Laundry Woes

My laundry woes never seem to end.  Don't get me wrong - I'm thankful for a washer and dryer and detergent and whatnot.  In fact, I think I'm even more thankful for those blessings than I would be if I didn't have recurring laundry woes!

For example, this morning, I went to take the socks and underwear out of the dryer and change my clothes load into the dryer.  Then, the dryer wouldn't turn on.  It made a really loud ERRRRR noise and wouldn't stay on unless I held the "push here to start' button down.  Even if I had the time to stand there holding a button down, it wouldn't have mattered, because after about thirty seconds it quit anyway.

But not to worry!  I have my trusty laundry racks (left).  I used these things every day in our previous apartment where we didn't have a washer or dryer and couldn't always afford to go to the laundromat.  Instead, I washed all our laundry in the bath tub.  It worked, though I think it contributed to the icky mold in the tub.  It typically took me about two hours all told - filling the tub with water over and over, stomping and swishing the clothes in the water, rinsing over and over and over again, then wringing each piece dry individually (while sitting on the edge of the bath tub, leaned over at an awkward and increasingly painful angle).  It was a lot of fun, lemme tell ya.

Through all that, I worked out a good system for using my drying racks.  First, I hang all the shirts up on hangers:

If I didn't do that, I wouldn't be able to dry nearly as many clothes at once.  I also learned to smooth out the collars and cuffs since they wouldn't be fluffy from the dryer.  I'll still have to iron them, but the pre-shaping helps that job go much faster.

I also learned to turn a fan on them:

Yup, just this little - but powerful - fan can decrease the drying time from several days (it's really humid here) to just an overnight.  I like to move it around so all the clothes get a breeze.  I also turn on the ceiling fan, which I'm sure helps.

Now, all I need to do is figure out a way to wash (and, more importantly, dry) several loads of towels and table linens before Friday night.  Hmmm....