FRUGAL FRIDAY

It is so hot where we live that our A/C is running much of the time although I have it set pretty high. Luckily, my husband and I don't mind it being somewhat warm in our house. However, all this heat has made energy consumption sky rocket in our area this past week or so. That set me to thinking about all the ways I might save energy around the house.

*For starters I don't put my hot car in the garage when I come home during the day, but I leave it out on the driveway until it has cooled off in the evening.
*I hang my clothes outside to dry rather than allowing my clothes dryer to put more hot air into our already high temperatures.
*I am hand washing my dishes (like we did in Chaco Canyon--no dishwasher there) and letting them air dry. That way I don't have the dishwasher running for a long period using up water and electricity.
*I shut down my computer at night to save energy.
*I unplug recharge cords for phone and camera the minute I finish recharging those items because I understand that those cords left plugged in still use energy even though they are not connected to anything.
*I unplugged all our electrical appliances, lamps, computers, TVs and clocks while we were gone on our trip, AND I ran our thermostat up several degrees.
*I only run the washing machine when I have a full load of clothes to wash and I use the cold water setting when I wash.
*I keep the shades closed on the sunny side of our house.

I am trying to pay attention to our energy consumption so that I can live more efficiently. If you have any suggestions, please pass them on!

Quirk #1 - Hanging Clothes Outside to Dry

1. I LOVE to hang my clothes outdoors to dry even though my husband claims that his underwear is "crunchy" when it comes in all fresh smelling off the clothesline.

A long time ago when two of our boys were babies my husband was in graduate school and we rented a house with a Maytag washer (that we bought for $5 dollars from the owners) but no dryer, so I hung the clothes and the endless cloth diapers out on the line. This was in Illinois and it worked well until the first freeze and the diapers and other clothes froze on the line. At that point I strung a clothes line all over our wash room that also contained the heater for our house and dried the clothes that way. Finally, we picked up a used dryer for $10 and that ended my winter problem. However, I still enjoyed hanging the clothes out to dry in the summer.

When we moved back to Texas I had a clothes line and used it during the summer. By that time we had added two more boys to the family so we still had numerous diapers to dry. It always seemed easier to be outside with the boys in the back yard and hang up the clothes at the same time.

Once the boys were out of diapers I still hung my clothes outside because I had established over-the-fence friendships with the neighbor behind us and the neighbor next door. Both women were older and had great words of wisdom to pass on to me as they watched our family grow up in the back yard.

Nowadays I can hardly wait until the spring pollens are gone (that yellow oak pollen RUINS whites!) and then I begin my summer ritual of hanging clothes outside. There are four reasons I still hang clothes outside: 1) I hope I am saving energy and dollars by doing this, 2) the dryer is not blowing more hot air into the already intense Texas heat, 3) the dryer is not killing my plants by blowing heat onto my garden through the vent in the backyard, and 4) I LOVE to be outside in my little retreat spot where the clothesline is--where I can look up into the opening between the trees and watch the intense blue of the sky or the clouds scudding across the opening or the sunset turning the sky delicious colors in the evening.

Write about something that you LOVE to do!