Turns out, I like washing dishes by hand. Instead of letting them pile up all day because I'm too busy to deal with them, it forced me to do them little by little. I have three minutes, I can fill up the sink and let them soak. 30 minutes later, I spend 5 minutes washing them and later on when Lucy is being clingy, we put them away together. Yes, because we eat a lot of snacks around here, I have to do that 4-6 times a day but I would rather do that then face a mountain of dishes at 8pm when I walk out of our bedroom having just put Lucy to sleep.
There have been a few times, like after I make a big meal, when it would be nice to have a dishwasher but those time I have Craig grab a towel. I just have to think of that as quality time together :-) Now that we have started planning our kitchen remodel, I'm trying to find a space to put a dishwasher which is not easy. Honestly, if it wasn't for resell purposes, I don't think I'd actually put one in.
And that isn't the only time that I've found I like doing going without the modern conveniences I thought I where necessary. I've always liked line drying my diapers but this spring, that was about the only thing I used my nice big clotheslines for other than a set of sheets once or twice. I always thought about taking the clothes outside but was lazy and would throw them in the dryer, always saying to myself "next time."
But my dryer must have gotten lonely and depressed while I was away because while it was working fine before I left for my parents, it wasn't when I got home. So for the past 2.5 weeks, I've been line drying everything. And I like it. Lucy plays nicely outside while I hang up/take down clothes and it works well with my system of laundry. I do one load a day (alternating clothes and diapers), starting it before Lucy's first nap, taking it outside to dry when she gets up before it is too hot out. I take it down after her next nap. I've timed it and it only takes me three minutes to take a load down so even if it is really hot out that day, I know I can survive three minutes. My lines can hold up to two loads so if I'm desperate for diapers, I can always throw a second load in. The only part I hate is shaking cicadas off my clothes but that should only be temporary.
One of the reasons I think I like doing things the slow way is that I don't really run short on time, I run short of Lucy free time. And doing things in little burst is easy with Lucy. Also, I feel like I accomplished more, or at least I cut myself some slack for not accomplishing other things. If I had a dishwasher and dryer, it might be easier to put myself down for "only" having done one load of laundry or cleaning the kitchen that morning.
I'm not giving up all modern conveniences and as soon as Craig finishes some higher priority things on my honey-do list, we'll see about fixing the dryer. But it is nice to know I could probably get by with less than I have and be just fine.
I'm looking forward to having a place to line-dry our diapers some day. I think it would be good for me to have to walk outside at least twice a day!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have a dishwasher in our old place and I didn't really miss it. That could be because I rinse to the point of washing before putting dishes in the dishwasher so there isn't much difference in work.
I go back and forth with my dryer. When it's 100 in May down here, I get a new burst of energy for line drying (well, rack drying on my deck)... stuff litterally dries as fast as it would in the drier. But towards the end of the summer I start to feel like I'm folding loads twice, granted they are pretty easy to fold once you pull them off the line/rack. The thing that got me this year (other than energy cost) was drier lint. I was reading in "Dining on a Dime" and she asked if your clothes ever started wearing thin... then she said, "Well, what do you think drier lint is?" EEK! It's true! I want to buy clothes less often, thank you. I think I'll fold more.
ReplyDeleteHave you determined an energy cost savings from not running the dryer? (Diaperwise, you would think that would be a savings.)
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of helping my mom hang clothes and sheets on the line. and when I was very small... running through the sheets as they billowed in the wind. (mom didn't like that so much, little kid all dirty from playing on the farm touching her nice clean sheets!!)
HA - Exactly! Most of the apartment dishwashers we had were awful so I had to spend as much time pre-rinsing it wasn't worth it - and I really only had to do dinner dishes. It wasn't until Lucy came that I started to depend on it - or so I thought.
ReplyDeleteSwindells - Maybe you could get a line at your new place. It seems easier to me doing it on a line instead of our old rack. The rack did make it feel like I was folding them to fit them all on it. But I do like folding them off the line outside instead of trying to find time later on. And I never even thought about dryer lint! I was actually worried that the sun would fade our clothes and wear them out sooner but so far that hasn't been the case.
TRS - I haven't but it would be nice to know. We were gone so much last month that I can't really compare the energy use between them and before that we weren't using a/c. Maybe I could have Craig figure it out with his mad math skills.