My Dirty Laundry

This spring I decided I needed to incorporate a few more green living practices into our lives. As the weather warmed up, I realized that I had an opportunity to use the dryer less. I fantasized about putting a clothesline in the backyard, but I knew the request would make Ben's head explode. And that would just make more laundry.

What I decided to try instead was hanging clothes on our drying rack on the back deck. I can usually fit a load of laundry on the one rack. (I still dry socks and towels in the dryer to keep them soft and underwear because I'm semi-modest; I also dry Ben's work shirts in the dryer to keep them wrinkle free.) What I didn't expect was how this new method would expedite the laundry process. The smaller dryer loads are finished in a fraction of the time. The laundry on the porch also dries quickly. Often things from one load are dry before the next load is out of the washer. I love it when green changes carry unexpected benefits.

I decided that it would be helpful to have another drying rack to help when I do have two loads on the porch. I looked at Target, but the cheapest one was $12 and was smaller than the one we already had. The more ideal ones were $24-$30. I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. I mean really, it's a bunch of dowels. Then I remembered I was living in a college town and it was late May. I went to Goodwill one laundry day, and sure enough, there were two drying racks. They were marked $3.60 - a much better price. Plus, that day all furniture was 1/2 off, and the drying racks counted as furniture. So I came home with a $1.80 drying rack. Reusing and saving money so that I could use less energy and save time and money = awesome.