Finally, I have been able to start hanging the laundry outside this past week. Prior to this week, my backyard looked like a marsh after several days of rain. We have had record rain fall this spring…not conducive to hanging clothes outside to dry.
I don’t have room for a line in our backyard, so I use 2 wooden drying racks. Not the best set up, but it works for me.
I do a load of laundry every morning in the warm weather during the week. By the early afternoon, the first load is dry and I hang a second load. I throw the wet clothes in the dryer for about 5-10 minutes to ‘fluffen'(is that a word?) before I hang outside. But those minutes prevent the laundry, especially the towels from being ‘crunchy’.
Hanging clothes outside to dry makes our electric bill far more manageable when the temperature spikes and the air conditioner is turned on.
Do you hang your laundry outside to dry? Tell us about your set up in the comments.
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This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.
I would love a clothes line, but like you, no where to put it. Unfortunately I also do not have a hard surface to sit a rack. But love the idea of using a rack, I need to get busy looking at the back yard and how line/rack drying could happen. I remember that great smell of line dried sheets…..
I use an umbrella clothesline in warm weather and during the winter I use racks in the family room. I haven’t used my dryer in over a year.
Melynda – My mom always line dried our sheets when I lived at home and I love the smell too.
Anonymous – I have thought about looking into the umbrella clothesline. Since it is smaller, I might be able to find room in our yard.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
The best, sturdiest line is available at Target.com. It is a stainless steel rectangle shape on a pole that you sink into the ground. It holds three large loads of laundry without bending. We’ve had trouble with the aluminum umbrella lines. We also hang shirts and pants on hangers inside, using our door frames as a “line”.
Thanks Anonymous! I’m going to go check it out now.
I live in an apartment in the city, so we can’t put them outside, but we have racks just like you do and hang all of our clothes except the towels on the racks in our study.
Hanging clothing outside is a violation of our lease. I guess people drying their clothing outdoors doesn’t promote the “luxury” apartment image this complex is trying to promote! LOL!
I have two clothes racks and I dry laundry in front of the windows. I, too, fluff our laundry in the dryer to minimize crunchiness and to get that nice dryer shrink. My favorite rack is a plastic rack I found at Goodwill!
I also put all shirts on hangers and hang them on the shower rod in the bathroom, leaving a couple of inches between each to get the maximum air flow.
I’ve always used a clothes rack, since we don’t own a dryer and have never had the facility of adding a clothes line. The hot Indian summers makes it quick and easy for clothes to dry but you have to be careful, else the strong sun can really bleach out colors!:-)
Years ago when our dryer broke for the 3rd time (and no thanks to my kids “warming up” school clothes every morning while I slept), I refused to get it fixed and instead had hubby install a clothesline from our deck to the largest pine tree in our yard (not so good of an idea, occasional sap on clothes, but closest tree available). Only once did the squirrels decide to chew the line. I love the smell of clothes line dried and I can generally get 1 to 3 loads a day done depending on time and weather.
In the winter we set up drying racks around our living room and let the dry heat from the woodstove dry them while adding moisture back into the room.