As you know, this year I am trying to cut costs so I can work on paying down our mortgage. One of the ways to save money is to try to do as many things as I can to save on energy. Enter, line drying.
When I was younger, my grandmother line dried almost everything. I loved the smell of the stiff towels after a bath. A little nostalgic, but there is something so perfect about towels and sheets blowing in the breeze out on the line. And there are so many pros to line-drying:
- Saves money: Line drying costs next to nothing after initial set-up, while it is estimated that drying clothes in a dryer will cost approximately $1500 or more over the life of the dryer.
- Saves clothes: Clothes line dried will last longer. Line drying also prevents shrinking. Using a dryer causes clothing fibers to break down more quickly.
- Saves energy: Line drying is definitely more environmentally responsible. Which is why I still don’t understand why some neighborhood snoopervising committees do not allow clotheslines.
Do you line dry your clothes?
Would you if your HOA didn’t prevent it?
~Mavis
Thanks Lisa & JJ for the photos!
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Melane says
Line drying is awesome! I have a clothes line in my furnace room. Not only is it convenient, but since our furnace is older, I fee like I am recovering some of the money wasted by the inefficient furnace.
Em says
I love my clothesline. One tip that I read (and it may have been from you), if you hate line-dried towels, put them in the dryer for just five minutes, then put them on the line. They will be less stiff.
Sherry in Sumner says
I hang my clothes on the line every chance I get, though I admit I hide my undies on the middle lines. It’s one chore I never tire of. Ah, that fresh-air smell! Even this past winter I pulled out a nightgown that I hadn’t worn in several months and I could still smell summer in it.
Sue says
It’s often windy where I live, and in my previous house there were also frequent dust storms, so I learned to dry clothes on a rack indoors. Otherwise clothes would get dirtier as they dry 😉 and sometimes blow off the line 😮 It’s also very arid here so stuff dries fast!
But now that I’m in town and away from the worst of the dust, I do think I’ll set up an outdoor line, at least for the big stuff like sheets and towels. I might have to use heavy duty clamps instead of clothespins though!
Lindsey says
I am in md, and although my hoa says no line drying, my state has a law that overrules it stating that an hoa may not prevent homeowners from line drying. Check and see if your state has a similar provision.
Tracey says
I was going to post the same thing. I’m in Indiana and there is a right to dry law that supersedes HOAs. i love using the clothesline… Makes sense!
Donna says
I live in Indiana also and that law is news to me. We live in an older neighborhood in Indianapolis and I’ve used my clothesline since we’ve lived here. With a privacy fence no one can see my unmentionables.
Lisa Millar says
🙂 It’s such a ‘normal’ thing in Australia to line dry, that frequent use of a dryer seems odd – so many pro’s to line drying!
It still boggles my mind that the US had to create a ‘Right to Dry’ movement to stop HOA’s from banning clotheslines!
You should at least have the choice to use the free sun!
And its a divine smell – fresh sun – dried sheets to snuggle up to sleep!
Rachael says
absolutely, I am in Australia too and I couldn’t believe when I heard that some places in the US wont let you dry your clothes on a line.
One of the famous Australian inventions is the Hills Hoist Clothes Line so it would be “UnAustralian” to ban it 🙂
I dry all my laundry on the line
Lisa Millar says
There would be a riot!! Love my Hills Hoist!!
Cathy says
We live in an HOA in sunny CA which also states in the CC&Rs “no clothes lines,” but we have a huge backyard. The neighbors (or the HOA tyrants, for that matter) will never even know that we’re line-drying out there. Take that, HOA! 🙂
Carrie says
I haven’t set up an outdoor clothesline at my new house yet but I have been using two drying racks inside all winter long and sitting them outside on nice days. If you sit the rack by a sunny window or over the air vent the clothes will dry faster. I made the decision to start since I was already hang drying a lot of my manfriend’s jeans and my wool socks and athletic clothes. Clothes really do last longer with less wear and tear!
Ramona says
I line dry all the time. Sometimes in winter when temps. are below freezing I use the dryer. I don’t mind the towels being stiff or the clothes not soft I am used to it. I also hide the undies in the middle row. Getting ready to hang clothes right now.
Pamela says
nope I have no clothes line. I do however dry my uniform work shirts on hangars (and any other “good” shirts I may have washed) and air dry my jeans with sometimes a 10 min head start in the dryer.
Cindy M. says
I grew up with line dried clothes and when we lived in VERY rural Montana, I did my fair share of clothesline use. The almost constant wind dried everything fairly quickly. Now in Spokane, I don’t fancy a line in our backyard-while the fresh smell is nice, I don’t want one more thing in the midst of the yard plus I don’t think it will break our budget to use our dryer once-twice a week.
Hazel says
I don’t own a tumble dryer so everything goes on the line- outside if at all possible, if not then on an airer near the Rayburn.
Kristina says
We’ve got a great big clothesline here, which I use all the time. It’s a no-brainer here in arid CA where, in the summer, the line is faster than the dryer. Plus clothes and especially sheets smell so good when they’re line-dried. My line is right by our orchard, so I do have to watch out for my husband mowing the field, which kicks up a lot of dust in the summer. I can count on our employee coming in to warn me when he’s doing the mowing — I guess his wife has trained him better than I have my husband.
Rachel Hough says
When the name of your state includes mention of the wind, you use your clothesline frequently. However, my HOA prevents it. They also prevent sheds, car ports, and window air conditioners, but the others in my neighborhood do it anyway, so I put one up. Mr. Car Port threw the first fit. I explained to him that I would take it down the day he took down his car port. He went away. Ms. Window air conditioner complained and told me she would cut it down herself. I told her if her air conditioner went missing I would know nothing about it. Problem solved. That’s been about 3 years now, and I love my “solar clothes dryer”. Hee!
Lisa Millar says
This made me laugh a lot! Awesome job!
Julie says
I love using a clothes line. I have a small clothesline in my basement for when it’s too cold to hang laundry outside. Believe it or not, that helps with dryness in the air from our heating stove.
I hang underwears and socks on a drying rack that stays closer to the house so neighbors don’t see.
Earlene says
We have so many allergies /asthma issues, I haven’t hung up clothes for 40 yrs.
Cassandra says
That’s our house, too. My allergies are so bad that I can’t go outside when everything is in bloom without wearing a surgical mask.
Beth says
Yup, that’s me too…..allergies are too bad to hang the clothes outside, but I do hang them in the basement. It works for me.
Rachel says
This happens to us a few times a year. However, what I do during that time is I put the clothes on the line, and then bring them in and put them in a hot dryer for about 5 minutes. It seems to do the trick, at least for us.
Lauralli says
I air dry clothes all around the house indoors–mostly shirts and nicer pants or anything else I don’t want to shrink. It’s been my belief for a long time now that dryers kill clothes. I use my dryer for everything else. I might possibly be the only poster today that hates the smell and stiffness of outdoor line dried clothes. Plus, we have pretty serious allergies in the house hold–all those clothes outdoors act as a filter for pollen in the air. For the same reason, we can’t have open windows on nice days or cool nights which is a bummer!
nancy from mass says
I line dry as soon as I can hang laundry without getting frostbite in my fingers. A couple of week ago I line dried my son’s flannel sheets and put them back on his bed. for days he kept saying how good his room smelled. The day after I hung his sheets, we got 4 inches of snow. back to using the dryer.
I am thankful/fortunate that i do not have an HOA “Hovering Over my Ass”. In fact, when my husband and I were looking at houses 20 years ago, that was one of my biggest no-no’s for housing options. I grew up with line dried clothes (and towels that are a little rough from line drying – but they are more absorbent!) and no one, yes, no one, was going to tell me I couldn’t use a line. The previous owner had one put in from the back door to the large oak in the back yard, and i still use that today. I have to change out the line every 5 years or so, but it’s worth it!
The only time during spring/summer/fall that i use the dryer exclusively is when we have the inchworm infestation. that usually takes about 2-3 weeks. i learned after picking inchworms out of my towels. so. f-ing. gross.
You’ll have that to look forward to when you move East! (pollen season is pretty bad too)
Claire says
Isn’t it funny? Today at work we were just discussing this habit during lunch. I grew up in Australia and came to Canada in my 30’s, so while I do “understand both sides of the coin”, I always choose to dry outside when weather permits, and warm basement in winter. We live in the boonies, so no-one is snooping. Truthfully, I am totally miserable about paying for utilities when there is a cost effective solution at the back door
Coleen says
Yes I line dry my clothes…..outside in nice weather and inside on racks in bad weather….basically I hardly us my dryer at all.
Betsy in MN says
My dryer died during a brown out 3 1/2 years ago. I use racks inside during the winter and clothes line in the summer. I will even freeze dry the clothes in the winter and they smell marvelous! I live on 60 acres so I really don’t care about my neighbors! Our clothes last forever.
Donna says
One of my favorite things at new house we built is not just my clothes line, but it is a pulley operated clothes line! I have a porch with built in bench seats so I put the basket on the bench and stand in one place at the end of the porch and hang my clothes. I LOVE it!! Can’t hide the undies though.
Leslie says
I love line drying. Bedding smells fresh, and towels are so absorbent! My husband doesn’t like the stiffness of the fabric, so sometimes I toss his stuff in the dryer for five minutes.
mdoe37 says
HOA….hoooey. Don’t think I could live under that even if you gave me the house. I live in a small town so clotheslines are not a big deal. I have a couple of drying racks I use indoors and out…..I suppose you could put them on the deck in the back yard. I’ve had lines in the garage in the past….in case it was going to rain. 🙂 I have three lines going across half my basement, especially for fleece items. My dryer tends to melt fleece.
(I cannot have chickens, however….small yards in town, Just don’t tell the township folks that I’m raising quail in the back building. Smaller, quieter, have to be penned and well they produce the cutest little speckled eggs! )
Staci says
I love my clothesline and will never live where they’re not allowed, how silly!? In the winter, we use an indoor line strung across our basement as well as several racks. Wet clothes go right onto the hangers and within hours they can be put into the closet. Sweaters get draped gently over the racks. Love it! Wood stove heat is awesome and it does help with keeping the air humidified. 🙂
Sandrine says
Here in Italy we line dry our clothes everywhere. I live in the ciuntry but even in big cities like Milan or Rome you can see clothes, sheets, towels everywhere!
Monica says
I finally have a place where I can line dry, I just need to set up a line and hope my husband doesn’t flip out! I love line dried clothes, I grew up helping my grandma hanging the clothes on the line. It was embarressing when she put my underwear on the lines, especially when I was a teenager!
Cynthia says
I am reading the book Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. It’s a historical novel, and in it the ladies in 18th century England dry their sheets over lavender bushes, and even rosemary bushes. I think that sounds lovely. I don’t line dry because of arthritis in my hands but I could manage to throw a sheet over some bush. I just might have to try this.
Sherry in Sumner says
I love this idea, Cynthia. I have two fairly large Rosemary bushes and a smaller lavender bush. I’m going to try this. I also might read that book, as it sounds interesting.