Jan 22 10
Living Without a Washer/Dryer
This post is Part 2 of the Living Without series.
For many urban residents living in houses or multi-dwelling homes that were built 50 years ago or more, laundry rooms are non-existent, and their homes may well not even have the plumbing to handle a modern washer and dryer unit. For others, living without a modern laundry system is a conscious choice, whether for space (most of these appliances are huge, and dual-purpose or stackable units are expensive), to save money, or to minimize their environmental impact.
Since dry-cleaning is expensive over time and uses harsh chemicals, we will assume that is only an option for dry-clean only clothes. Here are some more ways to live well without a washer and/or dryer.
- Manual clothes washers – You might think old-fashioned “agitators” had gone the way of the telegraph, but manual washers are still in heavy use among the frugal, long-term travelers, and in other parts of the world. Most of the benefit of getting clean clothes comes from the clothes twisting and pushing against each other, so you really only have to use a little bit of soap to get your garments clean, and the process only takes about five minutes. The WonderWash is probably the best-known manual washing product, and it can handle 5-lb loads at a time.
- Hand-washing – It’s not exactly fun, but to get clothes clean by hand, you’ve really got to scrub and twist, giving your arms a thorough workout in the process. If you have a bucket of water or a big sink, you can give this method a try. Hand-washing underwear and shirts isn’t that difficult, but getting jeans and other thick, heavy clothes clean enough to wear is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. For more on hand-washing clothes, click here.
- Laundry pickup and delivery services – These are usually locally-owned businesses, so I can’t recommend any particular company, but you’ll probably find at least a couple by searching for “laundry pickup” + your city. You will usually pay by the pound for clothes to be washed, though some places may offer payment by the bag. This is not a particularly environmentally-friendly approach to cleaning clothes, but it is extremely convenient. If you live in a condo or apartment, your office may have a recommendation of a provider to use.
- Clothesline drying – This is an almost effortless way to dry clothes, and you can get clothes dry even in cold climates if you give them all day. If air-drying them makes them too stiff for your comfort, shake them thoroughly both before and after you hang them, and add a little fabric softener to the wash. Here’s a huge list of tips on hand-drying clothing at ThriftyFun.
Here at Microliving, we definitely recommend doing a periodic clutter sweep, but you might be throwing items away that could be going to a good cause and reused by others. Here’s how and where to donate some of the more unusual items you might have lying around your home.
- Rechargeable Batteries – All batteries that are rechargeable are accepted at Call to Recycle, which only excludes alkaline and wet-cell batteries. Recycling is free, and there are over 30,000 drop-off centers at retailers nationwide (US) for your convenience. It is illegal in many states to throw away rechargeable batteries because of the levels of metals that can poison the environment, so look around for appropriate batteries in old cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and cordless phones. All reclaimed metals and materials are re-used and never end up in a landfill.
- Unused Medication – Every year thousands of pills are flushed into the sewer system, and scientists have yet to determine the long-term impacts of medicines in our drinking water. Unexpired anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, pain relievers, and HIV/AIDS medication are desperately needed by the Health Equity Project for shipment to those suffering from disease in Africa. Donation is free, minus shipping costs, though they ask that you make a small donation to cover shipment overseas. Unfortunately, few other charities can accept expired medication due to national and local restrictions, so the most environmentally-friendly approach to medicine disposal is mixing the individual tablets with used coffee grounds or clean cat litter and packing the mix into a disposable container such as a butter carton, and throwing the container away.
Clothing, Household Goods, and Furniture – The Salvation Army accepts most common items around your house, excluding consumer electronics such as mp3 players and DVD players, though they will gladly take washing machines and air conditioners, among other household appliances. For a complete list of what they accept, along with a useful valuation guide for tax deduction purposes, click here. The Salvation Army has a pickup service that covers most major metropolitan areas in the US, so you don’t even need a truck to donate your old items.- Consumer Electronics – Best Buy offers electronics donation areas in all of their retail centers. Two items are accepted per household for day free of charge, excluding CRTs, laptops, monitors, and TVs smaller than 32″, which involve a $10 fee that is offset by a $10 Best Buy gift card for each of the excluded items you donate. Hard drives, and appliances containing freon are not accepted. Large TVs and other big electronics can be picked up at your home by the Best Buy pickup service for recycling for $100.
- Holiday Lights – If you have broken or unwanted holiday lights lying around from this just-passed Yuletide season, ship them to The Christmas Light Source, who will recycle them and use the proceeds to make a donation to the Toys for Tots charity next Christmas.
This is by no means a complete list of items you have lying around, but it’s a start. Remember to tackle all cleaning and de-cluttering projects a little at a time, and check back in a week or so for another list of recycling options.
Whether you live in an apartment complex with strict regulations on painting your walls, or if you just plan on moving soon and don’t want to have to put up with the hassle of painting, you can still create visually interesting walls without breaking open a can of paint.
Wall stickers -These can range from a set of smaller stickers that you can arrange in your own patterns on your walls, to over-sized murals made to take up an entire wall by itself. Some are re-usable and some are not, but they will not damage your walls coming off. Wall stickers can range from a small pack for around $20 to $100-200 for very large images. Check out blik for professionally designed wall stickers, or RoomMates for more options, including licensed images.- Wallpaper – Wallpaper doesn’t have to be ugly and out-dated – there are plenty of fun, modern styles to choose from these days. Sherwin-Williams has a line of easy-to-remove wallpaper perfect for renters, with hundreds of cute designs. Wallpaper in general will take at least a few hours to put up if you want it to look even, so be aware that it can be a time-consuming process.
- Artwork - You can buy affordable prints at Art.com or ArtPrints.com (though framing gets expensive quickly), or original paintings by up-and-coming artists on Etsy.com. You can also mix and match similarly-styled paintings and group them together on one wall for a unique but stylish art grouping.
- Wall Quotes: Hanging, inspirational wall quotes can provide an uplifting atmosphere and provide a constant affirmation of something that is important to you. Best of all, you can bring the quotes with you to your next home.
- Cloth - One of my favorite options, you can apply starch to fabric and then press it onto the wall you’d like to cover with starch. Depending on the price of the fabric you use, this can be a very cheap option, and the cloth is completely re-usable after a round in the washing machine. For full directions on applying fabric to your walls, check out this article on Rental Decorating.com.
This post was updated on February 15, 2010.
