Tuesday 3 February 2015

Laundry Help & Rolling Back The Years To A Scottish Childhood :)

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post, or to recommend this product. These are just my thoughts regarding the latest addition to our kitchen makeover and I wanted to share.

Hello honeys
Another very busy weekend at work is over with and I'm a very tired woman.  However I'm also a very happy woman too :)  Thanks to a lovely delivery guy on Friday morning and to my dear sweet Hubby, I now have a beautiful kitchen utility item that takes me back to my childhood days every time I look at it :)

Rolling Back The Years: Drying Clothes Old School Style And Memories Of A Scottish Childhood Home...

Quite honestly I really didn't think these fabulous, wonderful items were even made any more so stumbling across them on Amazon actually made me squeal with happiness!

As you know honeys we've been working on our kitchen for a while now.  First our tiny, but very pretty I think, kitchen linens storage, then our budget kitchen makeover, where we added a new worktop and cabinet, and then came the fabulous little wonder trolley that just completed the space under our new worktop perfectly.  Next I wrote a post sharing how we'd organized our kitchen walls to give us lots of much needed extra storage.


It's been a lot of work, and our kitchen is no where near as stunning as the ones I sit staring at on Pinterest but oh my, do I love it! I feel so happy in there. No matter what I'm doing, be it cooking, doing laundry or just waiting for the kettle to boil for a cuppa.  Just being in our kitchen makes me smile honeys 😍  

As a child growing up on the west coast of Scotland, almost every home had a "pulley" in the kitchen.  Usually because this was the warmest room in the house. We didn't have central heating back then (how old do I sound :) We'd have a coal fire in the living room and the hot water tank, either heated by an electric immersion system or in our case by the living room coal fire, would be in the kitchen.  So the heat from the hot water tank, and the almost constantly running stove would dry the laundry hanging on the "pulley" in no time.

Growing up in a tenement or "close" holding two to three flats/apartments to each floor in the building and a family in each flat, lots of laundry had to be washed and dried. During the summer there would be line after line of washing blowing in the breeze all along the communal "backs" or back courts.  During the winter months though, in the days before tumble dryers, laundry still needed done & still needed to be dried. That is where a kitchen "pulley" would save the day. 

Finding out I could buy one of these fabulous items just lit up my day. Yes I am aware of how sad that makes me sound but what can I say? I love laundry, it really is my favourite household "chore" and owning a pulley again seemed like a perfect bridge to some wonderfully happy childhood memories. On a more practical level, it's also a fabulous way to save money too!   

I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you how budget shredding and eye watering-ly expensive utilities such as electricity are these days? It's getting incredibly difficult to run a home, while also staying within budget.  More so when it's a worry every time you switch on the tumble dryer.

We do have a tumble dryer in our kitchen but it only gets used when I really can't avoid it.  Don't misunderstand, it's very useful once in a (very rare) while, but generally I use lots of little standing airers. During the summer our back garden is full of lines & lines of laundry but during the winter or on rainy days, until now, airers have had to do.

Now though, we have this.....

Rolling Back The Years: Drying Clothes Old School Style And Memories Of A Scottish Childhood Home...

I've been using it since hubby installed it on Sunday and it's now become my new favourite addition to our kitchen :) It holds lots of laundry, even long things like duvet covers & sheets, everything dries really quickly, even thick fluffy towels take less than 24 hours! Washing is up at ceiling level, so no more walking into an airer when I walk into rooms. I love it 😊  

Rolling Back The Years: Drying Clothes Old School Style And Memories Of A Scottish Childhood Home...

Only a few weeks now till the clocks go forward again here in the UK and I can't wait!  I'm so fed up of the almost constant darkness of a Scottish winter.  Every year the changing of the clocks means I can start to look forward to seeing the garden wake up from its long winter sleep, to hearing the birds outside in the morning and being able to hang my first washing of the year outside. This year though, thanks to this latest kitchen addition, I won't dread rainy days so much :)


Till next time dear ones, do stay warm and safe in this chilly snap we're having. I hope you're having a fab week full of smiles.  As always honeys, sending heaps of hugs xx

2 comments:

  1. I grew up in a council house with a coal fire in the kitchen for heating the hot water. We also had a pulley, and mum used to hang the washing there in winter. When I used to go round posh friends houses and saw shiny copper pots hanging off the pulley I was like 'WTF?!' They obviously had tumble driers, hahaha. xx

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    1. Hi Leah :)
      It's always such a joy to see your name here, much like a hug, thank you xx I'm so loving this pulley :) Laundry dries literally overnight! I'm such a sad wee thing about my washing, I really am :) Everyone else seems to hate it and it really is my favourite "housework" job :) I hope you've had a fabulous weekend honey, only 7 weeks till the clocks go forward and summer is that wee bit closer, yaaaay! huggles xxx

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