It was overcast this morning when I woke up.
This wouldn't mean much, except we live in Colorado where we get 300 some odd days of sun a year. When I lived in Virginia, I hated overcast days, but now I love them. Except for one thing: Laundry.
One of my personal challenges for this month is to never use the dryer. I got an umbrella dryer from Lowes a couple weeks back, and I've been trying to use it as much as possible, especially since my Joey occasionally needs to use the dryer's 220 outlet to run his kiln.
Did I forget to mention, Joey's a ceramic artist? Here's his Etsy store (currently all but empty, but that should change soon). But we'll talk more about that later.
Anyway, back to the skies.
We use cloth diapers for both our babies, and need to wash them about twice a week. I usually do Mondays and Thusdays because that means no weekend washing! But I didn't get them in last night. Also, I'd gotten a little backed up with our own clothes, which can be problematic. No diapers and no clothes can lead to a very interesting situation.
So I hung our first load at 8:30 am, under grey skies and a load full of hope. Soon enough the skies broke and out came the sun! Hooray!
Then, I hung a second load alongside around 10. Full lines and full sun. Perfect.
Then, right around nap time, I heard the first rumble. We've had a bunch of fake storms around here, where it threatens and doesn't follow through, so I waited-probably a bit too long. And then I had to run!
25 yard dash number one.
I went and hung it all back up around 5, and the shortly after dinner, the skies opened again. This time the dash was a little wetter.
I was going to hang them up for overnight, but life just didn't get me there. Overall, I got 2 1/2 loads dried in the semi-sun today. Free, exilerating, and calorie-burning! I can't wait to see how this helps our electric bill.
By the way, if you want a great tutorial on hanging your laundry, head over to Melissa the Dyno-Mom's blog here.
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Stay tuned for Joey's heroing tale of his dumpster diving expedition in tomorrow's blog! You'll never guess what he came home with that I actually love!
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I love it! I wish we were able to hang out our clothes. We live in an apartment complex and it is against the rules. I do dry rugs and large blankets on chairs outside though. I also dry a lot of my clothes on hangers inside. Plus I only do two (maybe three) loads of laundry a week. I'm looking forward to cooler weather here so we can turn off the A/C. Love the new blog! :-)
ReplyDeleteMegan- if you can't hang on your balcony, maybe it would be worth the couple of bucks to invest in a collapsible drying rack. Set it up in your bathroom, in the tub if you can, so you don't have to worry about drips, or get a shower curtain liner to lay underneath. Not only will it save you money (either from the coin operated dryers or the electricity) but it'll keep your apartment cooler than running a dryer.
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