Perfection, and laundry.
In the wintertime, I normally try and do a load or two of laundry every day, so that I can keep up with the line-drying. Since it's cold now(and wet too, often), I can't really use my outdoor clothesline, so I'm limited to using my two drying racks and hangers. Then too, in the wintertime there just is more laundry, especially since we're keeping our house so cold this winter. We're all usually wearing pants and at least two shirts, so we create a lot more laundry than we do in the summer. So, it's especially important that I do laundry regularly when it's cold out.
This last week, I skipped doing laundry for a couple of days due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and when Saturday rolled around, I faced the pile in the photo above. That's not an enormous amount of laundry if you're using the dryer, but that's a lot to try and air-dry. There were at least six pairs of adult jeans, and those alone would more than fill up my drying racks for 24 hours. So, I reminded myself that line-drying is not an all-or-nothing sort of thing, and I dried at least three whole loads of laundry in my dryer.
I thought I'd post about this because I didn't want you all to think that everything in my frugal life always works out perfectly...I get behind on laundry and have to use the dryer, I fail to plan properly and end up spending more on groceries than I want to, I get sick and tired and end up ordering pizza, and so on.
But, just because it doesn't always work out exactly the way I want it to, it doesn't mean I should quit trying. The fact of the matter is, I do manage to avoid using my dryer a lot of the time, I do save money by planning my menu and grocery list, and I do resist the urge to eat out more often than not.
Voltaire said that the perfect is the enemy of the good. In other words, all too often we quit trying something just because we can't do it perfectly which is silly, because doing something imperfect is better than not doing anything at all.
So, plan your menu, even if it's just some of the time. Air-dry some laundry, even if it's just a load here and there. Eat leftovers for lunch, even if it's just one time a week. Make meals at home as much as you can, and don't sweat it if you have to eat out sometimes. Because if you wait until you can do all that stuff perfectly, you'll never even get started.
I love that you air dry laundry too! I have a few clotheslines in my basement that I use to dry our clothes. I have found that using a dehumidifier helps tremendously with the clothes drying. You may want to check craigslist!
Your blog articulated one of the same things I struggle with - I can either work at it or I can give up because I'm not perfect enough. It's frustrating that my ambitions are bigger than my ability to execute, but there remains an awful lot of improvement that I have made to my life. Thanks for the reminder that perfection is not the end all.
Thank you for this post Kristen! Lately, I have been feeling quite overwhelmed by the amazing blogs I frequent. And with all the extra Advent/Christmas projects on top of regular duties. . . (sigh). I do have this fight with perfectionism and I really appreciate this post!
I'd never heard that quote by Voltaire, but isn't that the truth! We can get so thrown off by trying to get it "just right" that we stop doing it all together. Any step towards frugality/simplicity is worth it, I think...and if becomes a competition for you to succeed or fail at, you're probably missing the point. I struggle with this as well. Thanks for being real enough to talk about this.
One more way to save on winter cleaning bills.
We have enough underware to go 1 1/2 -2 weeks(that we change everyday), since we have 2 girls that don't get dirty very often, their outer clothes get worn many times.I also refuse to do laundry more than once a week, unless necessary. We encourage wearing aprons at home during the day while eating or doing housecleaning and crafts. No room for more than 1 indoor rack so the dryer is most always in use. No apologies given, just what we have to do. Your blog has been a real encouragement to the rest of my life, not just food waste and spending wisely. It is also the thought process of needs, wants, and desires. Thanks so much for sharing.
I have been dealing with this for a long time! I usually blame it on the fact that I live in an apartment and it is obviously not as easy to do certain things there (composting/gardening, also we have no recycling pickup).
The important thing is just to try your best, and that is exactly what I've been doing!
-JSC
Great post - thanks for the nudge to keep us going even when we want to throw the (washed, dried and folded) towel in! 😉
Great post; about not beating ourselves up. But I'm intrigued - how many people are in your household? There are two adults, 1 kid in our house and I don't need to use the machine daily. I notice that I'll do a load which consists of 80% dd's clothes, an outfit from dh and perhaps 4 pairs of knickers from me and a couple of pairs of socks. I just don't wash my clothes that often - am I skanky or do you have a large household??!! I make people re-wear things, esp if we're not going out for the day.........
Mrs. Green, there are six of us here...two adults, and four kids. So, that's where the large amounts of laundry come from! lol The kids do wear some of their clothes a couple of times before I wash them(as long as they're not too dirty), but my husband can't really wear his clothes twice to work(he needs to look neat and clean for his job).
Ah right - six people; that IS alot of laundry! Well, well done you for keeping on top of it without using a dryer most of the time; tha'ts fab 🙂
I have some hangers that have clips on them and I just hang my jeans on them to dry. The hook on the top of the hanger is deep enough that I can slip the hanger over my door trim molding so I usually have two or three pairs hanging in my closet door opening at a time. Works great for me!
I should probably get some of those. I do hang a lot of shirts to dry that way, but that would be a nice space-efficient way to hang jeans too!
I never thought of air drying in the winter. I don't have an outside clothes line either....there certainly are more ways I could be frugal. Greag Blog!
I have been line drying for years and only use the dryer to soften up the clothes. I live in Hawaii so I've had plenty of space to hang out side and no space to hang outside. Right now I can get away with hanging my towels on my outside lanai (balcony). I've also lived in Colorado during the winters and still hung my clothes! To solve the problem I hang a shower curtain rod over my washer/dryer (they sit between 2 walls). I use, what we call, Japanese dryers - Amazon has a small one called Clip and Dry. They are large rectangle, square or round plastic racks with clips and a hanger hook on the top. I can hang 10-15 shirts on one! They come in all sizes. I also put shower rods in bedroom doorways and use hangers to dry my shirts or the smaller hanging drying racks. I also use the shower rod in the bathroom as well. My family is use to having a laundry day and ducking under clothes to get into their room!
Okay, I am thrilled and happy that many can line dry. I love to line dry. But, I have a little draw back with this method. I live in an area that has a mill, and the air is not as clean as I would like. So, I do not have this option. Also, there is a lot of wood smoke in the air six to nine months of the year.
I use my dryer, no choice. But, I always wash in cold water, and add small amout of bleach if I feel the load needs it!
I am very careful to pull the clothes out before the drying cycle ends, so that the next load can go in quickly and still get some of the heat. There are so many small things that can be done to save energy time and money!!
Thank you so much for this post! I battle perfectionism, too, but I'm learning that by waiting until everything is done, clean, folded, put away, etc, I'm missing out on fun to be had with my babies and family and friends. I do the very best that I can, but I'm learning that the world will not stop turning if I have to use the dryer, order a pizza, or leave the bed unmade and toys on the floor every now and then.