Summer Reminder: Hang Your Laundry to Dry!
Posted by rebecca
31
Jul
With the sun shining and temperatures soaring, there’s really no reason to use the dryer. Sure, it can be somewhat of a hassle to work hanging your wet clothes on the line into your schedule, but think about the advantages!

- You’ll save about $.50 a load when you let the sun and air do the work instead of your dryer. If you wash a load every day (about average for a family of four), you’ll save $182.00 a year!
- Every load you toss in the dryer emits around one to five pounds of carbon into the atmosphere. Hanging dry, on the other hand, doesn’t harm the planet a bit.
- If you set out stained diapers in the sun, stains will disappear–without the use of any toxic chemicals.
- In super-hot weather, clothes will dry faster on the line than in the dryer!
So get out those dryer racks or set up a clothesline. Hanging even one load a week will make a difference!
(Look here for all of our laundry posts.)
5 Responses for "Summer Reminder: Hang Your Laundry to Dry!"
I’ve been thinking all week that I should get one of those fancy clothes racks for drying laundry. I haven’t done laundry in over a week because of the heat wave we’re having here in Portland – the dryer makes my house even hotter!
Gina, that would be ridiculous to run your dryer when it’s 100 degrees out! It will dry in an hour on the line. If you have a spare room it’s especially convenient to hang your laundry indoors. I hang mine in the upstairs room because we don’t use it too much, and it’s very hot up there. I prefer this to hanging it outdoors because whenever I hang it outdoors, I get earwigs in my clothes. Disgusting!
This is a cool laundry line that mounts on the wall.
Also using dryers wear out cloths faster, where do you think all the fluff that ends up in the filter comes from.
I worry about the allergens so I haven’t gotten a line. My husband and I both have bad allergies and Oklahoma seems to always have high pollen counts. I feel very guilty. I do plan when we have a house and more room to have a indoor line that I can use some at least.
It’s unfortunate that people got out of the habit of using clotheslines. They save so much energy, and it is kind of peaceful to hang the clothes.
Rainy days and winter make outdoor drying difficult, but people can air dry their clothes by using a wooden drying rack like this one I own. Being round it works really nice under a ceiling fan!
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