Greetings fellow frugals!

[hippywife]

I guess I never realized this group was here. Lots of familiar "faces", too.

We love to find low-tech, low-cost ways to live more efficiently. My current project is working on proving I can live without a clothes dryer. I stopped using it probably 6-7 months ago. Energy savings have been great! I was thinking if I can get through the winter without it, it can stop taking up space in my house.

We already reuse and recycle everything possible. We live out in the country so we do have to haul our recyclables in but luckily there's a station in the next tiny burg north of us on the way into town.

Have been enjoying reading some of the other posts in the group and look forward to sharing ideas. :hi:

[JitterbugPerfume]

1. I love this forum

There are a lot of good ideas posted here!:hippie: :hi:

[hippywife]

4. Hi, Jitterbug!

Thanx for the welcome. It does look like there are some pretty good ones here so far. :hi:

[LynzM]

2. Hi hippywife!

I admire your resolution to live without a dryer. I'm sure I *could* do that, but it sure sounds intimidating, time-wise and space-wise. How are you managing it? :hi:

[hippywife]

3. Hiya back, Lynz!

I don't remember if you guys have any kids or not so it might be a little more difficult if you do. But I have two clotheslines run outside. When it's nice out, they dry out there. When it's not I hang them in the house...and I do have a very tiny house. I use the shower rod and a couple of items that are meant to be decorative and are when the clothes aren't hanging on them. One is wrought iron and meant to be like a coat rack. The other is a cast iron half-medallion. Instead of hanging it flat to the wall, we hung it in the hall perpendicular to the wall so I can hang stuff on it to dry, too. I put some decorative items on it and if anyone ever saw it, they would simply think it's totally decorative. With some good strong anchors in the wall and some small decorative chain anchoring it to the wall above it, it's very sturdy. Not a very clear pic but this is what it looks like:




I also found in a junk pile a really old hanger for multiple skirts so they don't take up much room in a closer. It's plain wire and has about 4 tiers straight down, each with a couple of skirt clips. I use it for socks and hang additional socks on all the tiers using clothespins. I also use clothespins on a wire hanger for undies. Socks and undies hang in the kitchen. LOL

I also do a load in the middle of the week and hang it inside so there isn't so much on the weekend. It's easier on the septic tank to put some time between loads anyway, so it works. Everything dries in like little over a day and a half.

I do have to wait to do sheets and towels on the weekends when it's sunny out so they can go on the lines, even when it's cold out, but we have enough of them to get us through those weeks when it's not.

[hippywife]

9. Lynz...

here's my sock mobile with a couple of hangers with underwear pinned to them hanging from the rafters. This is part of dealing with our space problem, too. If you can find a multi-skirt hanger like this one, it really does work well. I found this one in a pile of stuff at work that was on it's way to being thrown out. Our house is only 869 sq. ft. so it takes a little creativity but it can be done.

[eleny]

5. Hi!

:bounce:

[hippywife]

6. eleny!

:bounce:

[Le Taz Hot]

7. Hey, hw.

Welcome from a tight-wad from way back. :hi: I can't live without my clothes dryer entirely as it's extremely foggy in the winters here and my clothes would take months to dry. However, I started using drying racks when I was living in an apartment and just carried the practice over when I bought my house.

I'm not sure if you and your family are bread eaters but if they are and you don't have one already, I highly recommend a breadmaker. You can make the best, graniest bread there is for little effort and less than 50 cents a loaf.

[hippywife]

11. Hi, LeTaz!

Sorry I missed your post earlier. I hate not to return a greeting! :hi:

When it's soggy here, we do it all inside. It really does work out very well. So far here this year, we're drying things inside most weekends.

We do have a bread maker but have cut out a lot of bread from our diet. We usually don't eat bread with dinners anymore. But I do bake bagels, muffins, or quick breads on the weekends for the DH's breakfast through the week. The DH has used the bread machine several times, but I've never used it once. I really do still like to do that the old fashioned way.

[JitterbugPerfume]

8. I hang clothes on my back deck

across shower rods , chairs etc . It would be more difficult with kids , but it could be done, especially in summer.

[hippywife]

12. It would definitely be

more difficult with kids. With just the two of us, it's pretty easy. I tend to wear my clothes a couple of times before I wash them anyway, so the amount I wash doesn't increase from week to week really.

[Richard Steele]

10. Hello, fellow frugal-group-noob!

I just noticed this group and added it to my list a few weeks ago.

There's really a lot of good info here, isn't there?
With the economy the way it is, I think every DUer is
should drop in here on a regular basis!

I haven't posted much here yet, but I'm a resourceful fellow
who's learned a trick or two in my lifetime about getting by
without spending money, so I'm sure opportunities will arise
to share that knowledge with the group.

[hippywife]

13. Hi, dicksteele!

Please do share! I'm sure we could all use tips from another resourceful person! :hi:

[hippywife]

14. Just an update that

the dryer has left the house! DH put an ad on Freecycle and it's now awaiting a taker. Personally, I would have liked to destroy it so it isn't eating up energy in some new location but husband says give it away, so that's what we're doing.

Yaaaaaaa! :bounce:

[sazemisery]

15. Welcome neighbor!

I thought you knew about this place! Sorry I didn't tell you sooner.

[kestrel91316]

16. Howdy!

[old mark]

17. Hello!

My wife and I are both former bar band musicians (back in the '60's and '70's).
She was a social worker, and has been disabled (on SS) for nearly 10 years.
I had 2 heart attacks a few years ago, and retired last year from state civil service (at a mental hospital-I felt a certain affinity.)


We have an over 80 year old brick and stone row house (end of the row) with a stone patio and a large yard.
We have been making the place more old-age friendly and efficient, planning on a wood stove next year.
We like to grow some vegies and fruit, and have been producing varieties of organic herbs that we may be selling to the local farmers market.

Our house is right outside the city limit, in a suburban township. We have lived in the country, once got snowd in for nearly 3 weeks, but we got older and like the convenience, and really love our home.
We have a hermit cat and a Doberman/Great Dane mix who is just starting to get old.
My wife, Meryl, turned 52 this spring, and I will be 61 in August.

We both are old blues and R&R fans (and players) and some folks find it odd to see such old fucks with loud music on the car radio.
Don't trust anybody over 90.

mark

[hippywife]

18. Hi, Mark!

Welcome to you and Meryl. :hi: