hanging out to D R Y

I'm feeling a little more like Laura Ingalls Wilder every day. I think it's rare to see a German house without a clothesline out in the yard somewhere.  Not only are they out there, they're filled with clothes every single day. It's not like they're left out there from an older generation that used to hang clothes out- this remains their way of life.

They're all a little different- some are rectangular, others triangular, but they all have them. Hanging clothes out to dry is the norm here- at least for the Germans.

We were first exposed to it in our hotel upon our arrival. The hotel owner {Petra} told us they have to hang it up or they'd be bankrupt as utilities are so expensive. I'm not sure how much of an exaggeration that is, but we got the point.

It's easy to spot the American rental houses, as this is something Americans just don't do as often {if ever}. Are we just lazy? Can't be bothered? I'm not sure. Until today, I've never used even a single clothespin for anything other than a child's craft project-ever. Maybe, I've laid damp rugs out on the back deck just to finish air drying, but that's about it.
 
I've always relied heavily on our Whirpool front-loading super duper capacity dryer without paying a bit of attention to the amount of energy I was using.
 
Now, I'm realizing how wasteful I've been for so many years. I do a ton of laundry which means a ton of drying. I can't do anything to use less water, but we're pretty sure we can save quite a bit without the dryer running all day.
 

Over the weekend, we found a mid-priced clothesline at the German hardware store- today I broke it in. I thought it would take me a lot longer to get through our laundry, but now I'm thinking maybe not. Here, we have an American dryer {twice as fast as the German ones} but, I'm still always waiting for the dryer to finish to swap my laundry.

 

Half the time, I forget about them and they sit wet for hours on end and I end up washing them again. Now, no waiting- I just take the clean clothes straight outside. I actually didn't mind it at all and our clothes smell so fresh. We'll see if the novelty wears off for me or if I keep at it. We might just be bringing it {the clothesline and the habit} back with us to the United States.

 

Secretly, I think I'm hopeful that our German neighbors start to like us just a little bit more seeing we're trying really hard to adapt to their way of living. I like to believe we're not typical lazy Americans. No worries, I don't care how long we're here, I won't be switching to Saturday-only baths {as in Little House on the Prairie} and I'll continue to shave my legs until the day I die. Germany can educate me but {hopefully} won't completely change me.