Our twin tub saves on both water and electricity. Water has been in short supply here since last winter was very dry. And yes, while our electricity is 'free' from the sun, it's actually more like pre-paying for it, and of course it's limited by the size of our system and available sunshine (we do get plenty of sun!).
We got the twin tub at a clearing sale one hot summer day a few years ago now. I'm not sure if I remember correctly if it was $60, but I'm sure it didn't cost more than $80. It was so clean, it hardly looked used!
We got the twin tub at a clearing sale one hot summer day a few years ago now. I'm not sure if I remember correctly if it was $60, but I'm sure it didn't cost more than $80. It was so clean, it hardly looked used!
I give my Mum credit for suggesting using the Sunshine bar of soap for washing. (She told me that she had to use it when I was a baby, or I would come out in a rash.. why doesn't that surprise me?) I just grate it up and it dissolves no problem. Oh, I see they changed the name, it's Sunlight now. I think it's just over $3 for 6 bars. I wasn't happy using the 'greywater safe', 'eco friendly' liquids and powders full of salts and phosphates on the garden.
Soap works just as well for us as laundry powder or liquid. Rinsing is much easier because there are less bubbles, I'm getting away with just one single rinse, I'm not even using vinegar!
The Breathing Mobile Washer is a blue hand-held thingy I got online and was kindly sent to me by Marty's Mom in the USA! It's great for washing (especially if I want to wash on a cloudy day) and I use it for rinsing the clothes in the bucket below. That way I can have a second load of laundry going while I rinse the first load. I think I might have this down to an art! ;)
Anyway, that's how I'm doing the laundry and saving money and resources. The less money we spend, the more time Marty and I can spend together.
Marty has only two weeks left of work, something we've been looking forward to for some time now. Now that we've paid off the farm, we're going to give this thing another shot. One last solid attempt before deciding if our future is here or if we'd be happier somewhere else, doing something else entirely.
This is such a great idea. The old twin tub is very economical with water. I do hope you will find that when Marty is free from outside work, that you can get ahead with your plans for the property. And I wish you rain. Lots of soaking rain...sooner
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, some lovely soaking rain would be wonderful! :)
DeleteYes, indeed, rain is much needed in many parts of Oz at the moment. I hope we both get some SOON. We were forecast rain, but as usual, just got mizzle (combination of mist and drizzle). So while it's a nice reprieve from baking hot days, it does jack-all to hydrate the ground.
ReplyDeleteIf I may give some advice, as someone who lives in a dry area too, the temptation is always there to find a wetter area. More reliable rainfall. But from what I can tell, this drying effect is fairly widespread. I know there are areas, a few mountain ranges over from us, that traditionally get more rainfall - but they're still struggling to grow food and rely completely on bore water.
When we've explored relocating in the past, a few issues came up. #1 Cost - could we afford to buy in the new location. Prices have jumped astronomically since we first purchased land in 2005. #2 Location - could where we afford to buy land, keep us in the same accessible location to services we needed (into our aging years), and our kids transitioning to adulthood?
Inevitably it came up as no, on both counts. It actually made more financial sense to save a mere $10-$20 thousand, to sink a bore. Rather than spend an excess of $100K to relocate to an underdeveloped previously owned property, where we would probably have to spend around $50k extra to redevelop.
But if your location to services, isn't already ideal (ours was, just the rainfall sucked) then it won't be an issue if you decide to relocate. It will make it that much easier. I'm confident the rain will fall again, just not in this particular season. I'm using it as an opportunity to build ponds and swales, so I might capture that windfall when it does arrive.
I can only imagine what it was like for our forebears, who didn't have the luxury of supermarkets, in a drought.
Hi Chris, thanks for your thoughts!
DeleteI remind myself that there isn't a perfect place we can move to, that every place has it's challenges. With higher rainfall seems to come poor quality soils or even sand. I do appreciate our land, even though it has it's own issues. Our location is an hour from two large inland cities, and although we don't have facilities locally, I love the quiet, the locals are mostly older dryland farmers. I like their attitudes.
On the other hand, we don't fit in with the community here as it's very family orientated, and has a drinking culture. We don't drink, eat junk food or have children. I don't sew, bake or craft. Thankfully we're not very social, or we'd be feeling quite lonely. We do love a clearing sale, though. :)
There's no easy answers, but I'm grateful for this opportunity to live this lifestyle, and we'll see what happens over the next 6 months, or even a year. We have so many ideas and dreams for this place still..
PS, cool twin tub. My gran always used these. Several were strewn around the outside verandah too, for parts, lol.
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