Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Clothesline

I love my clothesline. Sly built if for me a few years back for my birthday. While it may sound silly to some, I think of it as the best birthday gift he ever gave me. He built it with his own two hands, it saves money and energy, and it leaves my clothes smelling fresh and clean.

I honestly believe that anyone who wants to save money should invest in a clothesline. While these figures are a bit out of date, they do illustrate the cost associated with clothes dryers, "it cost 44 cents per hour to operate [your clothes dryer] based on 9 cents per KWH" (kilo watt hour). See The Complete Tightwad Gazette. In addition to saving money on electric and gas (I have a gas dryer), air drying your clothes will help your clothes to last longer, thus saving money on the NEED for new clothes (a clothesline does little for the desire for new clothes). Where do you think all that fuzz in your lint trap comes from? It is the damaged fibers of your clothes.

People who are concerned about their carbon footprint should invest in a clothesline as well. The clothesline is the purest example of solar and wind energy there is! The use of the clothesline is totally free in terms of cost and environmental impact.

Lastly, the clothesline makes your clothes smell wonderful, fresh, and clean. It is pleasant to be outside on a nice sunny day hanging clothes. I hear birds singing, see children playing, and feel the grass between my toes (I almost never wear shoes in the summer). It is a wonderfully relaxing, mindless activity with positive, practical results (like knitting).

I know, it is a silly thing to get all mushy over, but I just love using my clothesline. Also, all I have are boring WIPs and no FOs at the moment, so a knitterly post seemed lame.

Happy Knitting!

3 comments:

Mauren Mureaux said...

Pssst, is it your birthday?

Anonymous said...

i'm totally with you on your ode to the clothesline. Altho we don't have a line, we do have tree's we hang everything on, a deck, and mom recently bought these foldable upright racks to hang clothes on outside. People in college thought iw as nutzo for haning wet things outside to dry (when i lived in houses not the dorm!) and they do smell nice!
Altho my mom used to pin notes to the oooogly sweater that would say i'm so ugly i scare the birds away! when it was haning outside!

erin said...

i've lost my clothesline, since we tore down the pool. (one end was anchored to the pool deck) We moved in 6 years ago and didn't buy a dryer until 3 and half years ago. I miss it now that it is gone.