Is your dryer just as loud and energy taxing as mine? Call me crazy, but why not use the natural breeze to dry your clothes?
Small things that are a part of living greener often times result in being labeled a hippie… even if only playfully so.
Personally, I embrace the hippie identity — to a point. One thing that I just can’t give up, however, is having clean clothes. I think we can all appreciate each other not reeking from being too “natural”, if you know what I mean.
When you think about it, washing and drying clothes uses quite a bit of unnecessary energy. Why can’t you dry your clothes without using all that energy? You can… even in winter.
I’m talking about hanging clothes out to dry, of course. Yep, just like in the olden days, using clothes lines and such. Hanging clothes can be done in a variety of different ways:
- Clothesline – If the weather is nice enough and you happen to have trees spaced out in your yard, hang a line between them and use it for the drying of your clothes.
- Rails/Fences – Whether it be the rail on your porch or fence around your yard, either of these can be used to hang your clothes and allow them to dry.
- Drying Rack – During the winter months these are ideal for hanging clothes indoors, so they don’t freeze. The collapsible feature also allows for easy storage while not in use.
Sure, sometimes you might have too large a load of laundry to hang everything inside or maybe you need a certain outfit dry in a hurry. In these instances, consider hanging out at least your athletic clothing or that perfect-fitting pair of jeans that you don’t wish to be shrunk.
Even if you decide to go the “expensive” route and buy a drying rack, I assure you it will pay for itself quite quickly through money saved on your energy bill.
Speaking of money saved, air drying your clothes will save you money on dryer sheets too. (Not to mention those used dryer sheets will no longer be going to the landfill.)
This saving of money, energy, and waste might seem quite small at first, but just think how it would add up if everyone started adopting line drying. Pretty soon this seemingly small step towards being “green” will have a dramatic effect on our energy usage and landfill size.
Have you, or are presently, using a drying rack or one of the previously mentioned ways to naturally dry your clothes? Did you see a difference on your energy bill or use any way not mentioned previously?
Photo: -amy-
I'm an outdoorsy and recently graduated from college yogi. In the past few years I’ve learned lots of simple steps to becoming greener and have found living green to not only be rewarding, but easy. I hope to pass on some of these simple ideas to you too!
