It sounds horrible, but it really isn't that bad. Just about everyone here line dries their clothes. Anyone with a yard has clothes hanging in it and most windows you pass have clothes hanging in them.
(On a side note, our washer is currently out of commission while a new part is being ordered and so we've had to take our items to the laundromat across the street. I asked how much the dryer costs to use and I was told £5 per 10 minutes. It would cost a small fortune to dry an entire load of laundry!!)
Since we use cloth diapers, we have even more laundry to hang than the average family. We're making it work for now, but I think we'll both be grateful when we're able to upgrade to a place with an American style clothes dryer!
In the meantime, our clothes situation will drastically improve when we receive our container shipment tomorrow. We shipped our things mid-March and have each had only one suitcase of clothes for the past two months! Poor Jason had to use most of his suitcase to pack work clothes and has been surviving on three t-shirts to wear in the evenings and on the weekends. As I continue to drop my baby weight (woo hoo!) fewer and fewer of the items I packed fit. I feel like I'm wearing the same thing just about every day. As for Charlotte, she has already outgrown about half of what I packed for her. (I still can't believe she's already wearing 6-9 month sizes!)
WE had something called a "closet dryer" I have seen it in small appliance store for around 200 pounds. It was a life saver expecially in the wet rainy months when nothing dries. It vents out the front so there are no venting tubs needing in the house. In the summer, we put it in the back door so it would vent outside. It was however very small, but it would be perfect to dry Charlotte's diapers. I would put half the load in the dryer for ten minutes to fluff them up before line drying them. (a full load won't fit...at least won't dry and de-wrinkle) I also dried my towels in there so they wouldn't be stiff as carboard! There are also racks that hang off of your heaters around the house that are perfect for socks and undies :)
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Ireland for a year, many years ago, our first trip to the laundromat was so traumatic that I had an asthma attack. After that I did all the wash for the three of us in the kitchen sink. This turned out to be way less awful than you would think, and far less awful than the laundromat experience. There were no diapers, of course, as Rebecca had been toilet trained for about six years by then. Getting things dry, as you say, was another issue. One day, I had things hanging out in the back garden and was walking towards town, thinking, "My clothes must be just dry now. How lovely that there has been a little spate time without any rain." As that very thought was in my head, a big drop plashed on my face. I turned around and ran home to bring in the finally dry things before the rain really started.
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