September 30, 2008
A Clothesline
Clothesline by PDXFirefly
I put up a clothes line this summer. I have a wonderful covered patio that gets a nice morning and afternoon breeze. It is just steps from the house and since the patio is covered, I don’t ever have to get rained on…we do live in Oregon, remember?!
I decided to put up a retractable clothes line one hot summer day when I didn’t want to run the hot clothes dryer inside the house. That is about the same time that energy prices started to hike upwards. OK, I’ll save some money on energy, I thought. But the biggest bonus has been the savings on fabric softener. Our grandmothers didn’t have “fresh scented” fabric softeners. They didn’t need it. They had fresh gentle breezes drying their clothes out on a clothesline. And now, so do I!
I did have to look around for some clothespins –I wanted special ones. And then I had to find a “clothes pin bag” something to contain the clothes pins. Usually they are made to hang on the clothes line within easy reach when hanging your clothes out to dry, but I couldn’t find one. So…. off to The Dollar Tree. Yes, that store that sells everything in the world for just 1 Dollar! I bought a cute little fuzzy little girl PURSE. Then I had to decide what I wanted to use as a laundry basket. So another trip to another favorite discount store to find just the perfect sized wicker basket with the liner that matches my sea-foam/sage laundry room. After several months of perfecting my “clothes hanging techniques” I have given up using the “clothes pin bag/purse”; now I just toss the clothes pins into the bottom of my laundry basket!
My motivation for putting up the clothes line was to save a little on energy. The bonus is that nothing can replace the natural fresh scent of my clothes when I bring them in the house. I feel like that commercial, where you see the Mom deeply inhaling the fresh scent of her towels, as though they are some sweet ambrosia. My dish towels, tee-shirts, bath towels and my bed sheets and pillowcases have the most amazing freshness!! All this because I wanted to save a little energy with the clothes dryer.
