Old Fashioned
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I only sweep the hardwood once a month or so when I mop with Murphy's oil. Otherwise it's vacuum and maybe a steam mop all the way, baby! So much quicker and I think it does a much better job on the dog hair than swishing it all around with a broom.
Dogs here too and I also vacuum with a stick vac rather than sweep. From fall to spring the hair generates enough static that it flies up in the air and sticks to vertical surfaces if you sweep it. Sweeping is only successful when it's very very humid.
I'm all for the labour-saving devices, although I will line dry some clothing, except in winter.1 -
Wow! Didn't expect that much response! I do appreciate the conveniences, especially when I am pressed for time. When I worked full-time it would have been dreadful to have to do those things. But now that DH and I are retired I have found great delight in practicing what I learned when we were first married and poor.
We have all the conveniences that we need, but I have found that there is a certain satisfaction in knowing I can keep our clothes and home clean, feed my family, and entertain myself with or without electricity. That it isn't necessary to have it all. Having too much stuff never did anything but make me anxious. But to each their own, or whatever floats your boat! The days I can, I do, the days my fibromyalgia makes it impossible, I use the conveniences available to me.
@paperpudding everyone here seems to have a stick broom/stick vacuum-rechargeable of course!
@lynn_glenmont HA! I like those, too!
@MargaretYakoda you betcha that qualifies!
@middlehaitch yes, having the CHOICE definitely makes a difference. Some things I do regret-like getting a front load washer (hate it), and wasting money on new appliances when they become obsolete and unfixable within a few years. When we first married I had my parents old Coldspot fridge. That thing was new in 1948 and still going when we did our first kitchen over in 1993. Finally gave out just before 2000. My range was a gas behemoth from 1950. Cooked like a dream but DH wouldn't let me keep it in our "new" kitchen.
@mourvedre- YES. Yes, exactly.
@springerling62 is that y'alls team and rig??? Wow, I am beyond impressed, and a wee bit jealous!
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I am not agaisnt labour saving devices per se - but I find it interesting people think brooms just move dirt around - well, no, you sweep it into a pile and then into a dustbrush and it really is no more effort than vaccuuming (unless you have a roomba, I guess)
hanging clothes on the line is not that time usage either - and the electricity saved by using free sunshine is considerable and IMO the clothes are nicer when dried in fresh air.
ETA - some people here have stick vaccuums too and/or vaccuum hard floors with a regular vaccuum cleaner - and many use brooms.
I wouldnt say there is a universal or even majority Australian way on this3 -
PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
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@LeeH31
Noooooo. Not our horses and wagon. Belongs to the lovely people in and around Jamestown ND, who put on the annual https://covered-wagon-train.com/
We’ve been four times. If you have young children, it’s the best possible family vacation. Horses, chores, games, skits. They just ask that you dress in period clothes, put the phones away, and everyone participates in one chore, per day, ranging from cooking to washing dishes to “biffy digging” for the four-hole portable outhouse.3 -
@springerling62 oh my, that does sound like great fun. I would probably have begged to groom those wonderful steeds. I think horses are the most beautiful animal in all their amazing varieties. I have seen the power and beauty of a herd of horses thundering across a mesa in Colorado, and the amazing Lipizaners performance, the awesome strength of horse pulling contests, and ridden bareback for hours in the woods while the deer and foxes just stood and watched us go by. I love everything about them, can you tell?
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paperpudding wrote: »PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
Not sure it's so much a cultural difference vs a climate difference. If I understand correctly most of Australia's population lives in a temperate climate as opposed to the IUS where many live in areas where snow and cold temperatures are common. Not very good for clothes lines, so dryers are a must have. When it is a nice day, people generally are used to the convenience of just throwing something in the dryer. Not to mention it's not too easy to dry clothes on a line when it's dark outside and many people may be running the washer and dryer after a work day.4 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
Not sure it's so much a cultural difference vs a climate difference. If I understand correctly most of Australia's population lives in a temperate climate as opposed to the IUS where many live in areas where snow and cold temperatures are common. Not very good for clothes lines, so dryers are a must have. When it is a nice day, people generally are used to the convenience of just throwing something in the dryer. Not to mention it's not too easy to dry clothes on a line when it's dark outside and many people may be running the washer and dryer after a work day.
Yes of course climate is a factor too.
Australia, like US, is a big country geographically - so some people live in cooler, wetter parts than others.
I don't think all of US is colder and snowier and less daylight hours than all of Australia though - surely Southern/ mid states of US are not so.
And I'm sure we have similar work days here too.
I think it is mostly cultural - just googled and there are umpteen references to people in US battling for right to have clotheslines and states making No clotheslines by laws illegal and blogs by Americans surprised at clothesline usage here.
Something that would be unheard of here - it is a given that a house/ unit/ flat has a clothesline - with possible execption of high rise apartments.
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MargaretYakoda wrote: »I darn my socks. Does that count as old fashioned?
That's actually something I keep meaning to learn how to do. It annoys me to have to toss socks I like in the dust cloth bin when everything except one toe has plenty of wear left.0 -
Wow! Didn't expect that much response! I do appreciate the conveniences, especially when I am pressed for time. When I worked full-time it would have been dreadful to have to do those things. But now that DH and I are retired I have found great delight in practicing what I learned when we were first married and poor.
We have all the conveniences that we need, but I have found that there is a certain satisfaction in knowing I can keep our clothes and home clean, feed my family, and entertain myself with or without electricity. That it isn't necessary to have it all. Having too much stuff never did anything but make me anxious. But to each their own, or whatever floats your boat! The days I can, I do, the days my fibromyalgia makes it impossible, I use the conveniences available to me.
@paperpudding everyone here seems to have a stick broom/stick vacuum-rechargeable of course!
@lynn_glenmont HA! I like those, too!
@MargaretYakoda you betcha that qualifies!
@middlehaitch yes, having the CHOICE definitely makes a difference. Some things I do regret-like getting a front load washer (hate it), and wasting money on new appliances when they become obsolete and unfixable within a few years. When we first married I had my parents old Coldspot fridge. That thing was new in 1948 and still going when we did our first kitchen over in 1993. Finally gave out just before 2000. My range was a gas behemoth from 1950. Cooked like a dream but DH wouldn't let me keep it in our "new" kitchen.
@mourvedre- YES. Yes, exactly.
@springerling62 is that y'alls team and rig??? Wow, I am beyond impressed, and a wee bit jealous!
I have a fridge my parents got new in 1947 that's still running -- although there was a period of months when the whole thing became a freezer, and broke some glass bottles and exploded some beverage cans, which was a pain. Eventually it decided to go back to being a refrigerator (with a small freezer). Now I mostly store things in the refrigerator section like whole grains and whole grain flours that won't mind if that happens again, plus freezer foods in the small freezer.4 -
paperpudding wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
Not sure it's so much a cultural difference vs a climate difference. If I understand correctly most of Australia's population lives in a temperate climate as opposed to the IUS where many live in areas where snow and cold temperatures are common. Not very good for clothes lines, so dryers are a must have. When it is a nice day, people generally are used to the convenience of just throwing something in the dryer. Not to mention it's not too easy to dry clothes on a line when it's dark outside and many people may be running the washer and dryer after a work day.
Yes of course climate is a factor too.
Australia, like US, is a big country geographically - so some people live in cooler, wetter parts than others.
I don't think all of US is colder and snowier and less daylight hours than all of Australia though - surely Southern/ mid states of US are not so.
And I'm sure we have similar work days here too.
I think it is mostly cultural - just googled and there are umpteen references to people in US battling for right to have clotheslines and states making No clotheslines by laws illegal and blogs by Americans surprised at clothesline usage here.
Something that would be unheard of here - it is a given that a house/ unit/ flat has a clothesline - with possible execption of high rise apartments.
I think you mean HOAs (homeowner associations), not states.1 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
Not sure it's so much a cultural difference vs a climate difference. If I understand correctly most of Australia's population lives in a temperate climate as opposed to the IUS where many live in areas where snow and cold temperatures are common. Not very good for clothes lines, so dryers are a must have. When it is a nice day, people generally are used to the convenience of just throwing something in the dryer. Not to mention it's not too easy to dry clothes on a line when it's dark outside and many people may be running the washer and dryer after a work day.
Just chiming in from notoriously cold and wet UK - the vast majority of people use clotheslines or a rotary dryer and dry their washing outside. Of course some people do have tumble driers but they’re mainly used as ‘back-up’ when the weather is persistently bad or time is short.
As for the issue of it being dark after work. Run the washer in the evening, hang the clothes on the line first thing in the morning, go to work (cross your fingers that it doesn’t rain), take the hopefully dry laundry in when you get home.
I agree it’s mostly a cultural difference.2 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
Not sure it's so much a cultural difference vs a climate difference. If I understand correctly most of Australia's population lives in a temperate climate as opposed to the IUS where many live in areas where snow and cold temperatures are common. Not very good for clothes lines, so dryers are a must have. When it is a nice day, people generally are used to the convenience of just throwing something in the dryer. Not to mention it's not too easy to dry clothes on a line when it's dark outside and many people may be running the washer and dryer after a work day.
Yes of course climate is a factor too.
Australia, like US, is a big country geographically - so some people live in cooler, wetter parts than others.
I don't think all of US is colder and snowier and less daylight hours than all of Australia though - surely Southern/ mid states of US are not so.
And I'm sure we have similar work days here too.
I think it is mostly cultural - just googled and there are umpteen references to people in US battling for right to have clotheslines and states making No clotheslines by laws illegal and blogs by Americans surprised at clothesline usage here.
Something that would be unheard of here - it is a given that a house/ unit/ flat has a clothesline - with possible execption of high rise apartments.
I think you mean HOAs (homeowner associations), not states.
No, I meant states - states making laws saying HOA's cannot have by-laws banning clotheslines
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Well, the way I look at it is, my clothes come out of the dryer fluffy and not needing ironing, so I save that effort, time and (granted, minimal) energy expense, too.
And this may be a purely selfish American POV, but I’ll take a dryer dried bath towel over a crunchy wrinkled air dried towel any old day. Not to mention they take freaking forever to dry.
Not criticizing or being rah! rah! American. Maybe my daughter just hasn’t yet figured out the nuances of air drying inside an apartment, on a miserable wobbling folding rack that takes up half her living space, fogs up her windows, forcing her to open them in the dead of winter, and always leaves the place feeling damp and smelling of wet clothes.
I don’t understand the sense of opening the windows and letting the heat out in order to save the energy to run a dryer. It’s one of those head smacking moments for me.
It’s the one thing that makes me feel really, really sorry for Europeans. But, you all have bakeries, better museums, amazing historical stuff on every block, and great public transport.
Just sayin’. Modern appliances have some wonderful advantages. 🤷🏻♀️8 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »PapillonNoire wrote: »
I've never lived in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard it's a common rule in many of them to ban the use of outdoor clotheslines. I guess they think it's a poor aesthetic?
That is a massive cultural difference.
Here in Australia it is assumed every house has a clothesline - even if you rarely use it,(most people do use them, at least some of the time and many do not even own dryers) it is a thing that houses have.
I might ask, in a conversation about laundry - Do you have a dryer? - because not everyone does.
I would not ask Do you have a clothesline? - it would be a given that you do
(unless you live in a high rise apartment, perhaps - of which there are none in my town)
Not sure it's so much a cultural difference vs a climate difference. If I understand correctly most of Australia's population lives in a temperate climate as opposed to the IUS where many live in areas where snow and cold temperatures are common. Not very good for clothes lines, so dryers are a must have. When it is a nice day, people generally are used to the convenience of just throwing something in the dryer. Not to mention it's not too easy to dry clothes on a line when it's dark outside and many people may be running the washer and dryer after a work day.
Just chiming in from notoriously cold and wet UK - the vast majority of people use clotheslines or a rotary dryer and dry their washing outside. Of course some people do have tumble driers but they’re mainly used as ‘back-up’ when the weather is persistently bad or time is short.
As for the issue of it being dark after work. Run the washer in the evening, hang the clothes on the line first thing in the morning, go to work (cross your fingers that it doesn’t rain), take the hopefully dry laundry in when you get home.
I agree it’s mostly a cultural difference.
Whilst I'd have agreed when I was living in the southern suburb I grew up in with plenty of space and the weather to do so regularly, this is not the case in London, where there's no space unless you're super rich, or in Lancashire where we have space but my rotary dryer is a garden ornament for 363 days of the year. I just use an indoor clothes drying rack and have the windows open. Or if it's too cold in winter I'll put the dehumidifier on the clothes drying setting for a few hours. I don't like tumble dryers though, they ruin clothes, cause static and make clothes smell of that horrible heated up laundry smell.2 -
springlering62 wrote: »Well, the way I look at it is, my clothes come out of the dryer fluffy and not needing ironing, so I save that effort, time and (granted, minimal) energy expense, too.
And this may be a purely selfish American POV, but I’ll take a dryer dried bath towel over a crunchy wrinkled air dried towel any old day. Not to mention they take freaking forever to dry.
Not criticizing or being rah! rah! American. Maybe my daughter just hasn’t yet figured out the nuances of air drying inside an apartment, on a miserable wobbling folding rack that takes up half her living space, fogs up her windows, forcing her to open them in the dead of winter, and always leaves the place feeling damp and smelling of wet clothes.
I don’t understand the sense of opening the windows and letting the heat out in order to save the energy to run a dryer. It’s one of those head smacking moments for me.
It’s the one thing that makes me feel really, really sorry for Europeans. But, you all have bakeries, better museums, amazing historical stuff on every block, and great public transport.
Just sayin’. Modern appliances have some wonderful advantages. 🤷🏻♀️
I had a lifetime of ironing during my 4 years in the military. I actually get clothes almost dry on the line and the "iron" them in the dryer for 10 minutes.
If your daughter had a wood stove in her apartment clothes drying would be easier
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@scarlett_k
>>I don't like tumble dryers though, they ruin clothes, cause static and make clothes smell of that horrible heated up laundry smell.<<
Lol. I like the smell of warm laundry. I use wool balls, which eliminates most the static, and I only dry sturdy clothes. I do air dry undergarments and my precious leggings and tanks.
I think it’s fabulous we all have different takes on something so mundane as a dryer. Vive la difference!
Tell me more about a dehumidifier with a drying setting, though? Is this a thing in Europe? I’ll get one shipped to her if they really work.7 -
kshama2001 wrote: »springlering62 wrote: »Well, the way I look at it is, my clothes come out of the dryer fluffy and not needing ironing, so I save that effort, time and (granted, minimal) energy expense, too.
And this may be a purely selfish American POV, but I’ll take a dryer dried bath towel over a crunchy wrinkled air dried towel any old day. Not to mention they take freaking forever to dry.
Not criticizing or being rah! rah! American. Maybe my daughter just hasn’t yet figured out the nuances of air drying inside an apartment, on a miserable wobbling folding rack that takes up half her living space, fogs up her windows, forcing her to open them in the dead of winter, and always leaves the place feeling damp and smelling of wet clothes.
I don’t understand the sense of opening the windows and letting the heat out in order to save the energy to run a dryer. It’s one of those head smacking moments for me.
It’s the one thing that makes me feel really, really sorry for Europeans. But, you all have bakeries, better museums, amazing historical stuff on every block, and great public transport.
Just sayin’. Modern appliances have some wonderful advantages. 🤷🏻♀️
I had a lifetime of ironing during my 4 years in the military. I actually get clothes almost dry on the line and the "iron" them in the dryer for 10 minutes.
If your daughter had a wood stove in her apartment clothes drying would be easier
This is my strategy for cloth diapers and it works like a charm.
I am very lucky in our new house because the previous owners actually rigged up a substantial clothesline in the laundry/utility room and it never would have occurred to me to use the space that way - several wood posts come down from the rafters, so even in a narrow space there's a lot of room for clothes and I don't have to store a folding rack.
I don't iron at all, though. There are a few things I probably *could,* but a few minutes in the dryer is just about as effective and a lot less work. I guess it's just a matter of what labor you like and what you don't! 😄1 -
paperpudding wrote: »I am not agaisnt labour saving devices per se - but I find it interesting people think brooms just move dirt around - well, no, you sweep it into a pile and then into a dustbrush and it really is no more effort than vaccuuming (unless you have a roomba, I guess)
hanging clothes on the line is not that time usage either - and the electricity saved by using free sunshine is considerable and IMO the clothes are nicer when dried in fresh air.
ETA - some people here have stick vaccuums too and/or vaccuum hard floors with a regular vaccuum cleaner - and many use brooms.
I wouldnt say there is a universal or even majority Australian way on this
I live in the "dunes" in NM. The "dirt" isn't dirt...it's like moon dust...a very, very fine sand. when you sweep it will actually float a bit in the air and settle. A vacuum sucks it right up and it takes very little time. It's a PITA to sweep and actually get a floor clean. Hanging clothes would also be a PITA. We're out the door at 7 AM every morning and generally we don't get home until 6:30/7 PM in the evening. We have better things to do with our free time than hang laundry...but pretty much everyone in the US has a dryer or they go to a laundromat. Our washer and dryer are running daily.2 -
springlering62 wrote: »And this may be a purely selfish American POV, but I’ll take a dryer dried bath towel over a crunchy wrinkled air dried towel any old day. Not to mention they take freaking forever to dry.
I hate line dried sheets and towels. Even tossing them in the dryer afterwards for a quick air fluff doesn't make them soft enough again. Same with jeans.
I use scent-free detergent and softener sheets because of allergies and the clothes I hang outdoors don't come in smelling very nice, they have a distinct musty odour. They smell just fine when they're hung indoors in winter so they're picking up something outside.5
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