job, as evidenced by the increasing number of families needing dual incomes.