I’m not sure if I should be amazed or if I had a duh moment..
When I was done washing the dishes the other day I put my sponge in the window sill for some reason or another and when I got back to it later or the next day it didn’t smell. I thought “well, that’s interesting, it usually smells funny until I put soap on it”. When I was done that time I put it where I usually do, on the back of the sink. It smelled, as usual. So I put it up in the window sill again and no smell. So I conclude that the sun has the same effects on my sponge as everything else, it disinfects. :)
I also recently put a clothes line up to hang my laundry on, the weather is still really good here, so the towels are pretty much dry in under two hours, and, I conclude from my previous paragraph, disinfected. I wonder how many people still use a clothes line. Do you have problems with the clothes coming off all stiff? So far only regular cotton tee shirts and the socks seem to be stiff, everything else is soft. Any ideas as to what causes them to get stiff?
Oh, and I LOVE being a wife …in case any one was wondering ;)
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October 24, 2008 at 7:52 pm
kamelda
Oh, and I LOVE being a wife …in case any one was wondering ;)
I’m so glad, Carina :-). Where are you all living? House? Apartment? (with the clothesline it sounds maybe like a house?)
I hadn’t really thought about the sun disinfecting things before; but of course you’re right. I’ll remember that: thanks.
In Panama we used a clothesline and everything was stiff; I felt like a cardboard cutout getting into my pants. I don’t know why only your cotton tees and socks are affected. But you must be doing something right :-).
October 24, 2008 at 9:04 pm
prudenceblue
We live in an apartment right now, but I go to my brother’s house to do laundry and last week I had my hubby put up the line for me since the dryer takes forever.
There were a few things that were some what stiff, not too bad and a couple stiff socks that were a little damp when we had to leave so I put them in the dryer for 5-10 minutes, and they seem to come out soft from there. Maybe that’s the way to go, dry them most of the way on the line then put them in the dryer. still saves on the energy bill either way.
October 26, 2008 at 12:52 am
kamelda
It’s so nice to be near family when you don’t have laundry facilities of your own :-). But yes some dryers do seem to take an amazingly long time; and the advantage of a laundromat is time spent esp. with the dryers seems much faster.
Sometimes I’ve read that it’s actually the washing machine’s spin cycle at fault, in not wringing the clothes out properly. People say that time and money is saved in the dryer by using a hand wringer? I don’t know though if it’s just a negligible amount — if enough time is saved to be worth the time (and energy!) it takes to hand wring.
If you get pics of your first place I’d really love to see them!
October 30, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Laura
I highly recommend the book _Laundry_ by Cheryl Mendelson, for answers to every question you could possibly have about the subject, and then some. I was just reading the other day in it about the stiff effect when you line-dry things, and she suggests what you were thinking: tumbling them in the dryer just until half-dry, then hanging; or hanging until half-dry, then tumbling.
October 31, 2008 at 2:51 pm
countrylane
I tumble dry my clothes in the dryer until half-dry with a fabric softener sheet, then hang them out to dry. I love drying my clothes on the line. I fully line-dry all kitchen wash cloths, rags, socks, and all shirts that I put on a hanger to dry (omits the need to iron!). I used to fully line-dry all the clothes, but hubby doesn’t like the stiffness the jeans would get. Also, don’t let them sit in the washer too long after the washer quits.
It’s nice to hear of someone else who loves to line-dry their clothes! Happy marriage to you!
July 25, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Vinegar « keeping house
[…] sponge. I was unsure about washing dishes with it — I remember Rose’s post about drying sponges in the sun, but there was no sun and no time to dry the darn thing. So I remembered my own comment on […]