There’s a reason why you’ll never ever buy an Energy-Star rated clothes dryer. There isn’t such a thing. All clothes dryers are equally inefficient, thus equally undeserving of that coveted appliance award. Despite that fact, Americans use more clothes dryers to dry more loads of wash than any other people living anywhere else. The average clothes dryer uses the second-most electricity of any home appliance–the biggest pig? Your refrigerator, which runs constantly. According to the California Energy Commission, the average clothes dryer will cost $1,530 to operate over 18 years.
Despite their inefficiency, people keep stuffing every load of wash into their clothes dryer when there is a dirt-cheap and time-honored alternative: clotheslines. That’s right! For a fraction of the cost of a clothes dryer, you can buy a clothesline, pins and some posts and dry your clothes for FREE using sunshine and fresh air. A clothesline results in fresher smelling clothes than any dryer sheet ever produces, it doesn’t require you to pull clothing out the very minute clothes are dry and it gets you a little fresh air and sunshine every time you hang out a load to dry. The most environmentally friendly and cost saving solution to laundry is without question a clothesline.
But I can’t have one where I live!
No? Head over to Project Laundry List and learn how you can change covenants and restrictions in your neighborhood and bring back the most common sense solution to residential energy use. We need to FIGHT for our FREEDOM TO HANG!
But using clotheslines is too time consuming!
Okay, really? I’m not even going to address such a ridiculous argument. Hanging out your laundry is peaceful, meditative and takes as much time as you’ll spend reading this post per load which is almost NO time. Plus I’ll counter that argument with one I use with my kids: You’ll go outside and enjoy the fresh air and you’ll like it.
It’s cold and snowy where I live!
Not all year long. Even if you can hang your clothes for 6-8 months you’re cutting your energy use in half. And in the winter you can incorporate some new drying habits to reduce your energy use:
1) dry full loads, but do not overload your dryer.
2) keep your dryer in a heated space.
3) properly vent your dryer and clean your lint trap after every load.
4) dry loads in a row.
5) invest in a drying rack and air dry half your clothes with each load of wash. Even pulling 5 heavier items will help your clothes dryer run for a shorter cycle.
Now quit making excuses and mark your calendars–April 19th is National Hanging Out Day. Join the Eco Women and celebrate it!
National Hanging Out Day— cool!
I dry stuff on racks and hang stuff to dry on door frames all the time. I’m of Chinese ancestry from my mom’s side… so it’s fitting when my husband calls our be-decked abode a ‘Chinese Laundry.’
I just installed a clothesline in my laundry closet. I hang up all fleece items, lingerie, and anything else that would dry quickly or could be damaged by the dryer.
I’m in the partial-hang to dry category. We have so many allergies that hanging sheets would be an investment in Claritin. So instead, I hang heavy items on racks in my laundry room. My mantra for the heaviest pieces: wash first, dry last. Less wear and tear on the jeans, more energy saved.
I am lucky enough to live in a climate which allows line drying most of the time. Hanging clothes out, and bringing them in later is my FAVORITE household chore.
Great post. I love the soft feel of dryer dried clothes so I hang clothes (in the basement) until they are nearly dry and then the last ten minutes I throw them in the dryer to get soft and fluffy – I don’t do every load this way – but I do some.
Kim, you’re totally right–a few minutes in the dryer will restore that fluffy feeling to line-dried clothes. Just 10 minutes in the dryer after line drying willl also pull out a lot of the pollens & other allergins that make people miserable.
This is in Response to Jennifers comment. I do not live in a climate that is good for outside drying most of the year I have found that a portable clothes drying rack allows me to air dry year round. I simply move my rack around the house depending upon the time of the day…