Line Drying Clothes.... Year Round?

[shelbylovesmelby]

Looking for more ideas on where & how to line dry clothes.

I already.... have a line outside. I dry things on hangers in the bathroom, in closests, off door hooks, and off of a pole my dh rigged to hang from the ceiling in our basement.

What does everyone else do?

[mountainmist]

With the exception of very light weight shirts, and any item made of polar fleece or wool, I don't do any line drying during the wintertime, I don't think it's safe, there are way too many molds and fungii that can develop when you try to dry bath towels, blue jeans, etc. And I sure won't line dry sheets to give the dust mites even more opportunity to LIVE, they are very dangerous for the lungs, and there's enough stress on the health from cold and flu bugs during the winter.

Many people do not realize that when you hang your wash in the SUN, the ultraviolet rays of the sun SANITIZE your clothing - but this ain't gonna happen in the dead of winter with snow on the ground.

In old pioneer days when they had to line dry, they had MANY fewer items than we moderns, and the women BOILED the clothing on the stove which destroyed all the viruses, the fungii, the mold spores and assorted bacteria which flourish and grow in damp wet cool conditions.

I'm not going to turn up the heat in order to dry laundry, I'll use a hot dryer.

[mountainmist]

With the exception of very light weight shirts, and any item made of polar fleece or wool, I don't do any line drying during the wintertime, I don't think it's safe, there are way too many molds and fungii that can develop when you try to dry bath towels, blue jeans, etc. And I sure won't line dry sheets to give the dust mites even more opportunity to LIVE, they are very dangerous for the lungs, and there's enough stress on the health from cold and flu bugs during the winter.

Many people do not realize that when you hang your wash in the SUN, the ultraviolet rays of the sun SANITIZE your clothing - but this ain't gonna happen in the dead of winter with snow on the ground.

In old pioneer days when they had to line dry, they had MANY fewer items than we moderns, and the women BOILED the clothing on the stove which destroyed all the viruses, the fungii, the mold spores and assorted bacteria which flourish and grow in damp wet cool conditions.

I'm not going to turn up the heat in order to dry laundry, I'll use a hot dryer.

[Ima saver]

I don't ever line dry, it is not allowed in my subdivision.

[JanH]

For awhile I had a heavy duty wire thingy that ran across an unused part of my laundry room to hang things on hangers on. It just hooked onto a hook screwed into the other side. But you have to be really careful where to put it (up high and in an unused pathway) cos you don't want anyone to hang themselves going through there and not seeing it (especially if dark). Some people use chain I think cos they can put hangers through the hooks

[JanH]

I don't know about molds and stuff... my house has dry natural gas heat so I don't know if it takes any longer to dry in the winter. something to investigate.

[PRICEPLUS]

I have a dehumidifier in the basement and so we have a line in the basement. We dry the clothes for two minutes or so and then take them from the dryer to hang, The clothes dry fine and there is littl eneed for ironing.

[shelbylovesmelby]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

I don't ever line dry, it is not allowed in my subdivision.

Ya that's one of those many things why I'm glad I don't live in a subdivision. You can always line dry in your home or get a wooden drying rack? Just a thought

[getforfree]

We still didn't have any rain this fall. So I still can line-dry outside.

I washed 2 loads today + 1 load of my kid's soft toys. They are drying outside now. I still plan to put the toys in the dryer for at least 5-10 min even if they will be completly dry. The toys were dirty because sometimes kids take them outside and drop them on the ground, so I washed them, and I will not allow then to take soft toys outside untill spring.

I think, in the winter time I will have to watch weather forcast and try to do my laundry on sunny days, and then put it in the dryer after it's dry or almost dry.

[tinapbeana]

well, this still uses elec, but it might be worth a shot: give things an extra spin in the washer, and iron them. the extra spin really does help cut down on drying time (less water in the clothes), and i've ironed shirts straight from the washer umpteen times: it's basically a steam press. this is actually the method that works best for my silk shirts, although YMMV.

i'd think this would work for anything other than jeans, terry towels, certain unmentionables...

[naturallyadiva]

Well I live in an apartment and I usually hang things on hangers or across the top of the door. It is usually dry by the next day.

[geojen]

How much money does line drying save you? I'd be willing to give it a shot this winter--I could hang things in the basement since we have a dehumidifier, but I am not going to go through all that work to save 2 dollars a month...so how much does it save?

[shelbylovesmelby]

Originally Posted by geojen

How much money does line drying save you? I'd be willing to give it a shot this winter--I could hang things in the basement since we have a dehumidifier, but I am not going to go through all that work to save 2 dollars a month...so how much does it save?

I'm not really sure how much you save But in winter when my utility bills are 300-400 a month! I'm more than willing to do it just to save a dollar or two from the grips of the utility company.

[getforfree]

Originally Posted by geojen

How much money does line drying save you? I'd be willing to give it a shot this winter--I could hang things in the basement since we have a dehumidifier, but I am not going to go through all that work to save 2 dollars a month...so how much does it save?

I am saving about 40c each time I hang the load outside instead of using dryer. I have about 4 to 6 loads a week, or about 20 loads/month x 40c = $8.

It takes me about 5 min to hang it up and about 5 min to take it all off for each load, longer if I have lots of socks and other tiny items there.

Of course, it's less than you would make at work for the time spent, but it's untaxable, and doesn't count towards your income.

[nanamom]

I've been line drying since my dryer broke. Apparently it drives my DH crazy because he keeps makin gnoises about getting a dryer at an auction or garage sale. I'm content to just keep drying them this way. When we went on vacation I admit I hit a laundrymat but that was because I had so much to do at once. As long as I do it everyday I can keep up. It has been taking longer to dry lately since it turned cold but I just need to pick up a second rack. I really haven't noticed any difference in my electric bill though. My rack is a wooden thing usually used for sweaters and such.

[Fern]

I odn't think you have to worry about mold or mildew growing in a basement in winter, there is low humidity and thus low chance of anything being able to grow.

but it doesn't make sense to me to line dry clothes in the basement with a dehumidifier, cus the extra moisture from the clothes will just make the dehumidifier run more, so you're paying more in electricity anyway.

And clothes seem to take an awfully long time to dry with no heat, so tho dryers are one of the biggest energy hogs in the house, i use mine in winter.

[JanH]

The problem with drying outside here is the pollution--you should see our cars and houses. But I dry a lot of stuff indoors in a basically unused bathroom. But I do dry sheets and towels and underwear in the dryer. And Hubby's uniforms from the plant. But they dry incredible quickly cos of special materials.

My Grandmother would applaud you for air drying your clothing! Of course, it is much better to do it outside. She always said that there is a difference between outside and inside and dryer clothes drying.

As for myself, I sometimes put a fan on my hanging clothing. Or I open a window on both sides of the house so a breeze can flow.

[msnln]

During winter, I like to line dry laundry next to/over the heating system in my house. When the heater is on, we had to have humidifier turned on b/c air would get so dry. By drying our laundry on drying racks next to the heat, we have been able to eliminate the need for the humidifier and clothes are completely dry by the following morning.

So far, I have not had to turn on the heat so laundry is hung to dry outside. We use cloth dryer maybe 10 times a year.

[MonkeyMama]

I dry all of my work clothes on wire racks inside the house. In the closet actually. The air is pretty dry here and they dry overnight. Most of them are dry clean only or hand wash, the delicate stuff I can't put in the dryer without it all shrinking. Though I often run them through 10 minutes with a dryer sheet to soften them up. They come out of the washer almost dry so makes all the difference probably.

I can't imagine putting stuff outside either. The pigeons have overrun our house (bird poop everywhere) and the pollution ain't so hot either. Ick. All the same it is something to consider. Never thought about it for the towels/sheets, etc. They would probably take forever to dry inside...