Frugality....

I really think that the Dutch Frugal-penny pinching gene has been activated and is going crazy in me.


About 2 months ago we looked into and eventually purchased cloth diapers. A $150 start-up cost and 24 diapers. Now we're saving $40 a month. We're still using disposable wipes, but I suspect when the new baby comes and we start using more wipes, I'll cut up some receiving blankets into cloth wipes.


I know that one of the best ways to dry a diaper and "bleach" any stains is to dry it in the sun. And now that it's summer and we have no rain and LOTS of heat and sun, it's the perfect time to do that. But I have no way of air-drying my diapers. I have nothing clean onto which I can set my clean diapers to dry. I don't even have a sweater drying rack, which makes me sad.


I've been drying my covers by hanging them on all the towel racks and on top of the shower. That works, but don't have enough room for all the diapers. And I don't get to take advantage of the sun. I've asked Josh if we could hang up some of our old towel bars in the garage. That at least gets me more room. But I still want to use the sun.


So I started pricing sweater drying racks. They are about what I remember ... starting around $30. But then further investigation showed me that we could get a portable clothes line for only $85. And it folds up and I can put it away so that it doesn't take up the whole back yard. Not bad!!!


If I'm going to spend $85 on a portable clothes line, I should just dry all our clothes on there in the summer. Think of all the money we could save by not running our dryer. And then it wouldn't heat the garage either. WOW!!!


Now I understand why my underwear always hung outside at the cottage. I'm not as embarrassed about it now. Well ... maybe I won't hang up underwear for all the neighbors to see, but I could do socks and t-shirts and pants.


In the mean time, I've thought about just getting a piece of rope and stringing it across something and hanging clothes on there. Clothes pins are cheap, right????