In celebration of great weather and being able to hang my freshly washed blankets and sheets on my laundry line, I am posting this article submission from Jill Cooper at
LIVING ON A DIME.

Air Drying Clothes Without A Clothesline

By Jill Cooper

Living on a Dime

    We all know that if we don’t dry our clothes in the dryer we save on electricity, but many of us don’t think about how the dryer reduces the life of our clothes. For a long time I couldn’t understand why so many people were buying scads of socks and underwear for their families every few months. When my children were growing up, they almost never wore out their underwear and socks and we owned only about a quarter as many pair as most people. No I didn’t buy some name brand known for its child proof quality. I usually bought the least expensive ones I could find.

    Fast forward a couple decades. One day after folding my grandson’s new underwear, I noticed that the waistband was terribly rippled. After doing some research, I discovered the answer: The dryer was destroying the rubber elastic in the socks and underwear. I rarely dried my family’s clothes in the dryer, so the elastic never broke down. It doesn’t just happen with underwear - Have you ever noticed pilling (those little fabric balls) on your clothes and linens and the resulting lint in the dryer? That is the result of the fibers being rubbed thin. The dryer also shrinks clothes and sets in stains.

    The two reasons I think most people don’t line dry their clothes are that they think it is inconvenient or they’re just not sure how to do it. Here are some of the best tips I have found to air dry clothes without a clothes line.

    Though I don’t use the dryer to dry my clothes, I do use it for five minutes or so with some loads (just long enough to fluff the clothes). I put one load in the dryer and only leave then there as long as it takes me to load the washer with the next load.

    If you have no clothesline, you live in an apartment or your homeowners association won’t allow clotheslines, here are a few ways to dry without a clothesline.

    Using a clothesline to dry your clothes can save lots of money!

    You need at least one drying rack and some type of clothes rod. You can buy drying racks at most discount stores or hardware stores. You might locate a clothes rod in your laundry room above the dryer, use a sturdy shower curtain rod in the bathroom or get a metal clothes racks that hooks over the back of a door. You don’t need much. I can hang two loads of laundry on one drying rack and 2 feet of clothes rod.

    Hanging on a Clothes Rod

    Hang as many items as you can on clothes hangers, beginning with the obvious things like dresses, dress shirts and blouses and hang the hangers on a clothes rod to dry. Be sure not to put the hangers too close together or the clothes will not dry. You can also hang things like pajama tops, t-shirts, small kids shirts and one piece outfits. Lightweight pants, pajama bottoms, skirts and sweats can be pinned on clothes hangers and even sheets can be folded and hung on them. If you are really short of drying rack space, you can hang socks, underwear, wash rags, hand towels and towels on hangers and add them to your clothes rod, too.

    Hanging on a Clothes Rack

    When hanging clothes on a drying rack, I start at the bottom with socks and underwear, wash rags and baby clothes. Young children’s clothes and hand towels go on the middle layer and the top rack is for towels, jeans, pillow cases, sweaters, sweats, pajama bottoms and t-shirts. I try to use every inch of space, so if I put a pillow case on the rack and there are a couple of inches left next to it I put a sock there. I even hook bras on the corners of the rack.

    Drying racks are handy because they can be moved to speed up the drying process. Place them outside on a sunny (but not windy) day. Inside the house, try putting them over a vent and the heat or air conditioner will dry them faster. If you don’t have central heat or air then you can place them in front of your heater or a fan. Don’t place clothes close enough to heaters to be a fire hazard.

    If you are short on space and don’t want to look at a drying rack in the middle of the room, do the laundry before bed, hang it and in most cases it will be dry by morning (especially if you set it above an air vent).

    Try hanging large king sized sheets or blankets over your shower rod, over the rail of your deck, between two lawn chairs or folded in half or quarters over your clothes rack. When you fold large items, you must flip and turn them every 5-10 hours so that each side gets dry.

    Sometimes it is useful to hang a clothesline in the basement or attic. Be sure to check out your department stores and hardware stores for other ideas. They have many clever items like retractable clotheslines, things to hang over doors and some not so new ideas like extra large drying racks that can hold two loads of laundry each.

    Even though this may sound complicated at first, once you do it a few times it becomes second nature to you. Pretty quickly, you will discover the most efficient way to hang your clothes on the rack. I know automatically that three wash rags fit across the bottom bar of my rack and the two socks will fit next the that particular t-shirt. It’s like putting a puzzle together- the first time takes you longer than the times after that because you know where the pieces fit.

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the editors of  LIVING ON A DIME.

As a single mother of two, Jill Cooper started her own business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income.

About this time every year, it seems as though many of us begin looking toward setting those New Year’s goals. In those goals often comes the regulars of losing weight, paying off bills, and reducing clutter/getting organized.  Jill Cooper brings us some great reminders for getting organized in the home…..

10 Easy Ways to Get Organized
by Jill Cooper
http://www.LivingOnADime.com/

. Hang up your keys. (Preferably by the door.)

. Find a place for your purse, coat, gloves and other frequently used items and always keep them there.

. Make your bed each day as soon as you crawl out of it.

. Get dressed. Even if you are a stay at home mom or your job is at home, get dressed. Clothes really do make the man or woman. You’ll be just as productive as you are dressed which means if you are dressed for sleep (pajamas, sweats or a robe) then you will get about as much work done as you would when you are sleeping. That may be stretching it, but you get my point.

. Wash the dishes and wipe the counters after each meal. No matter how large or small the meal or how tired and in a hurry you are, do the dishes. Even if you are hurried or late in the morning you wouldn’t dream of leaving the house half dressed. Make leaving your kitchen clean as important a priority as getting dressed for work. This may seem impossible at first but once you are on top of things it should only take five or ten minutes to clean your kitchen.

. Get rid of trash. About 50% of what unorganized people have in their homes is trash or stuff they will never use again. Stop wasting time taking care of it, moving it or stepping over it. As you walk through the house, pick up garbage and toss it.

. Control your laundry. Don’t let it control you. Follow these simple steps to help keep your laundry from taking over your home and you.

     Place a hamper or basket for dirty clothes in each bedroom and/or bath. Make sure that everyone’s dirty clothes are put in the hamper before bed and in the morning.

    The laundry isn’t done until it is put away. Get out of the mind set that if it is washed and dried it is done. Folding and putting it away is equally as important.

         Some of us think that if we get the laundry washed and dried that’s all we need to do and it’s okay for the family to just pull stuff out of a pile. That makes as much sense as cooking a meal and expecting everyone to stand at the stove and take turns scooping the food out of the pan and eating it one spoonful at a time. You wouldn’t dream of doing that. Yes the food is cooked, but the meal is not complete until the table is set and the food is put on plates. Do the same for your laundry. Put it away.

. Pick up continually. This may seem like a pain to do at first but if you stick with it, it will become a habit. I didn’t realize how much of a habit it had become for me until I was visiting my daughter’s the other day. As I was walking into the kitchen, I picked up empty glasses and odds and ends on my way. Then when I walked from the kitchen to the bedroom I picked up toys as I went in there. It wasn’t even my house but I had seen something out of place and out of habit picked it up. Every sock or glass that you walk past is a spore waiting to flourish into a vortex of debris. Catch it while it is small! _

. Read and dispose of newspapers and magazines. There are usually two reasons people have stacks of newspapers and magazines piled around:

    They want to save an article in it. If that is the case then cut the article out as you are reading the magazine and file it. Trust me, you not only won’t cut that article out at a later time, but you probably won’t remember what or where it is.

      They don’t have time to read them. If you aren’t going to read them the why are you subscribing to them? Stop your subscriptions. This doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. If you can’t keep up with the daily newspaper then just get the Sunday paper. Most people usually have more leisure time Sunday to read it. Pick out one or two of your favorite magazines and stop subscribing to the rest.

With any item, if it is broken or you don’t use it anymore get rid of it. That includes clothes, toys, furniture, decorations, dishes and exercise equipment. If it’s not important enough to fix right now, you don’t need it!

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the editors of http://www.LivingOnADime.com/. As a single mother of two, Jill Cooper started her own business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income.

NOTE: Remember the 7th is the last day to add your name to the hat for the drawing for Dining on a Dime from Tawra and Jill. Leave your comment HERE for one chance and check out how to get up to three chances for your opportunity to win.

Tawra Kellam at Living on a Dime has graciously offered her book, Dining on a Dime, as a great giveaway to kick the year off right. Living on a Dime is having a 50% off sale on all their books and 63% on sets.  Dining On A Dime has never been on sale for more than 25% off so this is a great deal.

I personally have three of the Living on a Dime books and cannot believe the amount of information packed into one book, especially for such a reasonable price.

So here’s the technical stuff.

The contest will run from January 1-7 and is open to United States residents only. Tawra will send the Dining on a Dime book directly to the winner.

Visit the Living on a Dime website at http://www.livingonadime.com/books/nys.html  and take a look at all of the money saving books offered, then come back here and post a comment about your favorite. One first comment entry per person.

Receive a second entry for writing a post on your blog and  include a direct link back to this post, then come back here to let me know by leaving the link in another comment.

You can get a third entry by posting the following widget into the sidebar of your blog.

Hurry! The week will be over before you know it!

♥

The One Dollar Diet people are back in the news…on the front page of Yahoo News.

The current economy is scary for most everyone… 

While I don’t think we will have to start doing without the essential items of our lives, I do think that we will be cutting back in non-essential areas….such as eating out. We travel a considerable amount of time, so eating out while on the road may take on a new look….it will most likely never be completely stricken from our budget.

Eating out just because…I am tired….it is late….I don’t want to mess up the kitchen…..OR…because it’s the dog’s birthday….is being cut from the spending budget. We will be eating at home on  a regular basis.

Today, while I was organizing some pantry shelves, I noticed I had a few items that were nearing the expiration date. In the past (and please do not flame me…this has been a learning process for us) I might have thrown those expired items away. Not anymore….we are making do with what we have….and USING IT ALL UP! Just the other night I cooked a roast that had been in the freezer for almost two years. It was fine. Another night I found a can of spinach that was 1 month past the expiration date and after checking for any creases, dents, or evidence of spoilage we cooked it up. DH love spinach with boiled eggs…something I never heard of before meeting him…lol.

A few times this past month, our local grocer has had milk on sale for $2.50 a gallon…a bargain. One night DH came home with only one gallon of this $2.50 milk and it resulted in me fussin’ at him for not purchasing a second gallon. Fortunately, I have Hais (DD2)trained to purchase two if she finds it on sale. Three days ago, DH came home with two gallons of the sale priced milk, along with two loaves of sale priced bread. He has been eating sandwiches a lot lately, so I did not see a problem. (Now before I proceed, I would like to preference the remainder of this story with DH normally brings home the freshest….tastiest breads ever when he shops.) When the man eats two to three peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day, two loaves do not last very long, so I was happy that he thought ahead.

For some reason our bread stash was not dwindling and I soon discovered the reason. The brand (which will remain nameless) was not something we had purchased before and it was NOT (by any means of the imagination) fresh. The crust was somewhat hard and it was tasteless. What to do? There is an entire loaf sitting on the shelf! What can I do with this? The wheels started turning…and my stomach was growling…so my first idea was a grilled cheese sandwich with LOTS of butter…..yum. That didn’t make a dent. Now what? We could have french toast for dinner tonight…even though I prefer a thicker french toast. BREAD PUDDING! The entire family loves bread pudding. Luckily, I did have some raisins on hand…so right now…my house is fresh with the warm aromas of nutmeg, cinammon and vanilla and in another 40 minutes or so…..HEAVEN!