When Ideals Collide With Comfort

Hello,

I strongly believe in using rags because I feel that is a good use of a product that has reached the end of its original useful life. It saves the earth’s energy by not filling the landfill yet, not contributing to the manufacture of paper towels which I believe involves quite a lot of water, and the packaging that goes for those towels. It is also quite a strong alternative that is often, but not always, very absorbent. Because of this belief in the importance of rags I have managed to collect quite a lot of them which I put, when dirty in a bag whose other purpose I do not know or remember. When this bag is full and the rag baskets, I have two on in the kitchen and one in the bathroom, are almost empty, I wash rags. Greasy rags just get thrown away as I do not want to put that grease down the drain and put a strain on the water reclaiming process. Rag washing happened today. Because of the demise of several items, my rag supply has grown considerably.

I also believe strongly in hanging out clothes rather than drying them in the powered dryer. Well let me just say that hanging up a million rags is not quite as pleasurable as hanging up sheets. After a while a strong will was required to keep going. It almost wiped out my supply of clothes pins and line room. About half of them are hung as my mother used to hang clothes, with two like items sharing a clothes pin, thus saving a pin and taking less line room. Only by using that method did I manage to get them all on the line and still have five pins left to languish in the pin bucket.

I also fold rags because then they take less room. I am not looking with joy at that upcoming daunting task. Perhaps I should change my self talk here, and remind me, “I have plenty of rags, line, pins, and sunshine. Not all are so blessed.” I remember when visiting Sarah in Kenya that I saw many things were hung on some bushes. Sunshine was there in abundance, but not lines or pins. In spite of this lack almost all Kenyans that I saw were dressed neatly and cleanly.

Paula