Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Week 24: Line Dry as Much as Possible

This change isn't necessarily a change for our nutritional health, but more of one for our pocketbook so that we can continue to afford better quality food.  We will line dry as much of our laundry as possible.

Last week we vacationed at Hubby's sister's house and she line dries nearly all of her clothes.  She swears by it, saying that it saves her a lot of money.  I would have to agree and also there are definite "green" advantages as well, saving electricity and depending less on machines to do a job that nature can do perfectly well.  I have line dried our laundry off and on, but we currently don't have a clothes line.  Last year I made a make shift one that I lovingly referred to as the "hill billy drying rack."  It was 2 child safety gates cable tied together and held up by homemade saw horses.  It was definitely a beauty, while it lasted.  After a couple months, I tired of squatting down to hang the clothes and when we had a couple weeks of cooler weather, I gave up altogether.

Now, since I saw my first utility bill since turning on the central air, I have renewed enthusiasm for line drying.  I typically do 14-18 loads of laundry each week, depending on if I wash all the bed sheets (no Mom, that doesn't happen weekly-if I'm lucky it gets done monthly).  I'm sure that line drying could save us a fair amount of money.  Money that can be used for our grocery bill since food prices are steadily increasing.

Tonight, I'll go shopping with Hubby and pick out an umbrella clothesline.  I've had my eye on a couple different ones and I'm going to have him look them over to see if there are any benefits of one over the other.  It will cost us around $60 for the clothesline, the concrete to set the pole in and some decent wooden clothes pins.  I don't need to do laundry for a couple of days, but toward the end of the week, I hope to be able to post some pictures of the new set-up in action.

Do you line dry your clothes?  What sort of clothesline do you have?  What do you do in inclement weather?

2 comments:

  1. I have been! I have 2 $20 drying racks from IKEA and love them. I started challenging myself a month or so ago and have only used the dryer a couple times since then

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  2. I've enjoyed our homemade outdoor line and was depressed when we had several days of rain and I couldn't use it. Just hung out a load of towels and wash cloths a few minutes ago. The sunshine and fresh air felt good!

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