With warmer weather approaching, now is a great time to think about purchasing a solar dryer. Solar dryers are inexpensive, easy to use, and will save you a lot of money on your electric bill every month.
Did you know that if you use your electric dryer once a day it will cost you an average of $184 a year? If you have a large family like I do, you will spend twice that or even more.
Have you figured out what I am talking about…if not you can check one out here.
Clotheslines (aka the solar dryer) are a great way to save money. Clothes dry quickly on the line in warm weather and your house isn’t being warmed by the continuous running of the dryer.
Many of you, like me, live somewhere that does not allow clotheslines to be put in the yard. Did you know that they make indoor clotheslines too?
Your clothes won’t dry as fast as if they were outside, but at least you won’t be using the dryer. A garage or basement is a great place to hang an indoor line.
You will save money, your clothes will smell fresh, and you will even get a little exercise.
*Update*
I received the following question in the comments:
I always thought that if you dried indoors that the house would be damp or prone to mildew that kind of odor smell?
I have dried clothes indoors for many years. I have done it in the north (where the climate was dry, and in a humid southern climate) and I have never had any problems with clothes smelling moldy. I do have ceiling fans so that might make a little bit of difference. My advice would be this, if you have a basement that reeks of mold, don’t put your clothes down there, they will stink. It is my opinion that you can dry clothes indoors without making your house smell damp. It has always worked for me.
I did read an article that said if you hung wet clothes on a drying rack in your bedroom overnight it would give the same effect as a humidifier. I haven’t tried that one.
Do you hang your clothes out to dry when the weather is nice? I love the smell of clothes fresh off the line! It is a great way to save money and keep your house cool by not running the dryer during the summer months.
In our neighborhood we cannot have an outdoor clothesline so I use a drying rack
It isn’t as nice as a clothesline, but I am able to use my dryer less and save a few dollars a month! If you have enough space in your garage or basement (or even your living room) you could also go with an indoor retractable clothesline
Line drying your clothes won’t make you a millionaire, but it will add up to some small savings over time!
Photo Credit: CaptPiper
Beth/Mom2TwoVikings says
My mother-in-law tells stories about “back in the day” (1950’s) up in northern Michigan, she’d hang clothes regardless the season (along with a wood-fired stove and pumping water for cooking and cleaning). Even in January in mountains of snow, she’s “freeze dry” her clothes and then bring them in by the fire to iron! No lie! 🙂 This is what I compete with! LOL I can’t get ANY sympathy! LOL
pam says
my husband hung a line for me last year and i love it. i need to get better at using it
Candice says
Beth/Momof2Vikings…I’m in Alaska with winter temps as low as -50, otherwise I might try that lol! I do use wood heat and we haul our drinking only water, but we have access to an all natural glacier fed stream, the best water ever and it’s only a little work!
I like that drying rack, it’d be great for my living room with the wood heat! I’ve never seen one like it! Off to online shopping I go.
Esther says
As shocking as this to many people in the US I never had a dryer really until I moved to the US. In the rainy country of England I had to dry my laundry without the power of a dryer. I do miss having a washing line, although now I am working I am loving the fact I have a dryer.
Fran says
@Esther – my introduction to the drying line was while our family was stationed in England. I made sure to buy a quality UK version before we came back to the States. I love using it, however “nice” (read: cool, breezy) days in Texas are hard to come by. And the hubby complains that everything is too stiff. Any hints on how to make the clothes softer?
Karen says
I have two indoor drying racks, no clothesline here. I’d rather air dry my clothes most of the way and then throw them in the dryer for 15 minutes. Savings in alot of ways!
1. Less wear and tear on clothes
2. Lower electric bill
3. I can hang my clothes on the rack and then go – don’t have to worry about clothes wrinkling in the dryer!
4. I don’t have the worry of rain as I do with an outdoor line!
Piper says
Where we live we aren’t allowed a traditional clothesline but we are able to put up an umbrella clothesline that can be folded up when not in use. A good sturdy one was hard to find but once we did, we loved the savings on our gas bill :p It doesn’t work as well as a traditional line because the clothes in the inner rings are blocked by those on the outside so it can take longer for things to dry but that’s okay 🙂 My husband doesn’t really like the way the clothes feel when they’ve been line dried but our compromise is that I throw them in the dryer for a few minutes to “soften” them up and he’s happy 🙂 And I still save a ton of money and keep the house cooler in the summer LOL
Lisa says
I was lucky to have “inherited” a clothesline when I moved into our house. When the weather is nice enough I absolutely LOVE hanging our clothes out. Not only do the clothes smell great. it reduces our electric bill in more than one way, the first being not running the dryer, the second being not running the air conditioner. Conversely when it is cold outside we will vent the dryer back into the house so the warm air heats our downstairs as well as adding some humidity back into a house that gets a little dry from running a fireplace with a blower on it. (which is how we heat the upstairs).
Deanna says
I LOVE air-dries clothes but where I live, I never see them anymore!! I grew up sleeping in sheets that had been dried outside on the clothesline and I think I may ask hubby to make one for me this summer…
Anne says
I love line-dried clothes and sheets/bedding. However, I have nasty spring allergies to trees, and my husband has ragweed allergies. Needless to say, hanging laundry out to dry during those times isn’t good for either of us. I have about 2 months (if I’m lucky to not have a rainy summer) of being able to dry clothes on the clothesline. I have a line in side and a rack for things that I cannot put in the dryer. Where I live in Canada, we get too much snow to walk out to my line…it’s not an “attached to the house” old-fashioned one…we have one of those stand-alone/umbrella type ones.
I do love line-dried clothing and laundry though, and miss being able to do this. 🙁
Theresa says
We aren’t technically allowed to have clotheslines in my neighborhood either, but put a couple of eye bolts on the back porch and then took a length of clothesline the right length and put clips on either end. I also set the line so that it is low enough that it is below the wall surrounding the yard so you can’t see it unless you are looking over. I bring the line out with the clothes and back in as soon as I’m done and so far no one has complained. I’ve even seen a couple of my neighbors do the same.
Mel B says
Reading Esther’s comment reminded me…when I lived in Northern Ireland for 15 months most of my friends didn’t have dryers or if they did it was a combination washer/dryer. The way we dried our clothes was to lay them over the heaters along the walls in the houses. It was great when you woke up in the morning and your clothes were warm!
Annette says
I love the way the sheets feel and smell after hung on the line to dry. DH complains that the clothes hung on the line bother his allergies, so it has been a while since I have hung anything outside. I would love to try it again in the summer to keep the house cooler and save on power.
Honey O says
I remember having to do this when I lived with my granny….I hated it. But now I would to do it and save the money
Somebody's Mimi says
A good slogan for a town that wants to grow… “Winter Garden… where people can use clotheslines.” Fresh, energy saving, down-home feel.
Carrie says
I line dry my clothes on an umbrella-style clothes line in the summer. When the weather is cold I use lines in the basement for some of the clothes. In the winter I do not have enough clothes line in the basement to dry everything. So small fiddly things like socks and underwear go in the dryer.
Dawn Chandler says
Try drying the clothes for about five minutes and then hanging them to finish drying. It gets the stiff out. HTH!
Brittni says
My wonderful hubby takes care of laundry for me. (I know, he’s a keeper!) He hangs our pants and towels up to dry due to the time it takes to dry these heavy items. We don’t have a clothesline, but he hangs them in the shower in our spare bathroom. We have an extra curtain rod in there just for it! He clips one end of the pants/towels to a hanger. It works nice and we don’t have to go our in the Florida humidity to bring them back in.
missy says
does anyone ever have trouble with pollen and allergies on line dried (outside) clothes? my hubby thinks that its going to be a huge money saver, but we all have seasonal allergies!
TheHappyHousewife says
I know it can be a problem for some people. My husband has terrible allergies and line drying doesn’t bother him, but I know it can bother others. Perhaps avoid drying outside when the pollen count is high?
Lacy says
@Missy:
Three of four members of my family also have season allergies, and we live in the deep south in an area that gets extreme spring pollen. When we dry sheets, blankets, etc, those definitely get tossed into the dryer for 10 to 15 minutes after line drying, using only the “fluff” cycle if they’re completely dry or a little heat if they’re not. I don’t worry so much about our other things except for days with a high pollen count. If I notice as I’m bringing things in that there’s a lot of pollen, into the dryer they go (again, 10 to 15 minutes). If the pollen is extreme, I just use the dryer. It seems to work very well for us, and those few minutes of finishing in the dryer both softens the clothes as well as sends the lovely line-dried smell throughout the house. Hope this helps!
Sarah says
Clothes going stiff can be a problem if they are overdried. It is rarely a problem in England, where I live, and only tends to be a problem on hot days. You will have the advantage of being able to dry more than one set of clothes a day.
Chavon says
I started line drying our jeans, towels, and sheets every week once we passed the winter months here in TX and just this past month shaved $80 off our electric bill. I love the way the sheets smell.
Jean says
I hang my clothes out to dry all year round. Yes, it does look tacky. Don’t care. The neighbors are not paying my electric bill. The house stays cooler in summer. I use the dryer when we have a round of wet weather, but other than that, it’s the line. I honestly believe I’m the only one doing it on my street. My neighborhood is an old one, and not all that nice. But, makes no matter. I’d do it anywhere I could get by with it. I keep my yard nicely mowed and try to be a decent neighbor. Hey, I’ll take a neighbor like that any day, clothesline or not.