Drying Clothes

My dryer’s belt broke about a month ago, so it has forced me to be greener in my laundry room. I’ve been air drying clothes throughout my house and in my back yard. I live in a neighborhood where no one dries clothes outside. I kind of feel like a rebel hanging out my sheets to dry.

I have found It takes more planning and coordination to do laundry when you line dry. Here are some tips to make it more convenient.

1. Clothes should be washed early in the morning on sunny days. It doesn’t matter as much on a rainy day because they’ll dry inside.

2. Try to wash at least one load a day. Waiting to do 3 loads in one day can get overwhelming since drying space can be limited.

3. Wash only one set of sheets at a time midweek. I’m usually filling my weekend with washing the whole household’s sheets. Sheets dry fast on the line, but if you only have one 15 foot line clothes line, there won’t be enough space to hang more than one set of sheets a day.

4. Use a free and clear nontoxic fabric softener in the rinse cycle when you wash. Unless you like drying off with a scratchy towel, fabric softener is a must!

5. I’m picky about laundering my cloth napkins, dough clothes, and cloth coffee filters. I make sure to wash them with a nontoxic detergent and then rinse with white vinegar and line dry inside. I avoid drying these outside because of possible outdoor contaminates.

I’m not sure when I’ll get the dryer fixed, but I do plan to monitor our kilowatt usage. Analyzing this time of year’s usage without a dryer compared to using one last year. I’ll plan to shared findings in a future post.

Please share if you have any line drying tips?