My awesome sister-in-law Mook (yes that was her you saw in the comments) and I have been having a conversation about dryers all day today. The conversation started out of yesterday's post about diapers. I would have to own a whole lot more diapers than I do, to live without a dryer. That is because the diapers we use would take days to air dry. In any case, this post isn't about diapers anymore...it's about my thang... the dryer.
I tried to live without a dryer for a while. That was in 2006/2007 when my husband and I were living together in a tiny (yes, it was 35 sq m/377 sq ft) little apartment. We had a portable washing machine that could wash one tiny load at a time. We had to drag the machine from the kitchen into the shower, and hook it up the water supply in there to use it. We had no dryer though- we had one drying rack which was ALWAYS out and ALWAYS covered in clothes because they took so long to dry in that climate. Also, by the end of the time we lived in that apartment, my socks had grown in length by at least 30%, and there was a whole pile of cotton shirts I could no longer wear because they had completely stretched out and lost their shape. Why? Because of no dryer, of course!
I can't stand crunchy sheets and towels. I hate having to wait days for my laundry to be done. I hate not being able to simply start and finish the job of laundry. Also, I HATE ironing, and if you don't use a dryer, I don't know how it's possible not to iron. Well, scratch that, I don't think I ever ironed that year I lived without a dryer, but, I'm sure my wardrobe was limited to things that dried fairly wrinkle free on the line.
So, the dryer is my thing, my THANG. Isn't there a song... with the lyrics... what's your thang...I don't know... anyway... I just don't want to live without a dryer. My life is better with one. It is easier. It is worth it! And yes, I feel badly that apparently the dryer is the worst appliance in the whole house for energy consumption, but... I just can't give it up. Maybe, maybe, if I lived in a climate like where my sister-in-law grew up without a dryer in Australia, I could live without one... but... I think I would have had to grow up there. I mean, come on, I'm from Michigan... if you didn't have a dryer in Michigan, it was because you didn't have a washer or a dryer, you know? In the last 8 years we've only owned a car for 7 months and we use reusable grocery bags. That's gotta count for something, doesn't it (to offset the use of the dryer, that is)?
My sister-in-law on the other hand, she doesn't want or need a dryer. She doesn't mind hanging her laundry on the line to dry, and finds the whole process easier and smoother without a dryer. To each their own!
Hmmmmm.... I don't have a coffee maker. And I can happily live without one.
What's your thang? The thing that someone else might happily be able to live without, but you just need in your life???
6 comments:
My thang is a big 32-oz water container that I was given in the hospital where I had Eve. I'm at the point where I can't just drink 6 or 8 oz of water at a time LOL. I refill it 2 or 3 times at work. I don't know anyone else who kept their hospital water mug.
I couldn't live without a dryer, either. I spent a summer in Germany without one and ended up with extra long socks and stretched out shirts, too. So it isn't even the convenience of a dryer that I like the most. Although, I don't even want to think about trying to do laundry for a family of four without one. It's hard enough to stay on top of it!
I also wouldn't want to live without my toaster oven. Sure I could use the oven, but it's so much easier and faster to just throw something in the toaster oven.
I can live without my dryer, and have in the past. My husband bought one just before Topher was born. I do use it, but I still mostly hang our laundry.
I guess my "thang" would be a clock or watch. I hate, I mean really hate, not knowing the exact time. I even keep a water proof watch in the shower so I know the time when I'm in there.
I guess I'm fairly spoiled because there are quite a few things I can't live without. The dryer is at the top of the list but other are a washer, dishwasher and a in door ice maker. I could live without the ice maker if I had to, and I could do dishes by hand but I really really don't want to do with out either of those things.
I love hearing everyone's "thing". :)
Suzanne- I did not receive any water container at the hospital! They kept bringing me juice in 20oz Styrofoam cups!
Cara- Yes, I totally agree about the dryer getting your clothes back in shape. I would say it is more important to me than the convenience factor as well.
Also, funny story about toaster ovens. I never had one, so I never realized that they are more oven than toaster. :) The first time I ever used one was when I lived in China I did an after school baking club. For some reason I never actually LOOKED at the temp dial, and just kept turning the dial all the way up- and then wondering why my cookies would always burn! The darn thing was set to like 200C/400F at the least! :) I figured it out eventually.:)
Kari, I have a clock in the bathroom, but not in the shower. :)
Brenda, I could totally live without an ice maker- actually I do. We have a couple trays, but they are rarely used. The only thing I use ice for is drinking Amarula- which I have to have on the rocks. Everything else I drink at room temp (water, especially) or just at fridge temp.
Oh, and I have a dishwasher... he thanks me for dinner and then does the dishes! :) Actually we also have a machine, now, and DH does use it quite often.
Ice maker and diahwasher are my thangs!! I cannot drink warm water it makes me gag and I drink out of my hospital mug too and it would only stay cold enough for me to drink for about 5 minutes and then it would be too warm! And with my broken arm and my husband bad back the dishwasher us a must!
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