I take computer printouts that I’m done with, flip them over, stack them in a pile, and clip the pile together with a clothespin. Voila! Instant notepad! Never buy another yellow pad.

Hanging the laundry came back to me (as an old bat, I spent my childhood helping my mother hang up the laundry…there was no such thing as a “clothes dryer”) during a moment of laziness. The darn dryer buzzes every ten minutes, and I got tired of dropping what I was doing (usually something unannoying) to trudge out to the garage and rescue the clothes from the dryer before they turned into a wad of wrinkles. One day I thought…what the heck! Betcha about 90% of these things would dry just fine if you gave them a shake, hung ‘em up on a clothes hanger, and let them dry in the garage.

Hot dang! It worked. They came out just fine, and the whole afternoon was QUIET! Not only that, but at the time I had a lot of linen & cotton that had to be ironed (since then have gotten rid of that stuff, as part of the general Laziness Project). Air drying them leaves them just slightly stiff, so they iron up nice and crisp, almost as if you had put in a tiny bit of starch. Some clothes, however, didn’t need pressing at all.

Next, I strung some clothesline rope (not easy to find these days) from the patio rafters. Now I could hang the sheets. The neighbors can’t see them (believe it or not, some people REALLY resent laundry hanging out, and around here homeowner’s associations forbid it), but they get the benefit of drying in the open air…and they smell soooo good when you put them on the bed!

And not once do you get buzzed at by the dryer.

And rambkowalczyk, true, it can lead to clutter. Luckily I almost have OCD (or do have) and there is no clutter in our house. Both ingredients are available in most grocery stores, they are usually on a bottom shelf gathering dust. It should not make excess suds, no.

I do subscribe to our local freecycle group and not only have gotten a couple of items for nothing but have also gotten rid of stuff that was perfectly usable but just collecting dust in my home.

Concerning the laundry detergent–What is washing soda? Is it something that can be bought in a local grocery store? Grated Fels Naptha soap–is this an item readily available? Borax, I am familiar with having used it to make Goop.
Does this detergent make a lot of suds. I have a front load washer and excess suds can be a problem.

The spaghetti jars are really good as grease receptacles, too. plus that way I don’t have to wash them too terribly carefully, because they’re just going in the trash once they’re full anyway, eh?

The idea of ordering prescriptions by mail is intriguing, I’ve never heard of that before.

Thanks for these ideas!