We've been trying to cut corners everywhere on our spending. It's not really an economics thing as much as it is that I just hate to spend money, period (not comma!). So we turned off our greenhouse lights and moved the seedlings outside. We turn off all lights we aren't using and try to not turn them on until they are necessary at night. We only drive into town 3 times a week (sometimes 4 if HOH drives alone on Wednesday) and we count it a blessing to be home most of the time. So really, I am a stay at home mom.
A necessary change for HOHs sake is that I do laundry promptly as it comes out of the dryer instead of piling it up until we have enough that justifies sitting down and sorting it all out. I guess you can say that I like to sort things and count things. It's genetic.
My dad and I used to take turns doing dishes (we were the dishwasher). Whenever we'd go to put them away, it was a counting game. Were there 16 juice glasses? What about the 1 stainless steel cup? Are all the forks in the right place? OK maybe it wasn't a game but an obsession or compulsion. Is there a disorder that reflects the need to find just the right word to describe something?
Back to the laundry. We've been known to have weeks worth of laundry piled up in our room when company comes over! HOH hates it. In effort to submit to his leadership, I have taken it upon myself to master laundry. Every day I've been checking to see if a load needs to be run. If there is, I start it then head to the dryer because chances are there is a load stashed there waiting to be folded. Stacking laundry on the dryer is OK because HOH can quickly distribute it to the appropriate location and expect it to get put away. So that's where folded laundry goes. When I get around to it (please don't send me a round to-it!), I might even put things away.
All this laundry modification has been great, except I've noticed how long and often the dryer is running! AAAAK. Certainly that's where our power bill has gone through the roof (up by nearly 33% in the past year!). So, I'm going green. Being the geek that I am and impatient as I can be, I didn't ask for HOHs help in stringing up the line, I just did it. Today we bought pulleys and what not to attach it to my porch so I don't have to go down stairs, but that's a project for another day. This weekend I dried three loads of laundry on the line. This is a picture of the last load on the line today!
HOH says that I don't have time for it to dry before nightfall. I don't mind. It can dry for the next hour or so before sundown and I'll finish it off in the dryer. Saving some must be better than none, right?
BTW (By the way), I learned to do laundry from Dad, too. He would dutifully wash and dry it on the weekend while Mom was out of town at a craft show. To him, he was helping. In her opinion, it was all wasted effort, because she still had to fold it.
Are you green with envy? What are your laundry woes? Does your HOH insist you fold his unmentionables? For 12 years I've been folding them because I thought HOH wanted it that way (leftover Marine Corps bent). Just today I checked to see his opinion. Wow, I don't have to fold them any more! Yeah.
So, am I going green? Probably but not with envy.
5 comments:
Speaking of green...have you replaced all your light bulbs with those new fangled ones? Our bill has actually gone wayyyyyy down since we did this! We just put in a few at a time until we're almost 100% power saving bulbed! Before we got married, my dh had a round flourescent bulb that screwed into a regular socket (very rare, then). I want you to know we have been married nearly 26 years and it is in our closet and still works! He's sure got his money's worth out of that one!
Now if I could figure out how to run the a/c 24/7 without it costing us.....
We've been talking about putting new insulation in our roof and are starting to replace our lightbulbs with the ones Meg mentioned. I wouldn't mind drying my linens and towels on the line, but I like my nice soft clothes out of the dryer. I plan on saving a lot of money in July. :)
Yes, we have "green" bulbs in most fixtures. Beware, if there is a rehostat (dimmer switch) on the fixture, it won't work right.
For soft clothes, take them off the line and tumble them for about 10 minutes. I confirms the dryness and gives just enough tumble to make them soft.
What a great idea. If I had more of a backyard, I would definitely hang laundry. Especially if the 10 minutes in the dryer would restore the softeness. We've been slowly installing the compact flourescent bulbs too (I'd say we have them in most of our fixtures). AND we've started composting. How's that for going green?
You're reading my blog! Yeah.
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