21 October 2008

My kingdom for a dryer

My dryer is on the fritz. About this time last year the old one conked out, but a friend found us a free one. I suppose I shouldn't complain about using a free dryer for a year. Considering the present economy, I've been working at drying clothes the old fashioned way. After all, how many years did our ancestors last before the automatic clothes dryer was invented. Pastor likes to remind me that those who did without dryers also usually had a stay-at-home mom to oversee laundry duty. They also didn't have nearly as many clothes.
I have fallen woefully behind in the laundry department, and sadly I can't blame most of that on the dryer. Tonight I decided to catch up by taking everything to the laundromat in the strip mall where Thing 3 has dance class. As I was loading up, the thought flittered across my mind that I could probably throw everything in the load away and we'd still have plenty of clothing left in our closets and dressers to live in. I packed more summer stuff from the loads I washed, and threw away a few hopelessly stained items that we were saving...why? I bagged up items for the charity store that were between kids. No need to save something two years for the little sister. By the time she grows into it, it will be out of style. That, and if I keep it around she will find it and wear it to school looking like the little match girl in her ill-fitting clothes.
The poor kids were less than thrilled to spend their evening in the laundromat with me, and I was pretty frustrated with their constant bickering and straying off task. We each managed to come home with a basket of clean clothes, and enough rags to clean for years. I think I'll ask for towels for Christmas.

1 comment:

Ed (zoesdad) said...

If my washer or dryer ever stopped, my world would grind to a halt. Someone would just have to shoot me.