Cash in on the Sun!

My dad used to have a shirt that said that because he was trying to promote solar power back in the early 80's, who knew?

It just seemed like a good title for this post because, while I don't have solar panels(oh how I covet them though!) I do cash in on the sun almost daily. Here is the hug your earth tip of the week. Why spend extra money paying the electricity bill to power your dryer when the sun will do it for you for free. Try hanging your clothes to dry on a line or pole outside. Admittedly we have these fancy hanger thingies in Japan, but I see plenty of people use regular plastic hangers and clothes clips to keep them on the pole. Besides reducing your 'footprint' ,to use the new buzz phrase, here are some other benefits:

The sun kills bacteria in your clothes! yeah!
It is free!
You don't have to use heavily perfumed fabric softener to get that nice fresh smell, and then you don't have those harsh chemicals on your skin either
Your clothes are already hung up
You don't need to iron as much(the wind gets a lot of the wrinkles out)
They don't fade as much(yeah sounds counter intuitive, but my blacks stay blacker than when I use a dryer...but if you are worried about it, turn the clothes inside out when hanging them)

So give it a try! Let the sun work for you!


quick note too, check out the new picture page on our website, Masaki has added a lot more pictures!

...oh and yes, I am quickly becoming a tree hugging hippy, and I LIKE IT!