Laundry Experiment: Cold Water and Line Drying
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The challenge? Wash your clothes in cold water and dry them on the line for 30 days.
Hmmm…. me thinks, I can handle that.
In fact, I was already washing our clothes in cold water and I had some experience with line drying. I also had some residual fear of bees and moths from said line drying experience. But, you know me, I’m always up for a challenge. I figured I’d find a way around that. And I did.
Yes, yes, I did.
- Up to 10% of a home’s energy use is due to the clothes dryer. Reducing the usage (or not having it at all) was saving me a few bucks.
- Line drying is a very savvy, green thing to do. You’re cool if you dry your clothes this way.
So, to dry your clothes on the line can make you cool and richer. Who knew?
Some observations from the first 2 weeks of the challenge:
As you can see, I’m drying the clothes indoors. Oh, let me count the reasons why… One, the weather here in San Diego is often cool and overcast. Not the most efficient clothes drying weather. Two, I won’t forget them outside. Three, I have this fear of bees.
I’m finding that I can fit two loads of clothes on this indoor clothes rack. So, if I wash and hang two loads at night, they are usually dry by morning. And, if I do the same in the morning, they are ready to be folded by bedtime. This means I can get four loads washed and dried in a 24 hour period. This is proving to be sufficient, even in a family of 8. Kids clothes dry quickly, which is a big plus.
Tricks to line drying
- Dry clothes that are destined for the closet on hangers. You don’t have to mess with clothespins. As soon as they are dry, hang them up!
- Pin tshirts on the line upside down. This way the “crunchy” part caused by the pinching of the clothespin will be on the bottom hem and not on their shoulders.
- Hang socks by the toe for the same reason.
- Don’t forget your clothes outside after dark or the bees might get them.
I also found some tips to make line drying easier:
- wash the load at night or first thing in the morning so that it has enough daytime to dry. Clothes take longer to dry in cool weather.
- shake out each article of clothing to help eliminate the wrinkles.
- hang tshirts and socks upside down so that the marks from the clothes pins aren’t as noticeable.
- hang shirts on hangers on the line. Takes just a few seconds to slip them on and makes collecting the dried clothes a snap. Putting them away is even easier.
- sheets dry really quickly. Just fold them in half and then fold them over the line.
- hang jeans by folding them over the line. Flip them halfway through to dry the other side.
- don’t leave clothes out after dark as they can attract insects, such as bees and moths. (Ask me how I know.)
- check the weather so you don’t have to rush out in a downpour, collect your clothes, and rewash them. (Ask me how I know.)
While we are back to having a running dryer, I have still left the clothes line up. Once I get over my bee/moth phobia, me and my clothes pins will be back in business.
What’s been your experience with cold water wash and line drying?
Disclosure: Seventh Generation and My Blog Spark provided me with a “Project Laundry Line” kit that included Seventh Generation Natural 2x Concentrated Laundry Liquid, a portable laundry line, clothes pins, a laundry basket, and a Flip camera to record my experience. I was not compensated in any way for participating in this challenge or offering this giveaway, nor was I required to do so. My opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
When my kids were younger, we lined dried alot. At least everytime th weather was nice. Have washed everything in cold for some time now. Use to wash warm with whites on hot. Now it’s all cold. I don’t line dry anymore. We live outside of town about 4 miles in an old subdivision of only about 23 homes all of which have 1 to 3 acres at least. Several years ago they finished the road that our driveway comes off of (use to end at our driveway). Now there is more travel and when it’s dry around here the dirt roads are dusty. When I hang clothes out, they end up getting dusty – so now don’t do it anymore. But I never thought about line drying inside. Going to have to try that. Hubby doesn’t like towels line dried, so might do those in the dryer, but hang everything else. Thanks for all the suggestions/ideas.
Glorious! Well, to be honest with you that’s what I’m doing now…but not by choice. We FINALLY bought our very own washing machine (no dryer yet) and I’ve been washing & hang drying. It’s great, but it also means I do smaller loads because I don’t have the space to hang ALL of our clothes. LoL 🙂
I would love to line dry now but our ‘gestapo’ hoa doesn’t allow a line. I do, however, use clothes trees on the back porch & our porch railing. It actually saves quite a bit on our electric bill when used regularly. I also cold wash mostly, but sometimes I find that I need to wash the stuff in hot or warm so I won’t end up with a ‘stinky’ washing machine.
I love drying my clothes indoors–due to too many bugs/birds in our backyard. We hang them on hangers and use doorways and the shower curtain rod because we have no other space–small house and NO basement (living near water SUCKS for this reason). I also notice that things don’t get stiff like they do if hung outside. Saves us a lot of money for sure!
I live in Arizona so we have dry, dry, dry air and certainly at this time of year, hot weather. I dry almost all our clothes (6 people) on a very cool rack I got at Ikea recently, as well as a very cool clip hanger (looks like an octopus) also from Ikea that I use for little things like socks and children’s underwear.
Once I got good equipment it was much more enjoyable. I had been using a cheap wooden accordian rack that was really wobbly. That took a lot of the pleasure out of it. I’ve also strung a rope between two trees, used an old wire clothesline, used a new and flimsy umbrella clothesline, restrung an old and sturdy umbrella clothesline, and dried my clothes on the radiator. IOW, I’ve done about everything!
I use fabric softener because it takes a bit of the roughness out of the clothes. I DON’T use it on towels though. I want them as absorbant and thirsty as possible. Yes, they are a bit rough the first time I use them, but by the second or third use, they are soft. I don’t mind the roughness anyway as it seems a bit like an exfoliant.
I think good equipment is really key to it being successful. The clothespins that came in the laundry line kit are busting, so I was thankful that I had some better quality ones already.
I wash most of our clothes in a mix of warm and cold water (I just use enough warm to allow the powdered detergent…Charlie’s Soap…to dissolve completely) except whites I wash on hot. Although, we have a really old washer/dryer set and the washer seems to only rinse on hot or warm for some reason, so that’s annoying. I’ve tried line-drying in the past (mainly when our dryer broke) but I can’t stand the stiffness and didn’t really want to mess with throwing the clothes back in the dryer after I’ve spent all that time line-drying them. I do line/hang dry swimsuits (when I remember) and some dress clothes but the wrinkles are obnoxious.
About those towels …..I simply dry them in the dryer.
I’m so guilty of the “all or none” mentality. But it finally dawned on me that I could line-dry the things that line-dry well. And then dry all else in the dryer. So I dry by machine: towels, my husband’s work shirts (they look better) and socks and underwear. All else I hang up in the basement on lines my handy husband installed. Whatever is on the line is done by the time I do another load the next day. It only takes a few extra minutes.
Where did you purchase the drying rack you have? It looks like it is a tripod style, and a little smaller than the kind I’ve seen in backyards that spin but are cemented in.
That was courtesy of Seventh Generation and My Blog Spark. It took awhile to figure out (cause I don’t read directions), but it is handy and can fold up and be stored in the laundry room when I’m not using it. (I’ll be giving one away in a couple weeks. Pass it on. 😉 )
I dry all my clothes inside as well, mostly becauese of the same reason. We’re a bit north of you, so I can’t say we have San Diego’s weather (jealous…), but it works better to hang it inside. I use a couple of tablespoons of vinegar as my fabric softener, and I have no real complaints about it. I’ve been drying my clothes for about 7 months this way. ‘Course, I don’t have a dryer, so I sorta have to…
I grew up in Saugus, so I know all about hot CA weather. We also lived in Paso Robles for five years. 115 degrees in the shade? I do not miss it.
I did this consistantly all last year. My major complaint was the time factor, but found that if I involved my kids, then I got the one on one time with them and they also had an opportunity to help out a little more around the house…so in the end, time well spent. I stopped during the winter months, but the sun is shining….so here we go again 🙂
You’re right. I’m finding that the girls do enjoy helping me and it gives us a project to work on together.