History Always Repeats Itself

As I was hanging this particularly LARGE  load of "delicates" outside to dry this afternoon, I was struck by the thought....

That "History is destined to always repeat itself!".

P.S. Can you tell that I live in a predominately male household?

A Really Great Birthday Gift And Line Drying Laundry

I really have a fabulous Husband! I mentioned in an earlier post that He had been hinting about my really great birthday gift. He was right, it IS really great, and just what I wanted! I was at Costco about six weeks ago and saw this fabulous stainless steel drying rack. I didn't buy it at the time thinking that maybe it would go on sale or that there would be a coupon for it in the next month's coupon book (always the cheap skate). A couple of week's later when I went back to Costco, with every intention of buying the drying rack, they were sold out!! Stink! They have been sold out every week, since! Well, on my birthday my Dear Hubby, giddily surprised me with.............. a very much sought after (by me) drying rack ( He snuck to Costco, the day after he heard me mention how much I wanted the drying rack, bought it, and had been hiding it ever since!). Of course, this week Costco has them in stock, and they are on sale, but who cares!

My present couldn't have come at a better time, because:

A) I try to line dry most of our clothes from late spring until late fall (or when snow flies, which ever comes first) to save money on the power bill. By not using the dryer, I can justify using the air conditioning ( I am not a happy camper when I am hot and sweaty).

B) My makeshift clothes line that I have been using for several years broke, and I do not have a replacement awning, yet. I don't have a place in my back yard to put a permanent clothes line, so every year I have to make do.

I have strung a clothesline around the Quick Shade awning that is sitting on our deck (to shade the French doors from the blazing afternoon and evening sun). It has worked well so far, but it is not big enough to hold more than one load of laundry. Laundry day at our house consists of way more than one load of laundry! Now that I have my new, swanky drying rack, I can hang all the shirts on plastic hangers and place them on the rack to dry (which is handy for putting them away when they are dry). It is also has plenty of rungs to hang towels, undies, and socks on.

Not to mention, it makes a great place to set the clean laundry as I take it off the line and fold it.

My clothes pin bag that I made out of an old kid's T shirt also disappeared this year, too. Luckily, I was able to find a new clothespin bag and clothespins at our local dollar store (every Tuesday they have $.88 Tuesday, so one bag and three packages of clothes pins cost $3.52).

I also read on The Frugal Girl's blog that if you toss shirts, undies, towels, and socks in the dryer on the air dry setting (which costs hardly anything to do, because heating the dryer is what costs money)  for a few minutes before you hang them to line dry, they will be much softer and wrinkle free. I gave it a try and it worked great! I just toss the clothes in the dryer, on the no heat setting, while I put another batch in the washing machine. Then I remove and hang the wet shirts on hangers, and put the rest of the clothes in a basket to carry outside to hang up.

P.S. I love line drying clothes. It makes me slow down from my daily craziness, and gives me time to hold still and think.  Hanging wet laundry on the line and watching it blow in the breeze is kind of like going to my "happy place".

My Hill Billy Clothesline

One of my favorite things about spring is that I can hang my laundry outside,again! I have had to get creative with a clothesline, though. We do not have any trees in our back yard to tie a rope between, and our lot is not huge, so I don't have a place to create a permanent clothes line. So, once again, I had to put on my thinking cap.

Because of the way our house sits on our lot, it is necessary to put a Quick Shade awning on our back deck to shade the French doors (which saves my poor family from roasting alive inside the house, and to keep the air conditioner from running 24/7). About every second year the canvas top on the awning begins to rip (requiring numerous duct tape repairs). By the third year the top is not salvageable. After some research I realized that it is more expensive to buy a replacement awning than to buy a whole new Quick Shade on sale. This leaves me with a supply of roofless awnings.

By now, you should know it causes me great stress to throw anything away that may have even a tiny bit of use left in it. So, I started thinking of ways I could reuse the awning frame. That's when I had my AH-HA moment!

I ran to the Dollar Store and grabbed some supplies:




Then I set the old Quick Shade frame up in the back yard:



Tied the clothesline in five sections across the frame (make sure you pull it tight and wrap it around several times. Then tie it with a triple square knot):


Add some laundry:





I made a quickie clothespin bag by sewing the bottom of one of the old kids cotton T shirts and hanging it on a hanger:


How's that for recycling? My family calls it my Hill Billy clothes line, but I call it pure genius. With the money that I save hanging laundry out to dry all summer (electric clothes dryers are one of the most expensive appliances to use); I can justify using our air conditioning (Bless modern appliances. I become very cranky when I am hot and sweaty!).

P.S. Here is a great POST from Living On A Dime.com on the proper way to hang laundry.