Yankee Ingenuity

My dryer broke early in the week. I think it's just a belt, but it's also very old and very inefficient. I'm almost embarrassed to say how long it takes to dry one load. Let's just say it's way more than sixty minutes - way more! Although, I will say the dryer was free. It was given to us after our last one died about two years ago so overall it's been great. Well, except for what it's been doing to our electric bill. As a result we will be buying a new inexpensive one once our tax return comes back. Yes, we have already filed our taxes. The joys of only having to wait for one W-2 form and not having a mortgage - no deductions.

So what does all that have to do with my title? This is how I've been drying laundry - one load a day....

My MIL just lent me a small drying rack so now I can do two loads a day. My washer is pretty small but that's okay as I don't have a ton of drying room either. I did break down and take all the towels to the laundromat yesterday. Scratchy towels are no fun at all.

Now let me share something about my childhood. I am one of five children so needless to say there was a lot of laundry generated in our home. My mother never had a dryer until just a few years ago. That meant in the summer all of the laundry (scratchy towels included) were hung out to dry. In the winter my mother had a huge drying rack that held a couple of loads of laundry. Some were hung on clothes hangers (like in my photo) and hung in the bathroom to dry. We had forced hot air that came up through large grates in the floor. The rack would stand over the grate and she could easily dry 3-4 loads a day. She was also great about rotating things. Obviously jeans and such took longer to dry but I am still amazed she did this for all those years. I already can't wait to get my dryer back!