You have to love having someone around who is still young enough to enjoy the chores most of us would easily never do again if someone agreed to take them off our hands. Now before you go thinking I was trying to turn Jersey Girl into Cinderella last week, she volunteered to help her Bapa (John) out when he had some washing to do.
Photo by John Winchurch
In fact, she seemed to like the process so much there was little left unwashed when she went home to Jersey last Friday. I think her favorite part was hanging the wash on the line. She had quite the system right from the beginning and not surprising a few things emerged during our discussion around issues frequently found in maintaining a clean wardrobe.
Chief subject of interest, you guessed it … disappearing socks. It seems despite the geographic boundaries of another country, here, as in America, dryers, referred to in the UK as tumble dryers, still eat socks. Jersey Girl mentioned that this had happened in the past with one of her grandmothers who had managed to solve this problem by pinning her socks together before they were washed and dried. It turns out that grandmother has one of those sock-eating tumble dryers in her home.
I told Jersey Girl that I had discovered that the secret to safe-guarding socks from a mysterious and confusing shortage was to hang all washing on the line. It’s the absolute truth and no matter what you might say about the hassles of line drying, not only does it save money and energy, you don’t end up with solo socks whose mates have gone on walkabout deep into the Devil’s Triangle we call a tumble dryer.
Don’t believe me … I dare you to give it a try for a few weeks and see what you think. Oh, and don’t forget to check your energy bills at the end of the month to see what you saved, in addition to possibly your favorite pair of socks.
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This post was inspired in part by my fairly frugal husband John and his granddaughter Jersey Girl and also by Donna Freedman and the money-saving tips found at her new space here and her regular MSN Money home here.
Gifts Of The Journey 
Yaay for line drying….. and preserving our fragile environment.
I saw John’s grandaughter from afar whilst she was playing on the swings, with Grandad looking on….I’m pleased to hear she is into line drying, the only way to do washing proper!! See you soon x x x
I love hanging wash out to dry. Never particularly thought of it as a way to fix the lost sock problem..but will now be more attentive. Sweet girl!!!
Hi. I found your blog somehow – you inspired me to write a blog entry of how I do laundry – yay for racks and lines!!
Not only is it cheaper, and you don’t lose socks but the laundry smells so much better when hung outside on line
Love line drying except for towels. And thank you for the link to Donna Freedman’s blog, I’m always looking for ways to save.
We like it. Must get a washing line for JG in Jersey! R x
When we were staying in Taos, there was no dryer and I had to line dry. The clothes would dry in about 15 minutes on a sunny day as I was living 8400 feet up a mountain and the air was so dry…add in a little wind and I reduced the drying time by 2 minutes. Nothing smells as wonderful as line dried clothing and it is relaxing too…
I recall being on hanging up the wash duty as a kid. It took a while to dry, despite the heat, because of the humidity where we lived. My motherif there is a breeze, even the towels work out well.
sorry – escaped comment above..was going to say, my mother must hvae saved loads – and even towels seemed to work out OK if there was a breeze.
P.S. from Jill above – I never have been able to rescue all socks even with line drying : (
As a former Aussie I totally agree with line drying!!!
We only used dryers if it rained in winter for days and days and we needed our clothes!!
Cheers!
I addicted to hanging my laundry out. It is like a meditation and I miss it in the winter when I only hang the sheets on a clear day.