Comments on: Five Minute Finances #10: Buy Some Clothespins And A Rope

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:24:30 +0000

My favorite thing about line drying clothes is that it is the most cost effective way of stain treating clothes that I have found yet… especially for anything that was stained a red color. I’ve also found that line drying clothes doesn’t set stains so I can wash things again and stain treat them the second time around if the sun wasn’t enough to get out the stain.

By: laura

laura — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:18:50 +0000

We live in Montana–definitely a problem hanging out clothes in winter at times. I run clothes through the dryer for 5 minutes then immediately sort out the ones that need hanging. We have a wood stove and I’ve hung a clothes line (from sturdy hooks) in the ceiling around the stove. with a couple of drying racks, I can dry 2 loads of clothes a day, as well as add valuable moisture to a dry environment. Of course, on sunny days you can hang out a load of jeans and they’ll freeze dry–of course, you’ll have to pay attention to the weather forecast for the day! With 4 in our family, we do around 6-8 loads a week. We also hang up the towels after use and reuse them a couple of times before washing.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:17:08 +0000

Yeah…the towels can get a little stiff but it gently exfoliates as you dry! Voila! Instant beauty treatment.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:22:41 +0000

I love hang-drying my laundry out here in CA, but I’m moving to Iowa next month. Can you hang-dry clothes inside in the winter? Does a drying rack work well? Anybody in harsh climates have advice on this?

By: M3

M3 — Tue, 29 May 2007 21:52:26 +0000

Just started hanging my clothes to dry and found this site looking for a way to figure the cost savings. My solution for stiff clothing is actually twofold – one: make certain you are not using too much laundry soap (directions all call for way more than you need) and two: Downey Wrinkle Releaser (which we already used on clothes that sat too long in the dryer) solves the stiffness problem. As other posters recommended, air dry for 10 minutes fluffs the towels. Finally, 8 loads a week would be awesome…I do at least 16 (including sheets and towels) every week.

By: HR

HR — Mon, 07 May 2007 18:11:26 +0000

8 loads a week would be a godsind for us. We have
6 kids, one if them special needs and one just an infant. we wash at least 3 loads a day. I hang out what I can, but most goes in the dryer.

By: AndyR

AndyR — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:56:24 +0000

Probably too late to get noticed by anyone but you, but…

I’m surprised you didn’t mention gas dryers. Far more efficient and does a better job than electric in getting things dry.

(For those of us in the People’s Republic of California for whom line drying is not an option).

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:17:39 +0000

I hang laundry out all the time, winter, spring, summer and fall (I live in a warm weather climate). Especially sheets and towels. Throw your towels in the dryer for a couple of minutes before you put them away. I got my most recent clothes line at the Dollar Tree. It holds two twin sheet sets and comforters.

Also if I only had 8 loads of laundry a week to do I would be jumping for joy!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:02:38 +0000

Actually, I was wondering about the “eight loads a week” myself, since it seemed really high. (My fiancee and I only do about two loads every two weeks.)

Maybe it has to do with different washer sizes? So one person’s “load” might be two loads for a different machine.

By: David

David — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:20:10 +0000

I’m going to assume Dwight doesn’t have child(ren)?

By: Dwight

Dwight — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:35:39 +0000

How the hell does anyone do 8 loads of laundry a week? Another money/energy saving tip would be to do less laundry overall.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:08:05 +0000

You don’t have to wash your clothes again if it rains while they’re outside. Rain is just water! We just leave them until they dry again.

To combat the stiffness, we put our laundry in the dryer for about 10 minutes after line drying. It makes them significantly softer, and still saves us (two-person household) about $10 a month.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:48:03 +0000

You can hang clothes inside even with no sun–it might take 24 hours to dry a load though. Keeping a ceiling fan or box fan on helps. Outside I find that clothes do not smell nice at all, but more like a wet dog smells when he comes inside.

Still, on a windy day, your clothes can be dry by the time the next load is out. It’s very cool. You can add fabric softener (or vinegar) to the rinse cycle to help with stiffness issues, or just dry the things that tend to get stiff (towels and pants) in the dryer.

Definitely hang-dry anything with elastic (undies, socks, swimsuits) because they will last much longer; heat breaks down elastic. There are great drying racks, plastic-coated even, that will hold an entire load of laundry. Or you could install a bar over your dryer with hangers for short things (shirts) and small things you can clothespin to the bottom of the hanger (undies, socks).

By: Karen Porter

Karen Porter — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:23:59 +0000

I can’t tell you how often I hung clothes on the line outside growing up (and no it wasn’t in the front yard in view of all the neighbors–that’s tasteless and tacky). We hung our clothes outside because we did not have the finances to purchase a dryer. Many times also we went to the laundromat (which was not fun–I’d rather hang clothes than spend time in a crowded and very hot laundromat. That’s torture).

So as an experienced clothes line hanger I’ll tell you two of the downfalls of this method (besides dashing to beat the rain at times): 1) If you don’t have an open area without trees, stuff from the trees will fall on your clothes and stain them sometimes; 2) if you have allergy sensitivities to things outside such as tree pollen, oak/pine trees, azaleas, etc., this pollen may blow onto your clothes on a windy day.

On the other hand, the dryer probably does wear out and definitely shrinks my clothes at times. So there are pros and cons to both methods (beyond energy bill considerations).

By: Karen Porter

Karen Porter — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:20:43 +0000

I can’t tell you how often I hung clothes on the line outside growing up (and no it wasn’t in the front yard in view of all the neighbors–that’s tasteless and tacky). We hung our clothes outside partly because we did not have the finances to splurge on a dryer and partly because it was just the way mom wanted to do it I guess. Many times also we went to the laundromat (which was not fun–I’d rather hang clothes than spend time in a crowded and very hot laundromat. That’s torture).

On the other hand, the dryer probably does wear out and definitely shrinks my clothes at times. So there are pros and cons to both methods (beyond energy bill considerations).

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:52:29 +0000

Ditto on the stiffness, which is why I haven’t been hanging mine out in the summers. When I was growing up we always hung out our clothes, from April to November in Michigan! And I remember best the stiff-as-cardboard towels, though the sheets smelled wonderful.

This summer I’m planning to hang my clothes out more often, and toss them in the dryer for 10 minutes to soften up. We’ll see how it goes.

By: eFIPO.com » 0% Balance Transfers Are Dangerous

eFIPO.com » 0% Balance Transfers Are Dangerous — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:10:31 +0000

[...] for me to throw on a couple hundred pounds of stress on my back. If you really want to be cheap, learn how to conserve on things you’ve never even thought [...]

By: Dennis Bjørn Petersen

Dennis Bjørn Petersen — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:55:54 +0000

Its overall a good idea to conserve energy. Combined with the energy-saving bulbs and turning off equipment on stand-by (ie. TV, speakers, DVD-players and such) you can really save a lot of money, not to mention the environment.

By: Crys

Crys — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:42:08 +0000

We do this a lot in the summer (not so much in the winter), but the only complaint I have is stiffness in the fabric.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:28:32 +0000

1- contact your neighborhood association. If there’s a groundswell of support- usually a supermajority can change assn regs.

2- you can dry clothes indoors, as well, in a well-ventilated or sunny space (this could be esp good in a dry, dry winter!)

3- @tkriger: I think you answered this yourself- if you hang them out to remove wrinkles, how could drying them hanging out create more? :)