Clothes Line

I'm SO excited that now I'll be able to save even MORE money cloth diapering by drying them ALL outside!  Prior to now, I've been drying the pocket diaper covers outside by hanging them over our patio chairs but I still had to dry the inserts/fitted diapers in the dryer.  Since the bulkiest part of the dipaer is the insert, it takes a long time to dry them.  I've been talking to Jon about a clothes line for over a year, but we didn't think we had any space for one.  However, today we went to Lowe's and looked to see if they at least had a small foldable drying rack (that some people use inside) but we found something even BETTER!

At first glance this might seem like one of those old-fashioned tacky clothes line, but apparently the design of these things has improved tremendously!   We originally dismissed the idea of a permanent clothes line thinking it we didn't have the yard space.  However, we found this clothes line is completely foldable and is designed to be taken down when not in use!  What's even better is that we have an umbrella stand we're not using right now since our umbrella broke in a wind storm last fall, and the pole to the clothes line fits right in there so now we also can move it around wherever we want!  (The design of the umbrella is for the ground insert to permanently be placed into the ground with concrete so it is flush with the ground and the pole drops in that insert when needed.)  The line is some sort of plastic covered cable--similar to some dog leashes--so it is not the thick metal wire that some older lines used to be made of.  This also allows the line to fold away very neatly.  Jon is going to make some sort of bench for outside to store this inside and so the kids can sit on the bench, etc.  Just to keep from having to walk it in and out from the garage or storage building. 

What's better is that now I'm going to be able to dry anything outside that doesn't matter if it gets the "pinch marks" from the clothes pins--basically anything except our shirts and pants that need to be wrinkle free.  I think I'm even going to dry the kids' clothes outside except their nicer clothes.  It's the little things now that make me happy!