clotheslines

during our two years in greece i loved hanging our laundry out on a clothesline. so ive started doing it here too. at first i didnt do it here because i thought our basement was too dark and humid.. and it is - in comparison to our 4th floor balcony in athens, where everything would be dry in 30 minutes or up to a few hours for the heavy stuff. but here, even though it takes a full day for the normal stuff and two solid days for the heavier stuff to dry out, i have started to appreciate line drying again. theres something about the feel of hung clothes.. maybe because theyre stiffer, and require less ironing (not that i ever do that, but its nice to not wear wrinkles!).. and theyre already half folded when you take them down.

i also started washing everything in cold too. now i keep a basket downstairs for HOT washes on things that really need it, in smaller loads. i did this in athens because i couldnt figure out the washing machine (haha... true confessions... but i later figured it out that the hot wash took like almost 2 hours and the cold was only 1/2 hour, so it was still easier)

so now im "going back to athens" in my laundering habits, and i feel great about it. its greener for the environment and my pocketbook too! especially if you factor in the extended life of the clothes themselves.