Anyone dry clothes on a clothesline?

[zetta]

I was listening to a radio show about energy conservation, and as always they brought up the option of drying clothes on a clothesline. No one ever seems to mention how much extra work this is physically! I hate doing laundry as it is, so I can only imagine how high my energy bill would have to get before I would consider giving up my dryer.

Has anyone here switched from clothers dryer to clothesline to save money?

[disneysteve]

There was a time when we would air dry a lot of our clothes. We hung them in the basement as DW has allergies so hanging them outside and getting them full of pollen isn't an option. Honestly, I'm not sure it made that huge of a difference in our bills, and we had a very old, very inefficient dryer at the time. Now, our dryer is only about a year old, dries clothes much quicker than our old one and our bills are pretty stable.

DW will hang some things that aren't supposed to go in the dryer. I'll partially dry some things, like socks and dress shirts, and then hang them on the line and rack to dry the rest of the way. Anything else stays in the dryer until it is dry. We have switched from just setting the dryer for a set time to using the auto dry mode that turns off when the stuff is dry. I think that saves some energy.

Besides, we like our clothes soft, not crunchy.

[Hedy]

We use a drying rack inside for maybe 30% of our clothes. It saves us some energy. However, when I did it in college it really saved me money, due to not having to use the coin-operated washers.

[getforfree]

I dry everything outside. It save $20 on my bill every month. I do about 5-6 loads a week.

In summer time it dries in about 1 hour in the day time, or if I put it out overnight, it's dry by 9 am or so. In the winter time, I plan my laundry on those days when there is not suppose to be raining. I watch the forecast online and plan accordingly. Sometimes I wait a week.

I am washing my bedding now. Hope it will get dry by the time I have to go to work, or dh will complain that he has to put it back on the beds, because I will get home almost at midnight. and I have only 1 set for each bed.

[lgslgs]

[QUOTE=zetta;129197]... the option of drying clothes on a clothesline. No one ever seems to mention how much extra work this is physically! QUOTE]

We just call it exercise.

We didn't switch to line drying for the cost - we just like not having to listen to the dryer.

We also hand wash fairly often. Most of our washloads are quite small and if we just want to wash a couple of things we wash them in a bucket and hang dry. Again - it's more for the quiet than the cost savings, and a bit of light housework gets me away from desk work.

Lynda

[FrugalFish]

We air dry 90% of our laundry. The only exceptions are the load with sheets and towels, the cleaning towels (too linty otherwise), and any blankets that are too pet hairy. We're on a tiered payment scale for electricity here, so shaving that much off the top cuts the bill by a lot.

I hang shirts on hangers and let them dry that way. I'm going to have to put them on hangers sooner or later- does it matter if it's done when they're wet or dry? Hanging the rest of a load takes less than 5 minutes for me, so I don't consider it much work at all.

When DD was a baby, most of her laundry went in the dryer too; babies just have so much laundry and so many little things like socks. Now that she is a toddler, her laundry isn't too bad to hang. I personally think it's worth a little extra time and it can even be relaxing- though I hated hanging clothes outside in the winter...

[DayByDay]

I tried hanging laundry some months back. First, the rope kept stretching more and more, so the clothes would end up dragging on the ground. I also didn't like how the towels (and other items) felt rough and scratchy. I decided to stick to using the dryer.

[mom-from-missouri]

Whats a dryer???

Actually, I too call it exercise.

Drying on a line in the basement in the winter actually helps add some much needed humidty to the house.

[momof1in150]

My kids have problems with allergies and they are both asthmatic so hanging clothes outside is just not an option. Every Spring and Fall we have to close most of the windows as just the pollen and ragweed blowing in the windows bothers them.

[scfr]

I'm thinking about doing without a dryer after we move and just hanging everything. Less energy consumption & one less thing to break down.
My in-laws don't have a dryer; they live in a country where they are quite uncommon. They have a wonderful little compact & efficient clothes drying system on their upstairs patio. They have a very small washer by American standards. My MIL does one load of clothes wash every day. She puts it in first thing in the morning, makes & eats breakfast while it's washing, then hangs it out to dry before she heads off to work. On the weekends she washes sheets & towels. It is exercise (work), but since the loads are so small it's not too much at one time.

[Centsmatters]

I hang all mine now since my dryer went out. It not only saves on electricty from the dryer, but also from the air conditioning. Unfortunately, I will miss the extra heat this winter.
Like Frugal Fish, I also hang shirts up wet.
I don't like the way the towels come out, but extra fabric softner helps some. I used to hang them, then fluff up in the dryer.

[LuckyRobin]

When my dryer went out I hung clothes for several months. I noticed a drop of $20 per electric bill. I have a nice umbrella clothes line that can handle 4 loads hanging at a time, and 3 wooden drying racks for inside the house on rainy days.

We did eventually get a new dryer which we mostly use for five minutes after the clothes have dried on the line. It takes the scratchies and roughness right out and I've found it seems it takes out the pollen as well into the lint trap, for I've found the lint colored by it at bad pollen times of year.

[PrincessPerky]

We arn't even allowed a line here, I have used my 'swing' to hang on the cross bar, but I found spiders got in the clothes....Not the end of the world, but it is work.

And at 2-3 a day, it is a lot of work....plus the cross bar only holds one load, one less load a day doesn't make much difference in my electric bill.

I think if I had the space, I would take the time. (no basement or attic either)

[scfr]

I have a nice umbrella clothes line that can handle 4 loads hanging at a time, and 3 wooden drying racks for inside the house on rainy days.

We did eventually get a new dryer which we mostly use for five minutes after the clothes have dried on the line. It takes the scratchies and roughness right out and I've found it seems it takes out the pollen as well into the lint trap, for I've found the lint colored by it at bad pollen times of year.

Very smart system!

[Fern]

I love hang-drying my clothes outside. I do it as long as possible, weather permitting. I haven't used the dryer since winter.

I enjoy hanging them outside. It's probably one of my more favorite chores. And i think it saves a lot on my electric bill. I've been paying an average of $55-65 monthly on my electric. I do live alone. I do about 2 loads per week.