And this is the way we dry the clothes, dry the clothes, dry the clothes...

Having a baby has seen my clothes washing requirements disproportionately increase in comparison to the number of members joining the family. Back in my DINK days, I managed to get by with doing a load maybe once a week – two weeks at a stretch – by cleverly investing in sufficient undergarments and towels etc so as not to necessitate a more frequent requirement for washing.

With the event of Ethan joining our home, I’ve found myself visiting the washing machine every second or third day with mountains of clothing to tend to. I must admit, in an attempt to decrease my washing quota, I’ve recently started examining Ethan’s clothes in earnest at the end of each day to determine whether that amount of drool or carrot on the sleeve means the hoodie really needs to go in his Pooh hamper, or whether I could get another days wear out of it. It is inevitable however – the dirty clothes do need to be tended to and yesterday was one such day.

This brings me to the exciting topic for today – clothes washing in an apartment. Firstly, I would like to note that I am extremely grateful for the internal laundry in our flat. Whilst I live quite close to several commercially operated Laundromats, I appreciate the convenience of doing the washing at any time of the day (or night, as I found in the early days when sleep was elusive after the 4am feed and I felt surprisingly spritely). Hence, the challenge is not in the washing of the dirty laundry, rather, in drying it.

Our block of units does have a section out the back where there are several dubious looking lines and not a lot of sun. Of course, this would involve several trips up and down the stairs, Ethan in tow, and I can’t even imagine how this would practically work (unless I popped Ethan in the washing basket?!).

Ethan in the washing basket doesn't quite work for me.

Instead, I attempt to dry our wet washing within the confines of our apartment, taking advantage of our balcony and some cleverly placed clothes airers. A word on drying your washing in an apartment: the strata by-laws are strict in stating that no washing is to be visible from a person’s balcony. Fortunately, our top floor apartment and high brick balcony wall affords me a discrete space to inconspicuously hang the washing, thus meeting strata’s requirements and my own. Particularly with living on a main road, I certainly wouldn't take an unnecessary risk of my unmentionables flying over the edge and onto the street, nor cam’s fave tracksuit pants, for that matter…

Our airer on the balcony, thankfully not visible from the street. Unlikely that anything is going to be flung over the edge either...

Our balcony tends to get full sun all day during summer but limited rays during winter, restricted more to a burst in the mid to late afternoon. As this is also the time that the air is getting considerably cooler, drying potential is highly unlikely, which I discovered yesterday afternoon, as I eagerly went to un-peg the towels around 4pm only to be bitterly disappointed with the result.

This leaves me an alternative of hanging the clothes on the two clothes airers, throughout the apartment. This was a suitable alternative back in the day but now that Ethan is beginning to crawl, the task becomes logistically challenging. There are two prominent clothes-drying ‘hot-spots’ (literally!) in our apartment; one is the north facing second bedroom and the other is the lounge area, where I have the column heater on at regular intervals.

The lounge airer taking advantage of prime positioning near the column heater.

The second bedroom has been overtaken by Ethan’s playpen but I shouldn’t rule it out; I have heard of plenty of mums that use play-pens for the sole purpose of keeping children out, as much as keeping them in, and I could consider putting the clothes airer inside its four walls. The lounge room does get cluttered with an airer however the bigger challenge is keeping Ethan away from the oodles of dangling temptations: socks, jumper sleeves and trouser legs, to name a few. I am able to run reasonable interference for now and can still move faster than Ethan. But it is only a matter of time before this option is ruled out for safety reasons…

Ethan's play zone amongst the washing.

This brings me to my final option, which is the clothes dryer in the kitchen. Brilliant, efficient and behind a gated doorway, if not for the soaring electricity price threat in Australia, I would not even bother with the fiddly clothes airers and go straight for a guaranteed dry result. I can also convince myself that the column heater isn’t needed with the heat that the dryer is generating, thus I am actually saving electricity by using it.

Yay for the dryer! My valentine's Day present in 2010.

With the clothes now damp-free and maintaining a softness that only a dryer can achieve, I can put my feet up and ponder whether life would be easier in a suburban home with a hills hoist out the back. And then I recall the story of my sister who decided to use our childhood clothesline as a swinging apparatus when she was much younger, only to get stuck and left to rotate a little longer than planned….seems drying challenges aren’t restricted to apartment dwellers after all.