I have tried for nearly a full year to do without a dryer. I have frozen fingers and waited six weeks for a dry day to dry my laundry outside. I have had underthings hanging all over my laundry room and sun room to try and keep my carbon footprint low, but today I have had it.
First off, my toilet overflowed… (yes, here it is appropriate to say “gross!”) and I didn’t realize this for several hours (Ewww!). During these lapsed hours the “overflow” saturated a good chunk of my bedroom carpeting. It took EVERY towel in the house to sop up the bathroom floor and affected carpeting. I ran a load of laundry but it is WET outside, and cold and neither of these two things look to be changing soon. I broke down and did not only a load of wet icky towels, but also a load of jeans, swear shirts and pants. Then, I headed to the laundry mat.
I also cranked my heat to 70, hoping that the heat (without the humidifier) would help dry the carpet. I am roasting – way too hot in here – trying to fix this problem.
I tried… and I am weak. I throw up my hands and say “that’s enough!” I want to live in the land of the indulgent again. Screw the environment! I don’t have children… I don’t care if there is a planet for them to live on once I drop dead.
It’s almost 4:30 – I think I will fix myself a drink and try to forget this day.
In an emergency – and that’s what an overflowing toilet creates – it’s not bad to deal with things differently! I’m glad you were able to get it cleaned up and hope your carpet dries quickly. As far as from here on out, only you can decide whether the non-dryer struggle is worth it. Maybe you need to find some balance, using the dryer if it takes 6 weeks otherwise to be able to do laundry.
Sometimes I make less than green choices but I try to keep the big picture in mind and actually look at the impact of my choices. I also have no kids, I drive far less than most Americans, I eat a low-carbon diet… All in all, my impact is already low. Using the dryer if it’s rained for a solid two weeks is not going to make or break the planet.
Go have a nice drink!
I really like the way my clothes smell when they have hung on the line. I imagine that even when I do get a dryer – and I am pretty convinced I am going to do that now – I will still hang during the nice weather. We had almost six weeks of rain during and around October.
I guess I just need to be able to handle emergencies without making myself more crazy. Ending up at the laundry mat with the tv blaring the “Maury Show” (and feeling the brains in my head drain from the show) about sent me over the edge.
The drinks and a new day help the perspective a little.
I used all the clean dry towels a second time to sop more out of the carpet and today I will go get a carpet cleaner to shampoo and sop up the liquid. Tomorrow when I help a friend with a project, I will use her dryer.
I planned to tile the laundry room this weekend – but it doesn’t appear that that will happen. I will wait until it is tiled before bringing in a dryer.
I read your riot reduction achievements with great admiration. Still, I think every person has to constantly evaluate and weigh all the good things they want to bring about in their life. And SURELY one of those things is taking care of and feeling good about yourself. I am very much an environmentally conscious person, but I am now in my 70s and I take care of a very ill partner. If I were to try to do without a dryer, given the need sometimes to have wet stuff dry now, I know I would fail at my other major duty of maintaining a household as a major caregiver. I think that what is really important here is that people keep the earth and its future fully before their minds as they go about living their short and challenging life. For me, then, its got to be faithfully recycling, making as many green choices as I can, never needlessly buying something or throwing away a thing that works ok just because I am tired of it. Giving gifts that are donations to environmentally friendly NFP orgs. Stuff like that. Be proud of your many achievements, Alexah, and take the breaks you need to take.