My New "Line"

Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Doing laundry in our apartment is a little different than doing laundry at home. There are some similarities and there are differences. For example, the washing machine is a front-loader like mine at home with a similar drawer for adding detergent. I have several choices for the water temperature and type of clothes (permanent press, delicate, etc.) But it is at about this point the differences begin. The washer is much smaller than the one I have at home and there is no clothes drying machine.
I have two methods for drying clothes, both of which require the use of clothespins. I’m old enough to remember using clothespins. Elizabeth has only rarely seen them used for clothes. She has mainly seen them used for crafts. One of my two drying methods involves a string and pulley system in the laundry room. It allows me to lower a rod that is a little longer than one meter long on which I can place the wet clothes and then pull the rod back toward the ceiling and out of the way. I have six of these rods in the laundry room. When the clothes are hung on the rods and raised, there is another string to pull against the back wall that starts a small vent fan which helps to pull the damp air from the room. The second method for drying clothes is similar but more portable. I have a folding frame of “strings”.
The legs of the frame are similar to ironing board legs in that they fold flat when not needed. The top consists of a hinged, rectangular frame. The center of the frame has seven coated wires that run the length of the rectangle. On each of the short sides of the rectangle are two “wings” that fold out with six coated wires on each wing that run the width of the rectangle. This framework can be set up inside the apartment (probably will do that in winter) or on the balcony to allow the clothes to dry in the sun and fresh air. The great advantage to this system is that all our clothes smell wonderful! No fabric softener or dryer sheet can match the smell of clothes dried in fresh air. The down side to both drying methods is, of course, time. It just takes time to allow things to dry—even with a breeze. As a consequence, I will be doing laundry more often, in smaller batches, and possibly even ironing!