Outdoor Laundry

When we moved into the house in September one of the things I was excited about was being able to hang laundry outside to dry. Mr. Ramon thought it was very amusing that I requested a clothes line. In almost every home I lived in we dried our clothes outside in the warmer months. I love the smell of grass and sun on the clothes - so warm and fresh. Sheets were my favorite. Hard like boards but so soft and sweet when you climb in at night. 

Hanging clothes saves money on energy to run the dryer. We are using so much more water with the garden it is nice to cut back somewhere. 

I started with a folding clothes rack from Ikea that worked really well inside over the winter and great on my porch this spring and summer so far. I used it for delicates and dark cloths. But I really wanted an actual line outside. It slipped my mind for a couple of months until I was in Lowe's picking up some light bulbs for the store. I wandered down the cleaning tools isle - no surprise there and found a retractable clothes line by Minky. I purchased the clothes line and a bag of classic clothes pins. 

The Minky I bought is the 49-ft Retractable Clothes Reel. It gets great reviews online. I love that is closes up to be out of the way and can easily be brought inside for storage in the winter if needed. It has these benefits and features. 

• Easy to use fully retractable outdoor clothes line offers 49' of line drying space
• Weather-resistant, stable protective casing
• Unique mounting bracket allows reel to be removed when not in use
• Used to dry clothes indoors and in outdoor backyards
• Stows neatly away when not in use
• Wipe clean PVC coated line
• Plastic housing with metal mounting bracket

It was easy to hang only requiring 3 screws. I was able to hang clothes on it right away. 

Here is my first line of clothes. I took them down dry and summer smelling today. I am really excited to save the use of the dryer for things that really need to be dried. 

This type of clothes line could fit almost anywhere - even inside. I urge you to let nature dry and freshen your clothes this summer!

the joys of laundry

Growing up we did not have a lot of money. When you don't have a lot you tend to take real good care of what you do have. I learned from a young age how to do laundry - from simple sorting and washing of clothes to the details of ironing a mens shirt piece by piece. These chores became weekend rituals and I found peace in them then and still do today.

Laundry is one of my favorite household chores. It is one of the most gratifying tasks that leaves you with warm piles of folded clothes and towels smelling fresh. Taking a pile of wrinkled clothes - ironing and hanging them seems to restore order and say - we are ready to take on the world.

Call me crazy! But I love it!

I also love products - so I am always on the hunt for new, exciting products that can help me get my clothes clean as well as make as little impact as possible on the earth.

This new laundry soap by Method is so amazing - the tiny little bottle so easy to have around and if you are schlepping to a laundry mat this is o-so portable. Very, very concentrated only using 4 pups for an entire load of laundry. My clothes came out clean and smelling fresh. If you have not tried it I say give it a whirl.