Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Laundry lessons

I've posted about enjoying hanging laundry on the line, but recent weather oddities have disabused me of a certain bit of naivete with regard to how easy and wonderful it is to hang wet things out on the line.  It makes sense that it wouldn't have occurred to me that hanging laundry out to dry in other places doesn't work quite the same way it does here.  On a typical spring or summer day when I'm really on the ball, I can wash and hang out four or five loads of clothes, and they will all dry completely. My good linen garb will typically be halfway to dry by the time I get all the way down the line hanging a full basket. 

One night last week, I popped a load of towels in the dryer, and I put them on the line first thing in the morning. It was unseasonably cool and humid, and the skies were overcast all day. My thick towels were still damp by about 5pm.   Boy, have I learned that hanging stuff out on the line is not the universal answer! It would be a pain in the butt to be limited to just one load per day, because I think most people have to do big laundry tasks on one or two days a week-- who could do this every day with a job and gadding about the universe? I know that the heat and the harsh rays of the sun also damage the fibers of your clothing, so it's not the best thing, ever, but I still think it's pretty neat. I can see how it wouldn't be the marvel of efficiency I've perceived it to be in all locales.

Also, note to self: before attempting to hang laundry, walk the path of the clothesline with a pooper-scooper. Doggie dumplings are more gross than you can imagine when squishing up through the articulated toesies of one's Vibrams.  Yuck.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Hate to burst your bubble, but lots of places (Italy comes readily to mind), clothes are done daily to every other day... :-)

Evyl Robot Michael said...

I've been doing more frequent, smaller loads specifically so I can hang dry, thus avoiding running the dryer in the hotter months. Although it makes a big difference for the temperature of the house, it does take longer for clothing to dry on the more humid days.

phlegmfatale said...

No bubble burst there- I imagine Italy with clothes lines stretched between buildings! I suppose they are more sensible about wardrobe volume in part because space is at a premium. Maybe they are more sensible than me in general. I need to weed out, clearly. Problem is I'd like to binge-launder once a, well, millennium. Yes. I like doing laundry, but only when the mood strikes!!! The trick is to have enough stuff to wear between washings, and I have that in abundance. I need to get on my game with that, though.