In which I proffer house-keeping tips...

So, yesterday I confessed that I have given up ironing. I guess you could say that I’m in ironing recovery, because I could relapse at anytime. Just thinking about it too hard makes me want drag my ironing board down the stairs and get my trusty Rowenta out. I tell you – there is just something therapeutic about taking a garment or pillowcase that is all wrinkly and transforming it to perfection. I know you think I’m sick, but there it is.

While I’m spilling my guts about domestic tasks, I’ll also tell you that I LOVE to hang clothes out on a clothesline. The wash cloths have to be together, the bath towels together, the dish towels together, the unmentionables together and on down the line. Standing outside on a beautiful spring day and hanging up clothes is therapy, just like ironing; but the by-laws of our neighborhood prohibit clotheslines of any type, so I am denied this therapy.

One of my other greatest pleasures of life - sheets dried on the line. OH THE JOY!

Happily, I have found an alternative. Some time back on another blog (The Pioneer Woman), she posted how she had a difficult time getting all of the sheets changed on the SIX beds in their guest lodge, (in addition to the beds in their house). Her solution was to put the sheets on the bed WET. Now, this set off a firestorm on her blog, people were commenting left and right, as if she had said she had peed on the bed or something. People were shaming her, predicting botulism (not really, just thought that sounded good), moss, fungus, mold, mildew and everything else in between.

Well, I decided to try her wet sheet method. Let me say right now, that this probably WILL NOT work for you unless you have a front-load washer. They use a lot less water than top-load washers and then the RPM’s they use at spin cycle is enough to launch them into space. My clothes come out of my washer practically dry anyway.

I then throw the sheets in my dryer on WRINKLE RELEASE for a few minutes, take them and put both the fitted sheet and the top sheet on. I don’t tuck the top sheet in at this point – I leave it loose and I turn on the ceiling fan in the bedroom and within 3 hours or so the sheets will be dry. I spray the pillowcases with Downey Wrinkle Release, give them a sharp snap, lay them on a flat surface and flip them over in an hour or so.

Since I only buy 100% cotton sheets, the best part of this sheet method is that they dry nearly wrinkle free (yippee). Plus they smell and feel as close to outdoor sheets as I’m going to get.