I have always been a fan of line drying clothes; I got so excited to see a clothes line in the yard of the house we bought. I had (and still have) grand dreams of living a simple life: one that’s easy on the mind, wallet, and the environment.
As you can imagine, drying my clothes out on a clothesline was a very appealing prospect; I’m not going to say it sold us the house…buut I was very excited! The first time I hung clothes out to dry at my new house, my mom asked what was wrong with my dryer???
Needless to say, I didn’t grow up in an area where clotheslines outside was the norm.
Over the years, I learned there are actually many benefits to line drying clothes, from saving money on electricity bills to reducing your environmental impact. And air drying your clothes on a line can also help to keep your clothes looking and smelling great, without the use of harsh chemicals.
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Benefits of Line Drying Clothes
With the availability of clothes dryers, and the busyness of all of our lives, it’s no small wonder what an amazing invention an electric clothes dryer is. I can go from having wet clothes to clothes I can put away in under an hour. And honestly, sometimes life-happens and we have to use our electric dryer (which will soon be using the power from our solar panels! Yes, they’re being installed this week while I’m in New York for work). But with all the amazing benefits, we do try to line-dry our laundry as much as we can!
Environmental Benefits
Hanging your clothes to air dry is an environmentally friendly alternative to using a dryer. Electric dryers use fossil fuels (in most cases when your getting electricity from the grid) to generate the energy and heat needed to dry your clothes. The use of fossil fuels such as oil and gas contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
By line drying your clothes, you can reduce your personal usage of fossil fuels. This, in turn, decreases demand for drilling and mining for fossil fuels, both of which are resource intensive and contribute to water and air pollution.
Additionally, can help reduce unsightly air pollution caused by the appliance exhaust. I can still come home and visit my mom and smell that she is doing laundry before I even walk into the house. Everything that goes into the machine comes out the dryer exhaust vent in some way: lint, your laundry detergent and/or fabric softener, and microfibers from your clothes. These pollutants can disrupt micro-ecosystems from causing longer gut retention times, slower growths rates, and even physical damage to the antennae and carapace in the organisms around your home.
I know the Boyfriend just cleaned out our exhaust vent and the lint and fibers that had accumulated under the vent this winter were matted to the ground and preventing anything from growing under it. And I always thought “lint” in general was compostable. Never did I realize that it might include micro-plastics in the form of microfibers. Drying our laundry on the line is really a simple way to help many aspects of the environment.
Line drying clothes is perhaps one of the most eco-friendly and easiest switches you can make. It’s actually just a standard custom in other parts of the world. I was shocked when I went to Greece several years ago and the building we stayed in didn’t even have a dryer. My American-ass was soooo confused at first (it was December and not really warm enough to line dry clothes outside) and then quickly learned that this is normal for a lot of Europeans to dry their clothes inside on racks throughout the home. And don’t get me started on how efficient and easy recycling was in Greece compared to my small section of rural United States.
By using the sun’s energy to dry your clothes, you can reduce your energy usage, and reliance on fossil fuels.
Fresh Smelling Clothes
One of my favorite scents OF ALL TIME is the scent of line-dried bed sheets. I love the smell; somehow it is the most relaxing and pleasing aroma in the entire world, and it literally can’t be artificially replicated.
Something about the wind and the sun, just makes my clothes smell better. I should preface this with, I’m really sensitive to scents, so we use CrystalWash laundry detergent balls (that create hydrogen peroxide in the washer) and (for the most part) no fabric softener, so our clothes go out on the line without any added scents or chemicals on them.
And I can’t really explain why clothes that are dried outside just smell soooo much better, so you’ll have to experience it for yourself. Let me know in the comments below.
Antimicrobial
Modern washers and dryers don’t typically get hot enough to kill any bacteria or viruses on your clothes. Even if you wash in HOT and use your dryer (which does get pretty warm), you could actually just be creating a temperature environment that microbes thrive in. One way to effectively sanitize your clothes without buying additional chemical-laden sanitizer is to use the power of the sun. The sun’s UV rays are naturally sanitizing and harnessing those UV rays by hanging your clothes outside to air dry is using your natural resources to the fullest extent.
Energy (& Money!) Savings
Line drying clothes is a great way to save money on your utility bills. It’s estimated that using a dryer accounts for 6% of the average household’s energy bill. Simply by hanging your clothes on a clothesline, you can save money on your electricity bill, extend the life of your clothes, and ultimately help your appliance last longer.
Our dryer is an “older” second-hand energy efficient model that was gifted to us when my mom moved out of state, I think it was new in 2010. I have personally repaired ours multiple times (maybe I’ll do a post on dryer repairs one day–it’s super easy!) and it keeps kicking, so I’m going to keep using it when we need to!
With the help of our energy monitoring system that we’ve put into place this year (because we’re getting solar!!), I can tell you that our dryer uses between 4.04 kWh and 5.39 kWh to dry 1 load of laundry, roughly 0.83 cents USD per load with our current electricity rates. But across our approximately 52 loads of laundry a year, that would add up to over $40 (or a little over two trees if our Emporia energy monitoring app is correct).
Line drying clothes can help you save money on your energy bill. Dryers can be expensive to run, especially if you have a large family or do a lot of laundry. By using a clothesline or drying rack, you can cut down on your energy usage and save money. Additionally, line drying clothes can help you avoid the cost of fabric softener or the need for fabric softener sheets.
By line drying your clothes, you also extend the life of your garments and save money on replacement costs, saving you money in the long run. Line drying clothes can help extend the life of your garments by being gentle on fabrics. Dryers can be tough on elastic and other delicate materials, but line drying clothes can help prevent stretching and damage.
How to Line Dry Clothes Properly
Laundry at our house is typically on the weekend. It’s just the two of us, and if we start it during the week, then it typically sits in the washing machine for days before we remember it’s in there. Normally it’s like an “oh shit” moment where one of us goes running downstairs to re-start the machine. So, laundry day occurs most Saturdays and Sundays at our house. When you are line drying your clothes, you have to plan for the longer dry time. What seems to work best for us is running the washer overnight (Friday night into Saturday morning), and then we hang our clothes outdoors early on Saturday morning before our day gets busy. If we have more than one load of laundry, we try to run the second one on Saturday night to hang out Sunday morning.
Choosing a Clothesline
When choosing a clothesline, consider the space you have available and whether you will be drying clothes indoors or outdoors. Outdoor clotheslines are typically larger to accommodate more laundry, and heavier duty to withstand constant pressure from the wind, rain, sun, and snow, all of it. Indoor clotheslines are often smaller and can be hung from walls or ceilings. Retractable clotheslines or a rack in the laundry room are great options if you have limited space as they can be easily retracted or moved when not in use.
There are many different styles of clothesline, including metal, plastic, and rope. When looking to add one into your life, you should consider the durability and weather-resistance of the material when choosing a clothesline. The previous homeowner had a rope line up, but it was fraying and sagging very close to the ground. We upgraded to a plastic coated metal line a couple years ago for the durability (since it’s outside all year long), and so far, so good.
Location, Location, Location
When choosing a spot for your clothes, make sure it’s somewhere that you can leave laundry to dry for several hours without it being in the way. Over the winter we sometimes hang our clothes to dry on the kitchen chairs, and that only works if we aren’t planning on using our kitchen for a couple hours. But, as an added bonus, we add some humidity back into the main living areas of our house.
In general, you’ll want an outdoor clothesline situated somewhere near the house, in a sunny location that gets at least a good breeze. If the clothesline is too far away, it kinda cuts out the appeal of using it–one load of wet laundry is HEAVY. I have to get mine up two half-flights of stairs, and out about 200 feet from our house. And I definitely wouldn’t want to take it much further.
For an indoor clothesline, out of the way and good air circulation are the two necessary factors. We use a very “temporary” and “make-shift” indoor clothesline. It is not perfect, but until we finish the basement it will work.
Our indoor solution is three-fold. We have a typically line hung near the ceiling level; the higher the better because it will get weighted down. Since our line is hung so haphazardly to avoid the water softening system and our “temporary” root cellar, it does not hold a lot of clothes.
We also utilize a collapsible laundry drying rack. I’ll be honest and say we never collapse it, there are always clothes on it. We’re not bad about putting away laundry, we’re just busy 😛 But it has like six or seven rungs to hang shirts and underwear from. It isn’t large enough for pants or dresses to be hung.
And finally, for the Boyfriend’s dress/work clothes, we use an old portable closet (pre-built wardrobe that has the clothes rods built in). Most of the time we just shake to remove wrinkles and then hang on hangers with room for air circulation between the shirts and pants. I’ve found that buttoning them up all the way, including the collar, helps maintain their shirt’s shape.
Preparing Clothes for Line Drying
It all starts with the washing machine. Ultimately, you don’t want your wet clothes to sit in the washer too long. We have ours set on a timer to run about an hour before we get up on Saturday morning. And then the Boyfriend makes me coffee, and I’ll hang the clothes outside before we drink our coffee and plan our day.
Before hanging clothes on the clothesline, I try to give them a good shake to remove any wrinkles and lint. You can also try smoothing out any wrinkles by hand to avoid having to iron later. The wind actually helps a fair bit with the wrinkles too, since the clothes are flapping away on the line all day (outside, anyway). Be sure to check the care label on each garment to ensure it can be line dried; I’ve never done this….oooopps. We line dry everything. The Boyfriend hangs it all up, but for some clothes, like heavier sweaters, I lay them out on top of the washing machine or drying rack to air dry flat. This helps maintain their shape a little better, and keeps them from stretching out.
Hanging Clothes
Hang clothes on the clothesline using clothespins or pegs. To hang shirts and tops, we generally hang from the hem–it gives us more room on the clothesline. For pants, we hang from the pant legs, as the waistband will dry faster in the wind. For bedsheets and blankets, we probably should fold them in half or thirds before draping them over the clothesline, but we just normally end up putting our king-sized sheets over both lines (creating a tent of some sorts underneath). Be sure to leave enough space between each item to allow for air circulation.
I used to feel really funny about hanging my bras and delicate items outside for the “whole world” to see, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. I guess that sense of self comes with age?!
Conclusion
Overall, line drying clothes is an easy and effective way to care for your clothes, reduce your environmental impact, and save money. Whether you’re looking to extend the life of your garments or simply want to reduce your energy usage, line drying laundry is a great option.
Drying your clothes on an outdoor laundry line is the simplest and most effective way to dry your laundry without using a dryer. Not only does this save money on your electricity bills, but it’s also environmentally friendly and can save your clothing the extra wear-and-tear from the dryer. Plus you get sanitized and really awesome smelling clothes out of the deal, without the use of harsh chemicals found in many laundry detergents, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets.
Line drying clothes can be an easy and eco-friendly way to take care of your laundry. It makes laundry day less of a chore for me because it gets me outside and we don’t have to worry about clothes sitting in the dryer getting wrinkled because we’ve forgotten about them, and most of the time we fold it once it’s dry–so that helps us stay on top of some of the laundry.
What’s your laundry routine? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!