This spring I started hanging some of our clothes outside to dry. I wanted to conserve energy and be green. I also wanted to take advantage of the natural bleaching effect of sunlight on the baby’s cloth diapers. I had an old drying rack kicking around, so I decided to try hanging some clothes on it and see how it went.
Hanging the clothes worked really well. But sadly my small drying rack won’t hold a full load of laundry, let alone two. I often resorted to hanging the overflow laundry on our railings or gazebo. Which worked, except that the railings and gazebo aren’t exactly the cleanest drying surfaces, so I had to be careful to only hang dark-coloured clothes on them.
My small drying rack
There are a lot of advantages to hanging clothes to dry. It’s environmentally friendly, and it also saves money since you’re using sunshine, which is free. As I mentioned sunlight has a natural bleaching effect, removing stains. It’s also a natural disinfectant. Line-dried clothes have no static cling, and they smell fabulous.
Cloth diapers hanging to dry
My small drying rack wasn’t cutting it, so I decided to upgrade. I chose one that would be usable both indoors and out, so that I can move my laundry inside in case of sudden rain. I headed off to the store, children in tow. When I saw it in person I realized there was no way it would fit in my car, especially not with two kids in carseats riding along. Luckily my husband Jon and the store came to my rescue. I paid for the rack and the store set it aside, then Jon picked it up on his way home. Now I’m ready for all drying contingencies.
My new clothes drying rack
There are some downsides hanging clothes to dry. My drying rack doesn’t easily accommodate large items like sheets. You can fold sheets or towels and they will dry, but you might need to move them around mid-dry (although you sort of have to do the same thing with the dryer). Hanging laundry items one by one takes more effort than tossing them in the dryer, especially teeny little baby socks. The natural bleaching effect of sunshine may get your whites whiter, but it can cause colours to fade. And I have found the occasional spider in the dry clothes, fun times!
4-year-old Hannah’s clothes hanging to dry
Of course, not everyone can line dry clothes. If I still lived in an apartment building with a small balcony and shared laundry facilities I don’t think I could swing it as easily. There are even communities or housing complexes that forbid clotheslines, deeming them ‘unsightly’. And line drying is fairly weather dependent, it works much better in the summer than the winter. But the biggest objection is probably the scratchiness.
I have found a way to overcome the dreaded scratchy towels. Once my laundry is dry I throw it in the dryer on ‘air dry’(the setting that doesn’t use any heat). Then I tumble for 5 or 10 minutes. Sometimes I even combine the particularly scratchy items from multiple loads. It softens the clothes considerably, and uses a fraction of the energy.
What about you? Have you tried line drying? And what kind of line do you dry your clothes on? I would love to hear how you make it work for you.
I hang dry year round in the basement (I miss out on the benefits of the sun, but the upside is that it’s not weather dependent). I have a clothes hanger on wheels (one horizontal bar at head height, supported by two posts on either end with wheels on the bottom) and I use hangers. I machine dry awkward items such as towels and sheets, and finicky items such as socks, but I hang dry pretty much everything else.
Oh, I don’t think line-drying is unsightly at all! I think it’s charming and sort of, well, hearkens back to simpler times. I haven’t done it myself (yet, anyway) since we share our back yard with the downstairs neighbor… but you never know.
When we moved into a house we actually owned, the first thing I did last summer was have Steve install a retractable clothes line outside. Our backyard is small, so the line criss crosses our yard and pretty much takes up all the space, but I love it.
My struggle is this – we live in a bi-level with the laundry on the lower floor, right beside our bedroom. To take the laundry to the back yard I have to haul it up stairs and then down them again to get to the back yard. As you know, wet clothes aren’t light! Especially the honking loads front loading, heavy duty washers can accomidate now adays. So, I have started just popping the screen out of our bedroom window and setting my baskets down in the backyard.
To keep the scratchyness off I have been using environmentally friends fabric softner (liquid) when I wash the clothes. It makes a world of difference in the comfort of the clothes off the line. It takes alot more time to hang your clothes and then take them off, but there is something wonderful about the way they smell. I love it! When the weather turns cold out here, I lament the days of hanging my clothes. This spring I was oh so happy to pull out my line and hang my first loads!
Clothes lines can be unsightly, but so is a hazy sky and rolling back outs! I say, bring on the hanging clothes!
LOVE LOVE LOVE my clothes line. It holds one large load of diapers. Then I have to add my clothes dryer (looks a lot like your ‘before’ picture) if I need to do any more laundry that day.
i have come to like the scratchiness…
I love line-drying & was taught by my Memere that it is the only way to go!! We do the same thing as you for the scratchy towels…10 minutes usually does the trick. And there’s nothing like the smell of sheets that have been dried outside
PS If I’m not mistaken… those are Bum Genius one-size diapers! That’s what we use too & we love ‘em!!
this is my fancy one from Can Tire..I heart it too much
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3/HouseHome/Laundry/IndoorOutdoorDryers/PRD~0428835P/Deluxe%2BMetal%2BDryer.jsp
It is very sturdy though..which I love and I LOVE not using the dryer even though we grew up without one and have memories of the kitchen DRIPPING from the pulley mechanism up above with all the wet clothes…
yes I grew up in Victorian Times
I love that new drying rack! Thanks for the anti-scratchy tips.
There are a number of things that we hang to dry inside our laundry room (saving wear and tear of fragile clothing), but it hadn’t occurred to me to dry towels that way. Our yard is so small that we might need to turn the whole thing into a drying rack!
Amber, I love your comments and pics on drying on the line. I have had a clothesline in the backyard that Ev put up over a year ago and love getting the clothes out in the sunshine. I remember how wonderful it was years ago to get the diapers out for the sunshine bleaching effect (unfortunately, or fortunately? I don't have diapers anymore, although a daughter does put her diapers out as well). Joan.