Believe it or not, I’ve owned my home for 7 years and have not had a washer & dryer. There is a laundromat down the street and for $1.75 I wash one load a week – that includes my husband’s clothes as well. When you have to carry your laundry, I think there is an incentive to really consider whether that shirt is dirty enough to go into the wash. Jeans can be worn several times. If you hang your towels out to dry in the sun, they don’t get that musty, icky smell after just a few uses. When you don’t have to save up coins to start the washing process, you probably don’t have much sense of what you are paying per load and that can lead to excessive use too.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine called me to say she was getting a new washer and dryer and wanted to give me her washing machine. Reuse is divine intervention! Her machine is only a couple of years old and is in good shape. So, I decided to go ahead and bring in a contractor to repipe our tiny mud room to insert the machine. I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about this new addition. But I worry that I will fall prey to the habit of throwing small loads in every few days just because I can.
You may be wondering why the dryer was not included. Well, we line dry our clothes in the spring, summer and fall. Living in California allows us to do this. And I don’t live in one of those communities that outlaws this practice, which I think is ridiculous. (Have you ever noticed how “quaint” clothing hanging on lines in European cities seems? People will take photos of the items strung from a high window across an alley way. But in America, it’s considered “trashy.”) In the rainy winter season, we hang the clothing on racks and place them over a couple of heat vents that we are already paying for. It might take a day or two but it saves money and energy. Installing a dryer meant permits, new circuit breakers, new gas lines, etc. So I decided it would be just fine to invite the washing machine into my life but to keep my solar-powered drying system.
So next week the wainscoting will be taken apart, the pipes will be enlarged, and I will be put to the test to see if I can stick to my one load a week discipline or not. What would it take for you to reduce your laundry to one load a week? If that seems impossible – how about reducing the number of loads by 50%? Give it a try. See where you might be going a little excessive. In these times, saving a little money and energy is a good thing.