New Month, New Habit

Today is March 1st!  Do you know what that means?  Yes, spring is almost here (you have no idea how excited I am about that), my parents both have birthdays coming up (hi), and today is the day we choose a new change to make.

Back in January when we started this whole making changes thing I thought it was going to be an epic fail, but so far each of the things that we’ve decided to change have turned into great habits!  In keeping with our January challenge we’re still trying hard not to buy new.  February was a house cleaning extravaganza during which I made my own soft scrub, toilet bowl cleaner, general purpose spray cleaner, floor cleaner, dish soap, and glass cleaner.  (and by “made my own” I mean that I now keep a large bottle of vinegar and a slightly smaller bottle of baking soda in the cabinet)  I like them all so much that I’m in the process of getting rid of all my old chemicals — Anyone need an economy sized bottle of Windex? — I’m looking into what to do about the laundry and dishwasher detergents, they’re a little more complicated.

When we lived in Arizona we had a clothesline on the back patio that I loved.  The morning sun worked it’s bleaching magic on our whites, we didn’t have to run the dryer, everything smelled nice and fresh, and it was fantastic.  Since we moved into this new house it’s been cold and snowing so my wish for a clothesline has been put off, but then I got to thinking…”what if we hung a line inside?”  So, this weekend Cody went down into the basement and after much cussing I have a short line in the laundry room on which to hang clothes.

The basement is hideous.  It’s a disaster of torn up sheetrock, broken tile, old moldy carpet, cobwebs, paneling, dust, and decay.  It’s dark and cold, and everything you’d expect out of basement construction zone, and there hangs my clothesline looking utterly depressing.  In light of my new tool I’ve decided that March is going to be the month that I start hanging my clothes to dry.  I’ll start with putting up what I can fit on my little line in the basement, and when the work down there is finished we’ll put up a larger line.  Then, when the weather warms up, we’ll put a line outside so that Cheeks and I can get chores done and enjoy the weather.  I’d like to eventually be able to get rid of that stupid dryer, or at the very least unplug it.  It only works half the time, sucks energy, and leaves me feeling like I will always hate laundry day.  In the mean time I’m going to do my best to use it as little as possible.

Here’s to hang drying!