When I was little, my best friend’s family never dried their clothes in their dryer but on a clothes line or indoor rack next to the radiators. In my house, we did use a dryer. I never understood their reasoning until now. Why use all that electricity or gas when you can just hang your clothes out in the sun (or partial sun in my case)? This is how it’s been done for thousands of years before the industrial revolution, so why change? According to the US Dept of Energy an electric dryer can use between 1800-5000 watts of power. That’s a lot of electricity! Even if you supplement your dryer usage by hanging stuff out half the time, you’d be saving a bunch of money and resources. So that’s what we’ve decided to do. It’s even catching on among our fellow eco-villagers - every time I walk by the line, it’s got someone else’s clothes on it! Thanks to Rhett and Amy at Greentime for the inspiration!
P.S. Check out Project Laundry List for more info on communities coming together to end laundry line bans. Isn’t that nutty? Drying clothes on a line is illegal in a lot of places!
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Technorati Tags: clothes line, laundry line, clothes, electricity, conservation, energy, green, san mateo, ryanishungry
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OMG. In Phoenix if you leave your clothes on the line for 5 hours they will be sun-bleached - literally a different color where the sun was hitting them. You gotta get them off the line in 45 minutes to an hour here. That’s the only problem I ever had with line-drying - the likelihood that the intense sun would shorten the life of my fabric. But oh, how good the clothes smell when the orange trees are in bloom. Yum yum yum!
I read in the NY Times a while back that there are housing developments whose rules do not allow clotheslines. Aesthetic reasons, they claim.
yes! there is a movement of people who are petitioning their local zoning committees for the “Right To Dry”. check out this article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0824/p01s03-ussc.html
Ryanne,
YAAY! Thanks for the link love! And it’s good to see someone else hanging out.
As we mention, here in South Florida, our biggest problem is actually the humidity. It can actually be a bit tricky getting things perfectly dry. In our case, hanging clothes indoors is much more surefire, and so we now use our drying racks indoor or outdoor as the case may be.
Eric,
You are right– line drying is banned in some areas as “an eyesore”, likely because people see it as a sign of poverty, but things can vary. Florida, for example, is a “right to dry” state.
Anyone who, like Rhett, will only be drying in your house or on your balcony- check out these dryer racks for indoors. They’re inexpensive and well worth it!
We use evaporation almost exclusively on our clothes! I love it that simple physics will help us do our chores if we just wait a while. plus, at least where we live where the breeze moves around a bit, it makes my clothes smell AWESOME! Thanks for posting this, keep spreading the good word.
yeah, it takes more time to dry the clothes, but we have time.
nice post. reminds me of my friend nathan’s from a while back. i get annoyed that we use so much electricity in our house, and stuff like this is such a no-brainer, especially in san diego.
That right-to-dry movement looks really great. People power!
I remember those clotheslines. Our neighbor had one like you do. We had one that twirled. It was fun to grab the end of a sheet and run it round in a circle. Guess I helped it dry quicker!
The rainy season is about to start here, so I might have to wait for those few rare days, but it’s an idea that ought to be embraced once again. Cudos for doing it and spreading the word.
BTW, was that a petrified bee on the pole?!
This reminded me of where I grew up. We dried our clothes on an indoor clothing line (no visitors when it was laundry day since the apt. looked like a clothing maze :)) and we also had a shared wheeled clothing line with the building across the alley — so we would alternate laundry days. The only problem was ironing out the dreaded clothing line indentation…
Yay, clotheslines! Man, was I ever mad when Brian took down the clothesline that came with the house. It had a wicked pulley system and everything! He claimed it blocked the view of the back yard, which I thought was goofy because why sit on the patio and LOOK at the back yard? If it’s THAT nice out then go SIT in the back yard instead of looking at it!
And HE’S the one who sold me on line-drying when when were in New Orleans! Being a city kid, this was a very tough-sell. But once I smelled the clothes I was hooked. Saving money and energy, too? Bonus!
Now that he’s in charge of the electric bill, he may see the light. Literally.
So much of your advice only works in warmer climates.
Hang your clothes out at this time of year in Utah, they’ll be frozen.
laura
another alternative is to hang clothes indoors near your heaters on clothing racks like this one. this is what we did in cold new england as well. it’s even getting pretty chilly and overcast here in san mateo. our clothes are taking about 30 hours to dry outside now! might be time to move them inside…
Thanks for the tips on indoor drying. That would help with the low humidity in the house as well.
My mom used to dry our clothes like this in the summer. With our heat it would only take an or so.
Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the message that you are trying to put across, however, I couldn’t help wondering about the inequalities of this world. I am originally from Portugal where drying machines were simply unheard off while I was there. In Amsterdam, where I am living now, it rains like crazy, but still it would never cross my mind to buy one. I don’t know anyone here that does not hang their clothes either indoor or outdoor, depending on the season.
Anyway, I think it is admirable that you get one to rethink these little habits that we inherited from the days when the planet was ours to exploit. Thanks!
haha you are correct. In the US, we definitely live in a land of abundance. Our challenge is to use our resources more efficiently and gain a better quality of life. In other places on the planet, people will find what’s most appropriate. If you make a video about what, you’re doing in Amsterdam, we’d love to post it here. Like the awesomeness of bike riding there.
Hanging out in Washington - I too love the smell of the clothes hung to dry, whether inside or outside. My mom (Michigan) used a clothes line combined with a dryer, but I have a big airy space in my basement for raining days/seasons and an outside one for dry days. I live in a neighborhood and my husband was at first reluctant (embarrassed)to have me hang our clothes outside, which I thought was funny. But since then I have heard from people who mock me and try to convince me it’s not clean or good for me. It’s part of my transition to green. I am enjoying the simplicity and the savings, so you’ll see me smiling all the way to clothes line!
Hello again,
It is the old guy from South Dakota, here with a bunch of suggestions for drying clothes.
One-if there is no breeze, make one. Use a small fan placed to that it blows on the heaviest items. This one really works well indoors. If you really don’t like the idea of paying for electricity for the fan why not buy a cheap small solar panel/inverter combo and run the fan for free?
Two-analyze your line. Where will the sun be shining the longest? Are there prevailing breezes? Does the sun shine longer at certain times of the year? (then do the blankets at those times)
Three-landscape for increased efficiency. Place the line in the sunniest place and then place dark rocks under the line. If your line goes across concrete, even better! Paint the concrete dark and let the radiant heat help dry the clothes even faster. Better yet, have the concrete tinted very dark-you don’t have to repaint every couple of years then. This works well if you have a line against a wall or fence, make sure it is dark!
Also, for those who live in cold areas and have an electric dryer: purchase a vent switch. This is simply a valve placed in the duct hose which lets you vent into the house or outside. My dad used to simply pull the hose every fall and stuff the vent hole with old socks. He would say “I have paid for that heat and I am going to use it as many times as possible!” I don’t think I am comfortable doing that with a gas dryer…but it is up to you.
As for people who would mock you, remind them that they are paying around $.75 - $1.50 a load to run their electric dryer. Better yet, use the money you saved on your electric bill to purchase some luxury and let them know that you are enjoying it.
As for not good for you, if the air is that bad should you really be living there? Ok, you shouldn’t try to dry clothes in a dust storm, but a simple shake/fluff will get rid of any dust that may have settled. One thing that my mom told me was that the sun was the best disinfectant out there. Think about it….all those UV rays…talk about a great bleach/sanitizer! Its free and doesn’t contaminate the water supply!
that’s a good point. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
thanks for the tips drew.
i love the ones about hanging your clothes near dark surfaces, i never thought of that!
keep ‘em coming!
I dry alot of my laundry indoors. I have a drying rack for smaller things and I hang tops and pants on hangers and hang them up on the shower curtain rod (not recommended if you have spring tension type curtain rod). As long as you leave about 6 inches in between each item they dry with no problem. Some items like bath towels get stiff so I throw them in the dryer for about 4-5 minutes to fluff them which is alot better than 30-45 minutes the dryer could be running. Plus all the heat from the dryer kills the elastic in your socks!
I hope to one day have something like this http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/make-a-foldout-drying-rack for hanging small delicate things (that you may not want out on the clothesline for all to see) straight out of the washing machine.
It also helps getting the laundry cleaned up and put away. I tend to let things pile up. If I do 1 load at a time I dont overwhelm my hanging spaces and I dont end up with piles and pile to do all at once.
good point Katie. drying inside is totally doable. it;s really all about time and patience.
Oh. I’m only going to save, at best, a buck and a half? In a few years I can take that savings and go to a movie. Sigh.
I just dried my clothes outside for the very first time in my life a couple of days ago. The main reason is because my 16-year-old dryer is now taking and hour and a half to finish and the clothes aren’t dry at the end and I’m loathe to go shopping for another. Especially when the washer still works. The other reason is that we’re having a drought and I CAN line dry. Our normal weather is rain every day but that’s probably gone forever so…I’m line drying, for what it’s worth. Only a buck and a half? Really? I am so disappointed.
k
drew said that you pay 1.50 every time you use the dryer. so if you do laundry once a week that’s about $80 a year and with energy prices rising, that could be a lot more very soon. plus the cost of buying a new one when the old one dies. but i hear you about rainy weather hindering line drying. we just had 5 days of rain and even some stuff i hung inside took forever to get dry!