Laundry Day, The Old-Fashioned Way

I’ve always been a pretty frugal person, so I’m slightly amused that a lot of people are jumping on the “Frugal Bandwagon” now that costs of pretty much everything are skyrocketing!  My 22 year old Toyota is looking good to some people now because of its 30 MPG/City!

I haven’t had to change much to decrease costs, but I recently tried a “new” way to do laundry.  I now wash all my clothes in cold water and hang them to dry.  Now that summer is here, I’ve been hanging them out on the line…winter/rainy weather has me hanging them on dryer racks inside the house.

I hang my shirts and tops on hangers and clip them to the line.  It’s amazing that they dry almost wrinkle free!  I hang my jeans and pants on a clip pants hanger, and they too, dry crisp and wrinkle free.  There is nothing like the smell of fresh air-dried clothes.  No laundry detergent or dryer sheet can come close to replicating its smell, despite their claims of “Fresh Scent”.

I’m saving a lot in electricity too!  My clothes will also last longer being air-dried….do you notice the amount of lint that is generated after each dryer use?  The lint is fiber coming off your clothes, wearing them out much faster.

Now my dream is to own one of those old-fashioned clotheslines.  The kind with the metal pole and a square of lines around it.   When I was a kid, I remember almost every house having one in the yard.  Clothes flapping on the line was such a cheery sight!  I don’t know when dryers took over as “the” way to dry clothes exclusively…probably the 60s.

Off to dream of a new clothesline! 😀

Marilyn