Come Hang Out With Me

If my bloomers looked as good as these (from "filminthefridge" on Flickr), I would proudly hang them on my clothesline outside. Instead, I hide my freshly laundered underwear in my garage on drying racks. Y'all should thank me for that.

In my attempts to be kind to Mother Earth and to be gentle to my wallet, I've turned to that archaic method of drying clothes: the clothes line. Each time that I hang out my clothes, I know that my mother is turning in her grave --- after all, she spent most of her life wishing that she had a clothes dryer. Here I have a perfectly good dryer and use a clothesline instead.

Every time we use our clothes dryers, we are consuming electricity (or natural gas). How much? Michael Bluejay, who calls himself "Mr. Electricity" has a handy energy calculator tool that will give you a rough estimate of the amount of electricity that various appliances use.

I figured that Mr. Tucker and I run about three loads of laundry a week for two people. That's about 12 loads a month. We have an older dryer and it takes about an hour to fully dry a load of towels. According to that calculator, at 12 cents a kilowatt, I'm only spending $76 per year to dry clothes. Now, a savings of $6.36 for a month might not seem like much --- but that will buy me a mocha and a muffin!

However, that calculator didn't take into account that sometimes I forget I have a load of clothes in the dryer and discover that I let my husband's work clothes get wrinkled. Ironing is a skill that I'm trying to forget that I have, so I usually pop a damp towel in with the clothes and run them a little longer.

On top of that, the calculator doesn't factor how hard the air conditioner has to work to dissipate the heat that using the dryer generated. And, it doesn't calculate the effect of that energy usage on the environment. At Project Laundry List, the site suggests that if every American household hung out their laundry to dry, the savings would be enough to be able to close several power plants. Think of the greenhouse gasses that would not be generated!

Other than my small attempt to shrink my environmental footprint and my desire to be frugal, here are the top three reasons that I am drying my clothes the old fashioned way:

1. It doesn't take any longer. Yes, that's what I said. I hang my shirts and slacks on plastic coat hangers straight from the washing machine and place them on the clothes rack to dry. The rack is portable, so I can roll it outside to use solar power to dry them or let them dry inside. I was going to have to hang them up anyway.
2. I like the smell of laundry that has been dried in the sun (and some folks say that the ultra-violet light kills viruses and bacteria).
3. My clothes last longer. That lint that you find in the dryer trap is being beaten out of your clothes!

I'm not even going to mention that the exercise of hanging the clothes is good for me.

Perhaps you live in an area that has a Homeowner's Association and you can't hang the clothes on a line? No worries. I found wooden laundry racks at The Container Store costing from $10-$30 that will hold an entire load of towels. Next winter, when my house is full of static electricity, I expect to dry clothes right in the bedroom to help add humidity to the house. No more zaps for me!

I imagine I will still backslide and use my dryer occasionally, just because of the convenience. I know some of you will decide that drying clothes on the line is not worth the trouble. If you use must use a dryer, remember these things:

1. Clean the lint trap after every use. Not only do you help your dryer run more efficiently, you reduce the risk of a fire hazard.
2. Dry a full load at a time, but don't overload the dryer.
3. Wash and dry clothes in an "off peak" time (early morning or late at night)
4. If you are lucky enough that your dryer has a moisture sensor, use it!
5. Listen for that timer on your dryer, and take out the clothes immediately so you don't have the wrinkles.
6. Or, run around naked. Nudists don't have to worry about these issues, do they?

Come and "hang out" with me. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said:

"We must hang together...
else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."

© Shelly Tucker, 2009

Comments

[Karina]

LOVE IT! I too am guilty of the forgetting my clothes in the dryer and having to "re-dry" them again to get out the wrinkles issue. I do that A LOT. I'm not quite ready to part with my dryer yet, because I live in a condo and can't dry clothes outside and have limited space inside to lay out clothes to dry, so I'm going to do my bit by making it a point to remember to take my clothes out of the dryers ASAP, so I don't run the machine twice. It's a start, right?

[janeywan]

I absolutely love hanging my clothes out to dry and what I don't hang outside I have a large drying rack inside. Have done this for years. I get my laundry done so much faster this way and if there is any breeze blowing wrinkles disappear in a jiff.

Get new blog!

[Chameleon]

I -miss- my back-window clothesline! In the winter, I often dry towels and sweaters over radiators (yay for old-fashioned steam radiators!) but in the spring, I always loved the smell of clothes fresh from the clothesline. When I was growing up, my grandmother used to hang clothes out on the line in the back yard, and I remember deliberately getting tangled up in the sheets just so I could smell them. You've inspired me to go looking for a backyard clothesline this weekend!

[Alvina]

I agree with you if we need to save on electricity consumption. We can harness the sun to dry clothes without having to wear clothes dryer. It would be more efficient. Thanks for sharing the information in this post.