While doing laundry a few days ago, I took a page out of my travel playbook from this summer and decided to air-dry my clothes. In Europe, it wasn't much of a big deal. I only had about four shirts and a few pairs of boxers to dry out, and I could easily get that accomplished by just wearing the damp clothes into town and letting the sun do its magic. This time, however, I had two full loads of laundry to dry. Trying to wear all those clothes at once would turn me into a pretty pathetic-looking Michelin Man. So I resorted to the old-school technique of using a clothesline.
In my backyard, there was already a clothesline set up, but after putting a few towels and shirts on it, it was already filled to maximum capacity. So I jerryrigged a nylon rope stretching from one end of the existing clothes line to a nearby telephone pole. It stretched about 50 feet in length and seemed pretty taut, but after putting on bed sheets and more shirts, the rope sagged down to the ground. I had to tighten the rope several times to prevent my clothes from smelling like wet grass. Each load of laundry filled both clotheslines, so I had to dry my clothes in shifts. The first shift worked like a charm and within hours, all my clothes were dry. But I didn't time my Laundry Day appropriately, for when I started the second shift, the sun was already beginning to set. Let's just say that it was a pretty damp night sleeping in those sheets.
Drying your clothes outside is a great alternative to using a clothes dryer. It saves electricity and will cost you less in the long run. On the downside, though, it does take a lot more time and effort to hang your clothes to dry, and I also noticed that you don't get that warm, Snuggle-soft feeling you're accustomed to when you pull a towel right out of the dryer and rub your face in it. It feels more along the lines of taking a piece of sandpaper to your face and turning it into a pile of raw meat. Air-drying your clothes is definitely something that takes getting used to. If you choose to do it, I highly recommend starting early in the morning, so if you decide to wear your clothes later on that day, people won't think you just got back from riding on Splash Mountain.
3 comments:
And if you live in the south, don't hang out clothes under pine trees, or else you get ticks in your fresh, clean clothing!
Even though the clothes are stiff as a board, they still have a lovely outdoor smell --Unless you live in a particularly smoggy area.
-Krizzle
One great alternative to hanging your clothes out is to use a heavy duty clothes dryer. We have one of those in our condo, and it's a simple matter of throwing all your clothes into a cylinder opening (looks kinda like a plastic enclosed gerbil wheel), and hitting a button. 40 minutes later -- BOOM! -- warm, dry clothes, and you never had to touch a clothespin. The only bummer is that it drives your utility bill sky high and it destroys the environment.
I want to share some line drying advice I recieved from my mother and from her mother and her mothers mother! I have a long generation of line dryers.
The most important element of line drying is hanging them properly. Proper hanging will reduce the amount of ironing you need to do and will maintain the shape and colors of your fabrics. The basic rule of thumb is to hang the clothing upside down to help avoid stretching in the material where it might be noticeable. Another basic rule is to hang your colored clothing inside out to maintain the color of the clothing. With whites, you will love that bleaching effect of the sun, but you don’t want this to occur with your colored items.
Before you hang your items be sure to first shake out the wrinkles in the fabric. I give each item a shake until I hear it snap. Once you hear snapping, you will see the wrinkles begin to loosen from the fabric. Pin the item up on the line and smooth it out with your hand.
Shirts and socks can be hung upside down, to insure that you will not have noticeable clothespin marks. Jeans and towels should be folded in half over the line and then pinned once. Halfway through, you can flip these items and dry them on the other side.
There are items that can be a bit trickier to hang, but are easy once you know how. Sheets, for example, can be folded hem to hem. You will then fold three to four inches of one hem over the line and in at both ends. Pin the corners of the other hem a few inches inside the first two. The sheet should then open towards the wind so it will blow like a sail, assuring you of even drying.
I hope this helps.
Deann
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