The Habits Of The Home

 

Until recently I was the only guy in my neighborhood with a push gas mower, since everyone here has riding mowers. Now, I'm the only guy mowing his half acre with a manual, old-school reel mower. And I'm really digging it.

For those who aren't familiar, these are the old school non-gas, non-electric mowers with blades that rotate by muscle power. They are usually intended for city/small lots, but I found one that was wider at 20" which almost matched my previous gas push mower. It cost me $40 on Craigslist. The cut is fine, you have to overlap the rows a bit more than you would with a normal mower, and it's definitely more effort than a gas or self-propelled electric. But since I sit on my ass all day at a computer during the week, and don't belong to a gym, I consider this a forced workout--and it's a good one.

One nice thing too is I enlisted my 10 year old to do half the lawn for me for $20, while I do the other half. I know he'll hate me as he gets older, but I have more comfort that there's no gas to mess with, or electric cord to run over. He was struggling a bit at first, but I'm proud of him in pushing through and completing the whole back last week. Besides an occasional backlapping/sharpening once a year, there's really nothing to do with it--no oil to change, no battery to charge, nothing to plug it into. It's more effort for sure, but it comes with very little maintenance upkeep and cost. 

Then there is the dishwasher. This is our second dishwasher in seven years, and this one is only four years old. The heating element seems to have gone, which means that it washes but doesn't dry the dishes that well. When our washer died last year, I made sure to get an older model used on Craiglist that were built better and to last, without any bells and whistles; I got a 20 year old toploader for $50 and it is holding up fine--I plan to repair it if it needs it. 

But since dishwashers are in the kitchen, there's some ascetic considerations; I dont necessarily want one from the 1980's. I found a similar stainless steel model from a guy on Craigslist who upgraded all his appliances and is getting rid of his working GE (again, for $50) that I will take a look at next week. But I may not even do that if we end up washing dishes by hand.

Like the mowers ("won't start, not sure what's wrong with it, for scrap") put out to the curb on Craigslist, dishwashers and other appliances are becoming more commonly rendered inoperable after four or five years. A new circuit board might cost upwards of $200, so people just scrap them and buy another one. Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of this cycle personally--I would gladly pay more to have something last twice as long. But now I'm questioning the unquestionable--why do I need this at all? 

I spent the morning getting some additional things to make this new "system" work. I have it all set up, and have been testing the "system" since last night--it is working much better and easier than I thought it would! It needs buy in from the family (check) and a different approach to out usually slovenly habit of leaving dishes everywhere, and just grabbing new ones--kind of a new "clean as you go" approach.

I have one dish basin filled with two gallons of soapy water in the sink on one side where dishes and silverware can soak for a bit. When that gets close to full, one can use a stiff bristled brush sitting in a cup of dish soap and water to wash the dish/bowl/silverware and then simply drop it in the other dish pan on the counter (filled with 2 gallons of water and 2 tbsps of bleach or a few drops of tea tree oil) for a quick rinse, take out, and put in the dish rack right next to it. It's shockingly simple, and not much more effort than some of the additional steps needed with the dishwasher (plus no bending, which is a plus). Plus if a piece of cultlery or a plate or bowl is needed, it can just be grabbed from the dish rack, futher simplifying the constant need to be loading/unloading/putting away from the dishwasher. 

I did crack during the heat wave and turned on our twenty year old central air for the week. Now that nightime temps are dropping back down to the low seventies in the late evening, I may go back to opening up windows and running the box fans at night to bring in the cooler air (though it does raise the humidity in the house a little). We still have our mobile air conditioner in our bedroom as well, if the central AC ever does conk out one of these days. 

And of course, we haven't used the dyer in years, except very rarely. Drying the clothes on giant racks in the bedroom under the skylights have worked really well, and now we don't even think of it as an inconvenience. It's just the way we dry clothes, by hanging them. There's nothing to break, nothing to repair. And it really doesn't take much more time either; pluse the clothes when they are dry are right by our dressers, so we just take them off, fold them, and put them away right there. Easy.

Not all things that are old-fashioned are better (I'm reminded of the clever funny ad about 'hand-crafted artisinal toilet paper') --but not all things that are new are either, and they come with a cost for convenience that we don't always think about. Everything is a trade off in one way or another, and engineer-types would be best to remember that sometimes the simplest solutions are better than the most optimized or efficient. 

This is in the trial stage right now--the reel mower, the handwashing dishes, the fans--but I'm hopeful it may be one more thing we do somewhat intentionally, and one less thing we have to worry about breaking down. I think a change in mindset will be important too--mowing the lawn isn't a chore, but a chance to exercise. Washing the dishes isn't a bother (well, we'll see) but a chance to relax and do some Christian meditation over the suds and rinsing. The fans--well, maybe that's an opportunity just for mortification.

Regardless, I'll let you know how it goes. For softies like me, what's old is new again.