Hanging clothes to dry

If you are looking for a way to save money while helping our earth in more than one way, consider line drying your clothing year round.  In a phase of desperation to save as much money as I possibly could for our family, line drying seemed to be one of the smartest thing I could do.  I didn’t even think about how it could help our earth or preserve energy until I realized I’m not the only person who did it year round in an apartment – many people do! 

            I have a new, energy efficient washer and dryer.  I also save our family over $20 a month on line drying alone.  To some, that doesn’t seem like much.  But for us, it was $20 more per month we could put towards other bills and that was a very good thing.

            My routine goes like this: I cold wash everything except diapers and super grungy loads.  My washer is pretty efficient at spinning so I never have to do an additional spin cycle unless I am washing a big comforter (and that’s just to help it dry quicker), I never have an issue with drips.  Some people do, and have found an extra spin cycle does the trick.  I hang my clothes and diapers on hangers (diapers go on hangers that hold up children’s pants) and hang them from every place I can.  This includes my shower rod, towel rod, my laundry shelving (I have a shelf that is supposed to go in a laundry room, with a hanging rod under the shelf part, in my living room holding up my smaller office machines and whatnot), hand towel rods, I’ve hung a clothing line across the top of the doorway right next to my washer to permanently hold hangers and to act as a temporary holding place for clothing coming right out of the washer (it dips in the middle when there is too many clothes on it, so the clothes don’t dry effectively on it).  You can put up your own lines along the ceiling, or buy retractable lines. 

            Once a week I might use my dryer for socks.  Having three young children, trying to hang all of their tiny socks across hangers doesn't always work (they always seem to fall)!  I collect all the socks in the household in a separate hamper (I’m currently sewing a “sock sack” that I will hang from my towel rack in my bathroom so I don’t have to deal with two hampers on the floor) and do a monster sock load once a week. 

            I did experience (and sometimes still do) stiffness issues.  I found that by decreasing my detergent to ¼ cup for large loads and using baking soda and vinegar (both about ½ cup each, the vinegar goes into the rinse cycle and acts as a softener, the baking soda helps boost the cleaning) my clothing dried softer. However, drying indoors there is no wind to knock the stiffness out of everything, so occasionally a swift shake before putting the item away is all that is needed.  Any remaining stiffness works its self out while you wear it, but it has never been an issue as far irritating me or being so stiff it was uncomfortable. 

            I find that my clothes dry in 2-4 hours in most cases.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.  For comforters I hang them over a clean, non-fabric surface.  This is usually the back of my wooden rocking chair, or over my kitchen table. After a few hours I flip it over until it’s dry.  Towels might go over the shower curtain rod, or be hung on hangers that hold adult pants (they’re much wider than the children’s pant hangers I use for cloth diapers). 

            To save myself time, I now hang ALL of my children’s clothing.  From the washer the clothing goes on hangers, hangs to dry, and then is put in the closet.  Any time I take an outfit out for my kids to wear, I take the hanger out and hang it on the line I hung next to my washer in the doorway.  This works very well. I even hang my youngest sons onsies.  I now have additional drawer space for kids toys, and use one drawer organized with small storage bins, to separate matched socks, hats and other items that don’t need to be hung.

            In the spring and summer when clothes will go outside, just watch the weather.  If you live in the country or next to fields, heavy winds will kick up dust and pollen.  Very humid days may make your diapers smell a little stuffy when they come in.  many people have success hanging their clothing outside year round, even in cold weather, and report that it just takes a lot longer for clothing to dry.  I haven’t tried it so I can’t comment on it too much.

Diapers hanging on our "clothes line"

If you don't have a clothesline outside but want to hang your clothing (breezes make for soft clothes coming in once dry and the sun helps santize and remove stains), try to construct a removable line hanging from one object to another.  We don't have a real clothesline, but have found hanging a rope from the back of our porch to our propane tank to be perfect!

Enjoy your savings!