Clothesline Questions Answered

Here are a few of my most common clothesline questions answered for you:

#1 - How much does it cost to dry a load of clothing in the dryer for 1 hour?

Ok, this one takes some calculation, but here we go: 

The average electric clothes dryer burns 6000 watts per hour of use (check yours for a more accurate figure).  Our cost per kwh (kilowatt hour) for electricity from October to May is 8.928 cent per kwh (7.227 base rate + 1.701 fuel charge), From June through September the base rate is 8.330 making the total 10.031per kwh.  So, the 6000 watt per hour dryer is burning 6kwh.   In the summer, that equals 60.186 cent per hour and in the winter that is 53.568 cent per hour.  Now, let's assume your family only creates 1 load of laundry per week.  That equals $4.21302 per week in summer and $3.74976 in winter.  That is $205.18 per year!

Of course that is only if your family creates 7 loads of laundry per week, and if each load only runs for 1 hour.  You will have to adjust your calculation based on your family's use to figure out the cost. 

There are a couple of things that figure doesn't include.  For instance, in the summer, the heat from the dryer makes you house hotter so that your AC has to work harder.  In the winter, the extra heat from the dryer is helpful, so it costs a couple of cent less. Another thing - How many of you turn the dryer on "for just a couple of minutes" to de-wrinkle your already dry clothes?    that 'just a minute' is usually about 20 minutes and repeates itself because most of us don't even get the clothes out then, so we do it all over again.


#2 - I don't like the stiff feeling clothes get on the clothesline.

First of all, be thankful that you did not live 60 years ago when no one had a dryer.  Secondly, that stiff feeling goes away after about 5 minutes of wear.

There are a couple of practical solutions to this problem.  One is to take clothes off the line when they are just slightly below dry (very slightly below) and put them in the dryer for 5 minutes (set a timer so you don't forget), and your clothes will not feel line dried at all.  Another option is  to add some fabric softener to your load.  My husband likes Gain and so we use it - of course I only use half the recommended amount, but it still does the trick.

#3 - How much does it cost to put up a clothesline?

Mine was about $25, but I also went ahead and got the green line that is a piece of wire coverend in green plastic.  It is heavy duty and has no problem holding up my laundry.  The cotton line dry rots and breaks after a couple of months

All in all, lines cost as much as you want to put into them.

#4 - That's a lot of work.

Hogwash.  It takes between 5-10 minutes to hang a load of laundry on the line, and 2 to take it down.

#5 - But how about those new 'high efficiency dryers' that don't use as much electricity?

Look at the price tag, they cost a lot more.  There is no way they save money.

#6 - I don't have the time, I have 6 children.

If you have 6 children, then you have children old enough to train how to help you.  A 6 year old can help with the laundry.  My 4 year old is able to help with laundry somewhat.

#7 - I work full-time so it doesn't fit into my schedule.

I have always found this reason to be interesting.  Partly because I have heard it from people who are 'out shopping', or always doing leisure activities.  Take horseback riding for example.  If you have time to care for and ride one of those creatures, then you most certainly have time to hang your clothes out.  Of course if you're in debt and have horses, send me an email so we can discuss how to prioritize and the difference between wants and needs.  Same thing with golf, going to a weight watchers meeting, reading trash novels, sitting on your bum in the sun doing nothing, etc.

#8 - It's not good for your clothes.

Air drying is best for your clothes.  It's the hanging part that some clothing can't tolerate, so there will be some things best to lay flat to dry.  But that is the case whether you use a line or the dryer - there will always be things too delicate for a dryer.  Another thing is that a high heat dryer actually wears your clothes out faster becuase it shrinks fabrics and pulls at the stiches.

#9 - What do you do about all the lint

Lint is not a big problem with line drying becuase there is no heat and tumbling around creating lint to begin with.  The little bit of lint created can easily be removed with a 3 inch pull of duct tape.  I have only had to resort to this maybe 3 times, ever.

#10 - I don't want to

Now this is an honest response.  No excuses, no nothing.  Just an honest "I don't want to".  Okay, so keep looking around and find another way to save money, there are plenty of options out there.

But if you find yourself in debt still or getting worse, send me an email so we can talk.

Mineral Oil

This is great stuff.  If you have a wooden cutting board, you use a little of it once a month to keep your wood moisturized and smooth.  However, you can use it on other things to.  For instance, I have some pampered chef bamboo utensils.  After a few months, the nice satiny finish begins to wear down leaving it looking dry.  So, give all of your bamboo a nice bubbly spa bath (in your sink), and towel it dry.  After you towel it dry, allow it to air dry for a while too just to make sure.  Then, rub it with a very thing layer of mineral oil.  I used a small piece of parchment to do this since it doesn't absorb the oil.  After you rub down each piece, go back to the first tool you rubbed down, and buff for a few seconds with a clean towel to remove any excess oil.  Then store as usual.  If the suface is rough at all, sand it a couple of minutes first with a very fine grain sandpaper.

If this sounds time consuming or boring, then just do in when your sitting in front of the TV not moving anyway.  You'll never notice the time was spent doing something constructive.

The Big Deodorant Review

Okay, first of all, thank you Stacie for reminding me to review the deodorant!

I tried 6 things to replace my chemical laden deodorant and they were:

1. powdering a clean pit with baking soda
2. spritzing a clean pit with rubbing alcohol
3. Powdering a clean pit with baking soda after spritzing it with the alcohol
4. Spritzing a clean pit with a mix of 1/2 and 1/2 rubbing alcohol and body splash
5. powdering a clean pit with baby powder after spritzing with alcohol
6. the solid crystal deodorant

And the winner was:  (drumroll please)

#6 - the solid crystal deodorant

Here is why:

All 6 of the options actually did really well, to be honest.  I really didn't think they would, but they did.  All of the options took care of the stink and #4 would actually emit a bit of the perfume scent.  But during this experiment I realized that I have really sensitive pits.  I actually had discovered this a couple of years ago, but at that time I just switched to Dove deodorant because of all of the moisturizers, and that took care of it, so I had to rediscover this again.  So to give you pros:

1. easy, no odor
2. easy, no odor
3. easy, no odor
4. easy, no odor, light fragrance emitted
5. easy, no odor, light baby powder scent emitted
6. easy, no odor, easily portable, non irritating, no residue or powder to get on clothing

Now cons:

1. scouring effect on pit if you forget to rinse before you wash
2. irritating after a shave
3. combo of the two above problems
4. no real cons here, the body splash has aloe to stop irritation
5. also no real cons, the powder took care of the irritation
6. none, well maybe initial cost for the stick (about $5)

I went with the crystal stick after reading many reviews on it, and realizing that it would not cake under my pits with activity, there was no residue or powder to get onto my clothing, it kept my pits drier feeling for longer and the whole dry solid portability factor versus taking a liquid or powdered item that may spill (if you knew my kids you would get it!)

So, I forked over the $5, but it takes a lot longer to use up the solid crystal than the regualar stick Dove which was 3.60.  So, I'm happy, and I'll come back to it again one day and let you just how long it took to use it up.

I'm also still doing the shampoo, and by the way, the low sudsing thing is a non issue after the mix has time to sit and blend, because then it suds like crazy!

Really? Another 14%!?!?!?!?

I received a letter in the mail a few days ago from the power company.  They are raising our rates another 14%.  Now, the letter states that they haven't raised our rates in years, but 2 years ago, instead of 'raising rates', they tacked on an 18% fuel charge to our tab.  Same thing to me because my bill still goes up regardless.  Nickel and dime, nickel and dime us to death.

Anyway, now I have to come up with a 14% deduction on our other bills to make up the difference - I'm gonna have to think on it, but the first three items I have the most influence over are power useage, food cost and gas consumption.  Boy, I have some work to do!

Proofing Bread

I am a breadmaker, and by that I mean that I make bread several times a week.  I can honestly say that so far in 2010 my family has not eaten commercial bread except for hot dog and hamburger buns - Partly because when i made my hot dog buns, my dough didn't rise for a looooong time and I ran out of time and had to buy some.

Anyway, I used to use the 'proofing bread' setting on my oven from time to time to control the temp so that my dough would rise properly, but now I use a different method.  Instead of leaving my oven on for 1 hour at the proofing bread temp, I just turn my oven on at 350 for 2 minutes and then shut if off.  The oven gets warms enough without geting hot, and the stays warm long enough to get the job done!  and of course it uses less electricity.

Stockpiling

This is a newer thought for me, and I mean stockpiling as being a more intense effort than 'stocking up'. Our economy is not better than it was just 6 months ago, and I have been thinking that it may be wise of me to create a stockpile in case of even more difficult times, especially since we are a single income family.

Creating a stockpile does not need to take up a ton of space nor a big investment. For our family, I plan to dedicate just $5 a week to creating our stockpile. I plan on placing the items in different places around the house, like in the back of closets or in other storage areas where the items will #1 be out of the way, and #2 not be used just as routine items. I also will list them items (like a log or an inventory) of where the items are, what they are, how many and the expiration date (so I can rotate items out seasonally and nothing goes bad).

As a side note, does anyone know how I can post any of my listing/recording keeping documents to share - I can't figure it out.

Frugal Friday

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade . . . . Who hasn't heard that one?

My household is going down by 7.5% due to payroll cuts at hubby's job (hey - at least he still has one). So, I need to cut my variable expenses by about 10% to compensate. That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you already are trying to be frugal to keep costs low, an additional 10% can be a real challenge. So that's it - a frugal challenge

10 ways I can cut 10% off my variable expenses:

1. turn down the thermostat about 3 degrees
2. eat more beans & rice
3. negotiate a trade for services (the lady that cuts our hair like my homemade poundcake so instead of money I give her a cake in exchange for haircuts - makes our hair cheap to maintain), I wonder if the man down the road with hens would trade cake or bread for eggs?
4. increase my use of the crockpot instead of the oven or range
5. do I really need half and half for my coffee or can I get by with milk?
6. discover more ways to cook chicken and ground beef since I have a ton of both
7. cut out all prepackaged food (I generally keep a few things around in case of emergency so we didn't have to order out - but I guess this emergency means I won't buy any more)
8. stay away from the stores - why even bother going if you don't have the moolah to spend
9. more pb&j for lunch and less grilled cheese
10. try to go meatless 2 days a week instead of 1

I welcome other ideas. I already make homemade bread, pancakes, waffles, sauces, etc. I also use my clothesline and make homemade laundry soap and my own household cleaners.

What's a mommy to do?

Using Energy

This is probably going to be a redundant thing to most moms, but let's just say that sometimes I'm a little bit behind. Anyway, I realized today, while getting the things together for roasting some chicken leg quarters, and making some white rice to go with it - instead of roasting the chicken in the oven, and cooking the rice on the stove or in the microwave, why don't I put the rice and other rice cooking ingredients in a dish with a lid (like a corning ware or pyrex type dish), put the lid on and stick it in the oven with the chicken. This way instead of using electricity for the chicken and gas for the rice, I use the same amount of electricity for both the chicken and the rice at the same time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Better late than never :)