Planning a luxury vacation (while living in poverty)

[lilwriter85]

Abigial is being annoying about the dryer thing. She could be air drying the clothes inside on one of those wooden racks. Many people use those racks for different reasons. I know several people with working dryers that will put clothes or sheets out on the line or on those wooden racks most of the year.

[LucySnowe]

I live in a one-bedroom apartment with a washing machine but no dryer, and we hang clothing on foldable racks and the sheets over the backs of doors, and prior to that I lived in a two-bedroom apartment with a washing machine but no dryer, and we hung clothing on foldable racks or on the outside line when it was nice out, and NONE OF THIS MEANS THAT I AM POOR and now I am going to go cheer myself up by reading Planned Parenthood's responses to Plan B being made available to all women.

Oh, and 'causal [sic] day'? Lol.

[freethemall]

Reminds me of families who shove their quivers into tiny trailers and then take trips to expensive creationism museums...

[lilwriter85]

On the topic of Abigail and her law degree, I get that not every law school graduate ends practicing law as a career. One of my high school English teachers was a full time practicing lawyer for several years. She didn't like it and she decided to go into teaching. But she kept her law license valid to do the occasional side legal work or do pro bono work for non-profits. Abigail could do some occasional legal or consultation work to help out her family financially. But she won't do it because of her weird BS affiliation with the Carmalite order.

[JesusFightClub]

Abigial is being annoying about the dryer thing. She could be air drying the clothes inside on one of those wooden racks. Many people use those racks for different reasons. I know several people with working dryers that will put clothes or sheets out on the line or on those wooden racks most of the year.

That's what I've got, a wooden rack (oo-er). It's great! The clothes dry really fast (and that's inside the flat, too). I wouldn't swap it for a dryer which would be ££££ more on my leccy bill anyway.

That's not poverty, it's just common sense!

[Nothing2CHere]

Hey, Abigail. Guess what - I hang clothes outside to dry. And I'm NOT poor. So don't be saying "No wonder no one does this anymore." I usually use the dryer for only underwear, towels & jeans (and that's because when those line dry, no matter how much fabric softener I use, they still feel like cardboard to me). That's just how I roll, I think it keeps my clothes from fading or shrinking. And common sense, if the weather is crappy, like everyone else said, you hang the stuff up inside instead.

Oooh, an excuse to use this smilie! :chores-laundry:

[Mudball]

And re. the laundry, is she really so destitute that she can't scrape together a couple bucks to dry a load of work clothes for her husband at the Laundromat in that situation?

I went 10+ years without a dryer, and am currently without one again. Since we live in a rainy area I frequently hang clothing on hangers on doorframes, wooden clothes racks, and the shower rod and only hang towels and sheets outdoors (unless I know for certain we will have a dry day). It doesn't exactly tax the brain to figure this stuff out. :roll:

[Sola]

Oh my gosh!!! She has to hang her clothes to dry?!?! How horrific. How utterly horrific. I can't even imagine. Poverty is truly shocking. No working dryer... God save her.

Everybody line dries clothes here (UK). We have dryers, but it just isn't done to use it if the weather is OK for line drying. Even today I got some clothes lined dried this morning but it started raining this afternoon. I put the rest of the washing on the clothes airer in the hall. They'll be dry by morning. The only thing that ended up in the dryer was the load of towels I did.

[longskirtlotsakids]

When I lived in Germany I only knew one person with a clothes dryer. I'll have to go tell them that they're horribly deprived and marvel at their ability to have enough clean clothes EVEN IN THE RAIN. Abigail is quite the whiner...

True that. My cousin in France says *most* families do not have a dryer because of power costs. It is hilarious what she thinks poor is. With a law degree.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I grew up without a dryer. We live somewhere that is very rainy. Didnt mean we didnt do washing. We did the washing and hung up clothing to dry in other places of the house-we had a rack thing to dry them on, and hung clothes on doors which dont need to be closed, radiators, on the railings at the very top of the stairs...anywhere we could.

[ShadowyOne]

I personally have never lived without a dryer *when* I have had a washer of my own (in college dorms and apartments that had neither, there was a communal facility or the laundromat), but in many, many places (in the first world!) it is common to hang one's laundry to dry. It's just a way of life; you just adapt when the weather is poor, as others have said. It's not a crazy hardship.

And anyway, this crazy lady needs to decide whether her hardships are a blessing or a curse. Either be truthful that she doesn't really embrace her "poverty" or STFU already. Budgets are a bit tight for us at the moment, but we still live in a nice house, with food on the table, and budget for non-essentials such as Internet and cable. I am a bit nervous about what will happen when I take my (non-paid.. thanks American safety net!) maternity leave, and at that time some of those luxuries may go, but never, ever fool myself into thinking that I am living in poverty. Fuck you, Abigail!

[Muriel]

Everybody line dries clothes here (UK). We have dryers, but it just isn't done to use it if the weather is OK for line drying. Even today I got some clothes lined dried this morning but it started raining this afternoon. I put the rest of the washing on the clothes airer in the hall. They'll be dry by morning. The only thing that ended up in the dryer was the load of towels I did.

Same here ! I'm not poor at all and I bought my first dryer last fall (I have a family of 5), never had the idea of buying one before. I used it last winter for things like sheets, towels and jeans, now I'm back to my clothe-line and will only use the dryer again next fall !

Dryers put a lot of wear on clothes so I don't see the point of using it for the clothes and year round.

This Abigaïl is an idiot :angry-banghead:

[PopRox]

I had a broken dryer a couple of years ago and no yard to line dry (and no drying rack at that time, either). I hung my clothes over the backs of chairs and tops of doors, and when I ran out of those I started opening up cabinets. It looked funny, sure, but it got my clothes dry.

I figured out a solution and I don't even have a law degree, Abigail.

[Arete]

I have stayed in Europe enough times to do my share of line drying and ironing. I DETEST ironing sheets, towels, and jeans, and for that reason alone if I lived in the EU, I would get a dryer.

That said, I got news for that bitch if she thinks line drying is a sign of either poverty or holiness...

Edited because an adjective is not a noun.

[SpeakNow]

When I was a kid my mother used to hang the clothes to dry on the ladder of my bunk bed. She still has the ladder...it's her favorite drying rack.

[Sola]

I have stayed in Europe enough times to do my share of line drying and ironing. I DETEST ironing sheets, towels, and jeans, and for that reason alone if I lived in the EU, I would get a dryer.

That said, I got new for that bitch if she thinks line drying is a sign of either poverty or holiness...

Ironing sheets, towels and jeans? What is this heresyyou speak of? The only thing iI iron is cotton shirts.

[Arete]

Ironing sheets, towels and jeans? What is this heresyyou speak of? The only thing iI iron is cotton shirts.

The jeans are rough, and so are the towels! They chaff unless you iron them. :lol: The sheets are a wrinkled mess unless they get a pressing. :(

[OkToBeTakei]

The jeans are rough, and so are the towels! They chaff unless you iron them. :lol: The sheets are a wrinkled mess unless they get a pressing. :(

Decent fabric conditioner and a setting on the machine for a shorter spin. I never need to iron sheets or duvet covers. Even cotton. Jeans though, yup are a bit rough. Couple of days out in the rain helps :whistle:

[lorem ipsum]

True that. My cousin in France says *most* families do not have adryer because of power costs. It is hilarious what she thinks poor is. With a law degree.

Yup line drying is very common in Australia too, largely for this reason. Electricity is quite expensive and many/most homes come with a built-in clothesline in the backyard. I *do* have a dryer because I'm happy to shell out the bucks for convenience (much to my MIL's ongoing horror lol), but I recognize that not having one -- as I didn't for my first 7 years here -- doesn't equal poverty.

[Mami2four]

It may seem sad to Abigail but I can't wait for the day that I can finally have a washing line to dry clothes outside even though our main weather type here is wet or wetter lol. Our garden is basically the side of a mountain and every time we save enough money to sort it out life gets in the way and it has to be spent elsewhere, because you know, a boiler for heating and hot water is kinda more important!

I have had a tumble dryer for about 7 years but it is really expensive to run so clothes still tend to go on radiators and the clothes horse just like they did for the first 7 years we lived here. Purely out of curiosity but do you not have radiators in the US?

My nana didn't even have a washing machine up until the day she died a few years ago, she thought she was in the lap of luxury when my uncle bought her a spin dryer a few years before - this still requires the clothes to be hung out to dry just meant she didn't have to wring them.

[jaelh]

The jeans are rough, and so are the towels! They chaff unless you iron them. :lol: The sheets are a wrinkled mess unless they get a pressing. :(

I.......

I am without words. I've ordered some Lands End sheets (my skydog, your prices, they are so, so, so, so good. even when we're no where near parity for the dollar. and the quality! ye gads!). I've always laughed at their "no iron sheets" - like, what? really? people iron sheets.

Aretejo, you've blown my mind. I THOUGHT YOU SHEET IRONERS WERE LIKE UNICORNS. You only existed in imagination. But, it appears - Not so. And Towels?

I iron only work shirts. And then, only sometimes (and I'm moving towards a lovely range of no iron, under suit knits, thank you). Ironing TOWELS? SHEETS? The rough, it exfoliates! The wrinkles, they stretch on the bed! The work, it makes me weep to think of...

[Arete]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I want my towels soft. And I don't like it when my jeans can stand on their own.

Oh, and let me tell you something that will curl you into the fetal position and have you rocking back and forth. I know women who iron UNDERWEAR and SOCKS. :cray-cray: Bow before that! :cracking-up:

[jaelh]

socks?

now, that's just a mental disorder of some sort.

Socks? Ha.

[Mudball]

The jeans are rough, and so are the towels! They chaff unless you iron them. :lol: The sheets are a wrinkled mess unless they get a pressing. :(

It's all part of my frugal plan, it's how I save money on exfoliation! :lol:

[lilith]

socks?

now, that's just a mental disorder of some sort.

Socks? Ha.

My grandmother irons socks, underwear, tea towels, face washers, pretty much anything she can get her hands on. She's the one who taught me how to iron - my mother doesn't iron. Ever. We didn't own an iron growing up, Mum would press out school uniforms between mattresses to keep the pleats in, and that was it.

My mother also existed without a washer or a drier. And she used cloth nappies. She'll still talk about how satisfied and proud she used to feel seeing all the clean, hand washed, white nappies hanging on the line! We weren't poor, just hippies living off low voltage solar power and limited water supply.

I use the drier about half the time, always for towels. But I always put Partner's work shirts straight onto a hanger to dry hanging off the wardrobe door. Same with the kid's school shirts/dresses. It means they need minimal ironing, and the dry in any weather. There is no reason for Abigail's husband to be going to work without his work clothes, business shirts will dry inside overnight.

I'm wondering what early Carmelite nuns would have thought about washing machines and dryers.