Why, you might ask?
Initially, we gave up our drying machine when the machine in our basement which had once been free because of a broken change machine magically began to work again. Man, seventy five cents was just way too much to ask for after it had been free for so long! So, we pulled out our roomate's drying rack, dug out every clothing hanger we could find in the apartment, and hung our laundry around the house. Laudry day caused our apartment to look just like that- laundry day- but more like the laundry days of yester-years. You know, with the laundry hanging along a clothesline. This is how my mother and grandmother hung their laundry, so why not try it in the house? Although we didn't have the fresh laundry-drying-in-the-wind scent, it worked out well, and so we continued hanging our laundry around the apartment.
Since September, our apartment has gotten smaller. However, we still find ways to hang all of our laundry from every surface imaginable. I'll take picture of our apartment the next time we do laundry. It's quite incredible actually- shirts hanging from door frames, shelves, hooks, doorknobs, etc. and pants hanging on the backs of chairs and over small tables. The fact that the dryer has gone from seventy fives cents to a dollar sixty has contributed slightly to this, but I rather like to think that we continue to hang our laundry inside out of habit rather than necessity.
Plus, once it is dry, it is kind of like picking large berries off of strange looking trees.
This idea of giving up something prompts me to challenge myself to go further. Reader, if you are up to the challenge- give up something this week that suprises you. Something that you think you cannot do without, but that would better the planet if you did without. Find a way to make it work without whatever that thing was in your life. You never know, it could become a habit!
This week, I am giving up going to the grocery store everyday, and will only allow myself one trip, so it better be a well-planned one. I'm going to get creative and use stuff in my pantry that I already have to cook! I hope that this will lead me to buy more in bulk, and make me cook more in bulk as well, but also help me to buy less novelty items that I don't need.
What will you give up this week?
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