Hang Your Laundry Out To Dry – There Are Quite A Few Benefits

Written by Hillbilly Housewife

Today I want to talk to you about considering letting sun and wind dry your clean clothes. Of course at first glance it may seem a little old-fashioned to hang your clothes on a laundry line to dry. This has become a bit of a rarity over the past 10 or twenty years. Unfortunately, some places now prevent you from hanging your clothes outside to dry because the consider what was once a normal part of everyday life ugly and unseemly. What a shame since there are several very good reasons to skip the dryer and let wind and sun do the work for you.

Let’s start with the obvious. Air dried laundry smell so much better than anything else. No fabric softener or scented dryer sheet can come close to that smell. Sun and Air drying on the clothes line will also leave your clothes looking nicer. Sunshine is a very powerful stain remover and will get your whites whiter. Don’t forget your darks outside though as it tends to bleach the color out of it a bit over time.

The main reason to dig out that old laundry line though is the cash you will save each and every week. The first thing that comes to mind is all the electricity your dryer uses. This is something that won’t be used if you take a few minutes to hang damp clothes outside to dry. And speaking of which… air drying laundry isn’t has hard or labor intensive as you may think. You just put the clothes on the line, secure them with pins and go about your business for a few hours. When everything is dry, you just have to collect it and then fold it, hang it up and put it away as you would when you take things out of the dryer.

I don’t know when you last shopped for a new dryer, but they can be quite expensive. By using yoru dryer less (or not at all), it will last much longer, thus putting off the purchase of a new one. This alone adds quite a bit to your overall savings. That’s not all though…

Running your dryer will also build up heat in the house, which during the summer months will have to be cooled back down by the air conditioner which in turn will make your electricity go up.

I’m sure you have noticed that dryers aren’t exactly gentle on clothes and wear on them over time. That of course results in you having to go shopping for new garments more often. Of course that can be fun, but it also can cost quite a bit of extra money over time (which you could be saving by hanging your clothes out to air dry and thus being able to wear them much longer.

Does all of this add up to suggest that you need to throw out your dryer? Not at all… But I hope the points above inspire you to rethink using it for everything. Sheets and towels for example are easy to line-dry. String up some twine across a spot in the back yard and hang them out to dry. Next you may want to give drying your whites out in the sun a try. I am sure you will be impressed by the stain removing powers of the sun.

You may also want to consider getting a small drying rack that you can use either inside or outside depending on weather conditions. Use it for shirts and blouses as well as socks and the likes. It doesn’t take up much room, is easy to move around and will keep your clothes in good shape longer.

And now I would like to invite you to take a look at this homemade laundry detergent recipe. Just like air drying your laundry, switching to this laundry soap is a lot easier than you may think and it can save you a bundle.

Tags: air drying, clothes line, dry clothes, dry laundry, dry rack, dryer, laundry, sun drying