I lost my dryer in September, I think, and have been trying to see how long I can do without. So let's say the 1st of September was first day of this little experiment. It is never a good time to have to make a major investment in an appliance, but this came at a very inopportune time indeed. September is usually warm and sunny here and I have a clothes line that I use all summer to dry my sheets and the bathing suits and towels from swimming (love the smell of sheets hung out in the sunshine) so I decided to see if I could put off the new purchase for a few weeks. I figured my grandmother had seven children and no dryer and she managed quite well, how hard would it be for me with just two adults, who mainly don't get terribly dirty. Hubby takes his dress shirts and pants to the cleaner anyway, so I wouldn't have the problem of ironing them.
So the game was on! How long could I go without having to buy a dryer!
September and even October, when it got a bit rainy was not a problem. I washed clothes around the weather forecast instead of when the hamper was full. I hung indoors on my wooden drying rack in front of the fireplace, all t-shirts get hung on hangers to dry and the system's been working fine.
My kids got into the spirit of my contest with myself, and have been cheering me on. I thought I was going to have to give in this week, as I had a load of towels, sheets and sweats and jeans and the weather has been really too cold and rainy for hanging outdoors. But because of the hurricane that is pushing frigid air into the US, we have a day today that is going to be sunny and breezy with a high in the 60's. We get the cold air tomorrow.
So this is the scene in my backyard:
It actually makes me feel very clever and strangely empowered to try to "beat" the system.
I always feel betrayed when my appliances die on me. My toaster oven has been broken for several years, it has to be manually started and stopped but as long as we are willing to keep an eye on the toast, it still does the job. When it stops doing that, I may get a new one or try to jury rig a solution.
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