Hang 'Em Dry/Freeze Yer Buns

This past weekend brought an end to the Hang 'Em Dry Challenge, but you'd never know it here at Casa de Mallard. We're on an earth/money saving roll and have no intention of stopping now. During the month of October, we did approximately 35 loads of laundry and only used the dryer for about 150 minutes. If we had dried every load, we would have used 25 hours of drying time. 25 hours! That's ridiculous! I was feeling a little defeated by the 150 minutes, but I guess it just takes a little math to brighten my day. Of the loads we washed, 10 were diapers, 4 were sheets, and 4 were towels. Our bathrobes were grungy, so that was two loads--they can't be washed together, lest they fuzz all over each other. The car seat cover had to be washed, as did the new quilt. The mattress pad counts for one load, leaving only 13 loads of actual clothes. Not too shabby. Again, the total number seemed like a lot (too much!), but breaking it down makes me feel less defeated and more like a laundry badass.

Now that the habit of hanging our clothes to dry has become a part of our everyday lives, it's time for a new challenge...it's Crunchy Chicken's Freeze Yer Buns Challenge! It's like this: you choose a daytime and nighttime temperature that's at least a degree or two below where you would typically keep the thermostat during the winter and stick with it until Spring. That's it. Totally easy, especially if you work during the day. Since the Biggest Girl and I can often be found lounging about, eating bon-bons and chuckling at the workaday suckers that have to wear pants (can you imagine?!), we've chosen no higher than 68 during the day and 65 at night. There are some bold folks in the challenge that are going as low at 55-60 during the day, but we're not quite ready for that leap just yet.

To make up for our slightly higher choice of temperatures, we're doing a few things to make the most of the heat we use. First, we'll continue to hang out clothes to dry and we'll position the racks under the heat vents on the days the heat actually kicks on. Second, if there's a particularly chilly morning, I'll get the baking out of the way early. This will not only knock a few things of my list-o-stuff to do, but will also take the chill off the house without having to use the furnace. I've done this a couple times already and I have to admit the cozy aroma of homemade granola is a great way to start a rainy day. Not conducive to getting motivated to leave the house, but fabulous, nonetheless.

As an added bonus, there will be prizes and giveaways for those who head over to Crunchy Chicken and sign up to participate.

Prizes + lower gas/electric bill + saving the world=Bring on the brrr!