I saw this Laundry Ladder on one of my favorite sites- Remodelaholic. As I was working on this post, I thought this could be cute leaned up against the wall or in the bathroom leaned against the wall for a towel rack!
-Tawra
Living On A Dime
How To Save Money And Get Out Of Debt
When I had my nieces and nephews I bought them each a towel colored in accordance with their last name Richard-red, Brian-blue. They were responsible for drying it on the rack or drying off with a damp towel. If I found it on the floor I could call out blue-Brian! They each had a rack in their room.
I am having my hubby look into how this can be modified to fit our teensy laundry room. Our is only long enough for my washer and dryer to fit next to each other. There are also doors at each end AND we have high ceilings.
Right now my grandkids have rooms in an unfinished basement which means no closets. This would be a great thing to use for a temporary closet for them. If it is an old ladder whose to say you can’t cut it down to fit the size space where you need it too.
What a great idea!! That’s why I love Living on a Dime!
this is a great idea .. esp if its raining out and well you can still hang laundry ..
over 20 yrs ago, we lived in this house that didnt have a garage or much less of a space to keep a washer .. but we had this huge carport .. so hubby hung these metal poles from the ceiling and that become my line .. and for the socks and undies .. we used card tables to lay things down .. when the clothes came out of the washer (which i bought used for $12) .. i would put them on hangers and hang them up that way .. i miss those poles .. so much easier to do laundry .. and bc things were already hung up, i didnt even bother to take them off the hangers .. i would just hang them up in the closet ..
and my hangers? .. well they were plastic .. but most of them came from walmart or kmart .. (they were the hangers from the store that is hung up on the racks as ur looking to buy the clothes (fyi: they throw those hangers away if no one wants them.. what a waste!!!) .. i just asked the managers if i could take as many as i could handle and they were more than willing to give them to me ..
as as far as a dresser went .. well bc the bedrooms were small, and my children had to share a room (it was a very small house) .. i had 4 small little laundry baskets .. (bought at the $1 store) 2 for socks (one for her/one for him) and 2 for undies (one for her/one for him) and they were put in the closet ..
same thing with me and hubby ..
and my son’s bed? .. bc he was a toddler (about 3 yrs old) .. we had this little foldout couch (i know u all have see them.. they normally have barbie’s or car’s or dora on them… and they are made of huge pillow/like seats .. they are attached and when u fold them up they can look like a chair or a loveseat and they are thick and very comfy ..
well we got 2 of them at a garage sale .. one for him and one for her .. she got the loveseat size one and he got the chair size one ..
it was much cheaper than to buy beds and well they were really soft and cushy too .. and comfy .. even to sit on the loveseat was very comfy ..
so it was nice bc when they went to school (her public school, him preschool) .. they just folded up the sheets/blankets and put in the closet and then folded up their beds .. nice and tidy! .. :D
Rose, wow! Those are some great ideas for laundry and kids rooms.
I remember staying with my great aunt sometimes when my mom was at work and that she had a full basement and kept her washer there. She also had clothesline in the basement to hang her laundry to dry when it was raining or too cold.
While reading about how small your house was and how you ‘made do’ with one bedroom and no beds or dressers for your son and daughter, I was thinking about how most people simply do not know how to ‘make do’ these days. Or I guess they just don’t want to…
I have an aunt and uncle that I have always admired because of their ability and determination to ‘make do’. Right after marriage, they bought a fixer-upper house that was built in the 1800’s. They only had their home loan and never any car loans or credit card debt. They worked hard to pay off that home loan and they slowly…I mean over years…fixed up that house.
I remember staying all night with my cousins and asking why most of their rooms had just plywood floors and my aunt saying she wanted to be able to stay home while her kids were young so they went without carpet, vinyl, etc.
They bought furniture at yard sales and auctions. And interestingly enough, I always thought their house was so neat. They only had one small color tv with rabbit ears for the longest time. We had a larger tv at home but I used to love going to their house and watching cartoons with my cousins on that little tv. The living room had the original hardwood floor that my aunt and uncle had painted and I loved sitting on the old fashioned sofa bought from an auction that my aunt had reupholstered.
At their house, we did neat things like sleep on sleeping bags on their living room floor and pretend like we were camping out…or even make tents with sheets and kitchen chairs. We ate breakfast of pancakes off of red plates and my aunt told us to pretend we were at a restaurant. We put up a real tent and camped out in the back yard.
They were able to finish fixing up their house and it’s beautiful…I still love it! I am so proud they didn’t go into debt!
I’m so glad my aunt and uncle knew how to ‘make do’ because my uncle became unable to work in his 40’s and they were so blessed to not have debt. The years of having used cars with my uncle always having to be mechanic and my aunt going without carpet and vinyl flooring paid off. Now they are secure in their home that they own and able to live off reduced income because they always just ‘made do’.
Most people today can’t or won’t do this… Get married and need furniture? Go into debt for a houseful of new stuff! Move into your first apartment and need computer or tv? Finance it! Why should anyone have to do without anything?
When I married my first husband, we moved into a furnished apartment. We had saved money for our deposit, first couple of months rent and to buy some sheets, towels, dishes and start up of groceries/supplies. We had some wedding gifts also which helped us get started.
However, neither one of us had a tv. We did not have the money to buy one and never once did it occur to us to go in debt to get one. And we both liked tv and were used to watching tv when we wanted in our parents’ homes. We also worked opposite shifts so were frequently home alone and had moved 45 minutes away from our families. So tv for ‘company’ would have been welcome. Still, we did without for two months. Then his brother decided to get a new tv/vcr. So he gave us his used 20 inch color tv, vcr and entertainment cabinet. Then we didn’t have antenna or cable and had to watch vcr tapes until we could buy an antenna. LOL! Not that people can’t live without tv…but seriously, how many young people today would go without tv or other electronics to avoid debt? Not very many do…
Another funny story, when we moved from our apartment into our first house right before my first son was born, we had no furniture (except the tv and cabinet…Lol!) because our apartment had been furnished. My mom and dad gave us a couch, chair and two end tables from their basement…this stuff was out of style and bought the same year I was born…think 70’s and hideous! Lol! It didn’t match the carpet in the living room of the house we bought.
When my sister and I were young, we had shared a room and had bunk beds. Since my parents no longer needed the set, we took those for our bedroom. They were the kind or set that the top and bottom bunk were exactly the same height and made to be together as bunk beds or to stand alone as two twin beds. We set the two twin beds up side by side in our bedroom. The frames of the twin beds prevented the mattresses from being pushed completely together, so we stuffed blankets in the ‘crack’ to make it more comfy. King sized sheets fit nicely. We also used the dresser that went with that bunk bed set.
With money we had saved while living in our apartment, we bought a new small, round kitchen table and four chairs on sale for $299, a GE washer/dryer set for $600 (new because we couldn’t locate a used set) and a baby crib for my son for $99 (it was a floor sample at Sears). Our house came with a stove and fridge. So we were set.
It was August and the house did not have central air. We were hot, but couldn’t afford a window AC unit after everything else we had to buy. We had prioritized the table (having somewhere to sit and eat family meals together) the washer/dryer (think newborn laundry) and baby crib as being more important than the window AC unit. The house had ceiling fans in the living room and kitchen and we had box fans in the two bedrooms. We opened our windows in the coolness of the night and closed them when the sun got hot in the morning. We used the stove and oven very little. We reasoned that we could make it through August, September and October then it would be cooler and we’d have money for that window AC unit in the spring. Yes, sometimes it was hot…but we were ok. We were able to buy the AC unit in the spring. However, my first son was 3 years old when we could finally afford a new couch and chair (that actually matched the carpet that came with our house…Lol!).
My parents had bought us a microwave for Christmas the first year we were married. It quit working after about 10 years. We didn’t want to spend the money to buy a new one because we were trying to save for a bigger need. We did without one for a couple of years. You should have heard comments from family/friends… “How do you pop popcorn?” Umm, on the stove… “How do you warm up leftovers?” Umm, in the oven or toaster oven… “How do you bake potatoes?” Umm, in the oven… And my two favorites… “How do you boil water?” Umm…on the stove… “How do you make oatmeal?” Umm…on the stove… I got so used to doing without a microwave that to this day I have to remind myself that I can use mine. Lol!
What is wrong with some of the people today? Lol! I overheard some young couple at Lowes last weekend talking about filling out a credit application for a dishwasher. They were recently married and had just bought their first home. She was saying she had to have a dishwasher, could not be expected to live without one. He was asking if they could afford the extra payment at this time and saying he already felt financially strapped and didn’t want to be. I just wanted to step in and say “You can live without a dishwasher for awhile…” Maybe there should be classes offered to teach how to ‘make do’. :)
I remember when I was first married most of our furniture was hand me downs. They had a Halloween party at the church and used an old mattress as part of the games. After the party they were going to toss it because it was so old but found out we need a mattress and that is what we used for a long time. So much for buying a new Temperidic (sp) mattress as so many do now a day.
I don’t know about classes but I already have a newsletter started about how to make do.
I also know a couple where the husband just got laid off and they had to have a new dishwasher too. I don’t understand it either.
angie.. thanks for the compliment .. and yes u and jill are so right .. i dont understand it either .. i love it when i go into walmart and i am always asked “would u like to fill out an application for a credit card?” and when i say no they always ask “are u sure?” or the best “why not?” ..
thats awesome u have the newsletter started jill . i cant wait to read it ..
hehhee.. i love it that tawra has been dumpster diving these days .. i do that too ..
recently i went looking for a new mattress for my son’s bed (it was actually my daughter’s bed that she bought from a thrift store when we moved into our home in 1997 *the one we lost in the hurricanes in 2004*… she paid for it) …
i have never bought a new/used bed since i have been married to my hubby .. we always found decent mattress on the side of the road that we lugged home .. sprayed down with bleach water and let dry thoroughly and then cover with some kind of plastic covering ..
so the look on the sales person’s face when i told them they were too high ($99 for a used full size mattress (no box spring, just the mattress) … and he asked me how much i would like to pay for one (thats all we need .. surprisingly enuff the box spring is still in good condition after all these yrs) .. and i told him just about free bc its used .. (well, for a mattress, no more that $20) ..
maybe i am cheap but its used and when i asked how old it was he said over 12 yrs old ..
i told my son we will keep looking .. maybe we’ll find one on craig’s list ..
and the reason why we arent dumpster diving for one is bc he said he wants one from a store this time ..
hehee :D ..
yes i know, i am cheap but $99 for a used mattress is just tooo high for me even if its one of those brands that is normally expensive for brand new ..
my sister when she owned her townhouse and had no money to replace the carpeting/tile/flooring in her home .. all she had was the cement and would put throw rugs down .. and for being in south florida .. her house was so nice cooler than anyone else’s house .. and always smelled fresher too .. and she even got less colds too .,, and the allergies seemed to stay away too …
yep .. make do with what u have ..
What a great idea!!! Wish I could use that here, but my laundry room is actually in the hallway to our master bedroom, so not a lot of space. lol Something I do though, in the winter months I get my hubby to string a strong clothesline in the living room about a 18 inches from our 8 foot high ceilings. That way no one has to bump their heads when it is not in use, I don’t have to go outside in freezing weather to hang clothes (which is great with my weak immune system), and the heat from our Kerosene heater in the living room dries the clothing quickly. And yes, most of our furniture was given to us by relatives. I have two in-laws (two single women) that think they need new living room furniture every 3 or so years. It’s unbelieveable at the prices they pay for furniture when there is nothing wrong with theirs. Of course after my kids get done (I have 5) I can honestly say the furniture is well used. lol My hubby had the same idea when we first got married until I took him to a furniture store and let him see the prices. Figuring we’d go through a low-priced couch every year or two with all the children he quickly saw how much money we’d save by getting used furniture. I’m so glad I have a hubby that listens. lol
I love this ladder idea! My problem is finding an old ladder that would work. The wood ladders out there these days have big flat wood steps (not round pegs) which will not accommodate a clothes hanger ….
Any suggestions on how I can find an old ladder that would work? I don’t want to make one, becuase I really love the look of the old antique ladder ….
Usually you can find these things at places like antique shops, garage sales, salvage yards, farm auctions. They are hard to find though because I have been looking for one too. Mine I want so I can lean it against the wall of my bathroom to hang towels on. You can buy similar types of things to lean against the wall but you would have to shabby chic it if you wanted the old look and so far they are way more then I want to pay.
regarding using a wooden ladder with steps instead of rungs, would it work to drill ‘holes’ where the hangers would hang, like the kind that go over the top of a door, with like 6 ot 8 holes (these are metal)…OR… aren’t there usually rods that are under the steps on a step ladder, the wooden kind, would it work to just have them, removing the ‘steps’?? just some thoughts…I love to find ways to reuse things I have in other ways that I can use…
I have one of these old ladders that I hang stuff from in my kitchen. I’ve had it for years now, I originally got it out of the trash, and it was a very long ladder we found, so hubby cut it down into sections, and I hung one of them in my antique booth in my antique mall … I was using it there for display, but so many people wanted to buy it, I ended up selling all the pieces I had … which I now regret! Because now I want one for my laundry room, and that was years ago, and I never found another one like it since.
For your bathroom ladder that you want to hang towels on, you wouldn’t need the kind for laundry, you could use those southwest decor ladders for that, because you could easily hang towels off of that … if you were in Arizona, I’d give you one I have in my antique booth!