I don’t know what has gotten into me lately. Maybe I’m just sick of crying about oil-slicked birds and feeling like I’m still conducting my life with all the same habits. I rent, so there are big limits to how many changes I can make to my housing itself. But in the last week I started catching all the greywater I can inside. The cleaner water goes in one of the toilet tanks. The dirtier, like the first dunk basin from dishwashing, goes to water plants outside. Catching all the water and trying to do something with it has made me extra-conscious of how much water I was wasting. And I’ve been turning the tap off while brushing, bird-bathing alternate days, letting it mellow, and so on for years now.
Listening to the washing machine fill up and drain itself over and over today drove me nuts. It probably used as much water as I have all week on other stuff. I almost bought a Wonderwash back in 1998, but was on a really tight budget and didn’t ever get it. I’ve asked to be put on the waiting list for one when they are back in stock. For a household of one, it seems about perfect. AND it will be impossible for me to pull my favorite trick of forgetting about the wet clothes in the washer until they smell gross and need to be washed again.
Soapnuts are also on the way, along with a bunch of other stuff: olive oil, tea, sea salt, essential oil, and some spices from Mountain Rose Herbs. I was really impressed with their site and their prices are amazing. It almost makes me suspicious… I’m half expecting to receive a box of shredded paper instead of the stuff I ordered.
The clothes dryer is a horrid energy suck and it slowly erodes your clothes, so my weekend project—aside from taking recycling out, sleeping, and thinking about the other things I should be doing—was to figure out a system/space for air-drying my laundry. All of my laundry. No one in this neighborhood line dries their clothes outside. I’m not sure of the home-owner’s association policy on that. ((I did notice today that three townhouses on the way to the recycling bin have rain barrels for rainwater reclamation. Given the horrid erosion going on around here, I think the HOA should mandate installation on every unit. Anyway, that’s also something I’ve been thinking about and it was encouraging to see precendent in the neighborhood.)) More importantly, ((It’s Carrboro, after all… Is anyone really going to lose a fight in the right to dry their clothes on a line here?)) almost all my clothes are black and I don’t want them fading in the sun.
I have one collapsible wooden freestanding drying rack, but it is flimsy and good mainly for things like tights and long socks. I was looking at the Laundry Lift, but it seemed a bit pricy and complicated. Plus, I’d need help installing it. But I’m not currently smooching anyone, and the thought of trying to fit in my bathroom with someone I’m not smooching to install it over the tub did not sound like good times. And I’d have to wait for it to arrive. And I was already disappointed that Weaver Street Market did not have soapnuts. ((I swear I saw them there once. Along with some of those wool dryer balls…)) So I sat around like Pooh going “Think, think, think,” until my eyes fell upon the shower curtain rod.
AH-HA. Tension rods. One trip to Lowe’s ((I don’t think I saved much money, but I got my instant gratification… and finally some small CFL bulbs for the vanity in the bathroom and some of the hanging fixtures.)) and I was set:
Smaller things hang on 36-48 inch rods over the laundry hamper and trash can.
Bigger things hang on three shower curtain rods: above the tub, between tub and toilet, and across the sink area.
I feel like I'm going to run into a witch offering me Turkish Delight every time I have to go to the bathroom...
Now, I’m glad no one else will be here in the middle of the night when I get up in the wee hours of the morning to go to the bathroom, walk into a hanging towel, and screech.
Now, please please please let me get my job permanently so I can feel ok about buying a bike.
