Wednesday 24 October 2012

Shopping and scanning etc

I did OK with this the first week and everything was duly zapped before it was put away, but I picked up some fresh food yesterday when I was shopping for the chapel Harvest Supper, and before I knew it, all the shopping was stashed away and I had completely forgotten to zap any of it!  Botheration......but I know we will be going to Morrison's on Sunday so we can have a zapping session when we get to the caravan!

My frugal laundry strategy is being severely challenged with this dull and mild weather which we are having at the moment.  The washing is not getting dry fast enough in the verandah because there is no sunshine to warm the verandah up and "bake" the washing dry.  The woodburner is getting some of it dry on airers, but they don't get put close to the fire until it is dying because otherwise they obstruct the FH's view of the TV.  Time for a room re-arrangement?

The trouble at the moment is that the washing is piling up faster than I have room to dry it....answers to the challenge?  Well, I could get more airers made, I suppose, so that I can hang more of it on them and use them in the verandah as well as near the fire.  The FH could probably make some more, but it may be cheaper to buy those plastic ones rather than the wood to make wooden ones.  I'll look into that.

I have been sorely tempted by the lakeland heated airer, but at nearly £90, I shall be thinking more than twice about that.  I am resisting temptation and looking for more frugal methods first.

Doing less washing would be another option, but actually, we are pretty good here at not washing everything after using or wearing it just the once!  We do have to challenge the girls over towels occasionally - a towel doesn't need to be washed just because it is damp from having been used as a turban on wet hair, but it would seem that sometimes it is easier to lob it into the washing basket than it is to hang it up to dry on the rack!  They are learning, though.

I have to say that I am really looking forward to the cold snap which is forecast for these next few days as the clearer skies will mean that the sun will shine on the verandah and the temperature will rise in there!  Time to get the washing machine going, and make the most of the opportunity, I think.


6 comments:

Bryallen said...

I am looking forward to the cold weather. I just want to have the right weather for the right season, why is that so hard this year?? :)

Yeah, 90 quid seems like a lot to splurge, but it's so difficult drying clothes in winter! We don't even use the big oven very often (we have a mini one as there's only two of us), so the kitchen doesn't really heat up very much. Whenever I hang out clothes, the clouds come rolling in and they're wetter than they started!

New rule: no-one's allowed to get clothes dirty! :) Washing problem sorted!

Gill - That British Woman said...

Have you thought about one of those airer's that hang from the ceiling?

http://www.ceilingclothesairers.com/

Gill

Bryallen said...

P.S. I just tagged you in one of those answer-some-questions-about-yourself games on my blog. Silly but fun use of time! :) http://the-frugal-graduate.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/getting-to-know-you-and-me.html

Sue said...

I was nearly tempted by the Lakeland heated airer too, but commonsense prevailed and I simply put a few hooks up unobtrusively around the house, now if there's a room we are not using for a while there is a line of washing hanging indoors to dry!!

It is a problem at this time of year though.

Sue xx

Lesley said...

I have three airers dotted around the house, which just about does us. Don't be tempted to buy a "value" airer, mine just buckles under the weight!

Morgan said...

@Bryallen - no getting clothes dirty - that would be brilliant! Some hope, though!

@Gill - I had two of those when I lived in Scotland - Victorian high ceilinged house, and I had them in the bathroom, which was huge. No room for them here, and the ceilings are not high enough - we'd be slapped on the face with wet washing every time we tried to duck under one. They are excellent, though, and I do wish I had them again!

@Sue - glad you found something that works for you. I'm now thinking about using some of those little radiator airers but over the tops of the doors - we never close doors here, so that might work, and we have three of them to try out already.

@Lesley - good point - thanks for sharing that. The two I have are very sturdy wooden ones which the FH made years ago, so I think I have probably been spoiled!