Further on the Fringe

About three years ago, I mostly stopped using laundry detergent when I washed our clothes. I noted at the time that this was hardly a mainstream approach to laundry, but I also noted that I didn't care. The word I used was "fringe."

And now the fringe continues to unravel, you might say.

About two months ago, our dryer broke. A. fixed it briefly before it broke for good. Instead of buying a new dryer right away, A. built a winter clothesline for me in the pasture, where the clothes get sun and wind. That is not the case with the clothesline in the fenced-in backyard, which is great during the windy season or in the summer, but not very useful in the winter. So the new clothesline does get clothes dry here in New Mexico even in the winter, except for on days when it's actually raining or snowing.

Yet another glamour shot of a clothesline on this blog. There can never be too many.

At about the same time, our washing machine ceased to actually clean our clothes, instead depositing visible dirt on clothes that hadn't really been that dirty to start with. It was clear there was significant filth in the innards of the machine somewhere.

Eventually, A. took the whole thing apart so we could clean it. He needed a special part to get the drum all the way apart, which we ordered.  But the part didn't come for almost a week, during which time both our broken dryer and pulled-apart washing machine were sitting out in front of our house on the patio. A lovely home decor statement right by our door.

During this period, we were doing laundry in the bathtub again.

A. did manage to get the whole washing machine back together again, and it worked for two loads before it refused to drain water out of the drum.

A. was so sick of dealing with laundry machines at this point that he declared he would rather do laundry in the bathtub indefinitely than buy another machine.

I disagreed. Strenuously. I told him I was willing to live without a dryer, but definitely not without a washing machine.

I found a place in a small city 90 miles away that sells refurbished appliances and called them to make sure they had some washing machines. It took another week of tub laundering before we were able to make it in to the city to buy a machine, but we did eventually.

They actually had sets of both washers and dryers, but I told A. not to bother getting the dryer. After two months without one, I realized I really don't need one here. I mean, sure, it's sometimes a pain to be rushing laundry out first thing to make sure it gets dry, and hanging clothes on the line when it's still below freezing is no fun, and sometimes the dirty clothes pile up a bit if we have a couple of days of inclement weather, but generally? Nope, don't need a dryer here.

So now in addition to not using laundry detergent, I don't use or even own a clothes dryer. Fringe, for sure. But still okay with it.