Thursday, July 31, 2008

Frugality in practice...

Since we'd been having some problems with our dryer drying our clothes (we have a suspicion that the vent from laundry room to outside is clogged somehow)...and since we also wanted to save on our electric bill...we bought a drying rack!!

Now, we live in an apartment complex that has rules against hanging clothes out to dry off the balcony. I can in a way understand, as it upsets the American white-bread aesthetic...but after having lived in Europe, where almost everyone has colorful clothes hanging off balconies, it seems such a silly thing to fuss about. In any case, though, we had to come up with something that would function well indoors.

We already had a small wall mounted rack near our washer for small things that collapses against the wall when not in use. We got it at IKEA last year and I like it rather well. We couldn't, however, mount any more things to the wall...so we went looking for a regular euro-style folding rack that sits on the floor...

We ended up not getting the one we'd seen in the IKEA catalog, because we found another one that really impressed us. It is TALL...as tall as I am, but folds up small enough to slide between the fridge and the wall when not in use...and EASILY holds a load of clothes (it could hold two, but I'd rather have the clothes dry faster). We set it up in the corner of our bedroom, which seems to work, except for when our kitten claims it as her jungle-gym!!

We've used it now for a couple weeks and it's worked out well. The clothes are drying stiffer, so I'm contemplating adding vinegar to the wash, as I've heard it helps with that. We'll have to iron some of our clothes more, but the iron uses a whole lot less energy than a dryer...that's for sure!! The jury is still out on a few clothing items though...I kinda like the way my jeans fit better when they've dried in the dryer and my tank tops look a little stretched out after air-drying.

All in all though, it's worked pretty well. Do any of you air-dry clothes...and if so, do you do it despite rules to the contrary (ie. apartment rules, HOA rules, etc.)?

drying rack away drying rack in use

1 comment:

The Minimalist said...

I hung a shower curtain rod in my laundry room and hang every other load. My husband doesn't like his shirts to go into the dryer and I hang up anything that won't dry stiff of mine.

Tryazon Strictly Briks Party

In the middle of all the busyness that was the month of November I was chosen to host a Tryazon party for Strictly Briks. We got our party k...