Drying your Clothes on a Clothesline - The Old Fashioned Way

Save money, cut carbon emissions and extend the life of your clothing - all with a few bucks' worth of rope!

Drying your clothes - old school - outside on a clothesline.  There is no reason to use your gas or electric dryer when there is a perfectly good heat source right outside your back door.  It's called the sun and it is FREE of charge!  I love that fresh outdoors smell on my clothes.

Hang a clean, strong rope securely between two trees or poles.  It could stretch out over time so you can buy a tightening mechanism at your local hardware store.  This will prevent having to untie and retie the rope to get the slack you are looking for. 

Make sure the line is high enough so your heavy wet clothes don't brush the ground.  This will also help the clothes to dry faster.

Keep your eye on the weather when you have clothes on the line.

Know your fabrics.  The sun can fade bright clothing.  Hang sun-sensitive laundry inside out or in the shade if possible.  Certain fabrics can stretch or show puckers where the clothespines were clipped, so those items should be hung on plastic hangers and then clip the hangers to the line.

Towels are always a big load at my house and usually take longer then one cycle to dry so these are perfect items for the line.  However, they are a bit crunchy when I bring them in off the line, so I will toss those few problem items into the dryer just for a few minutes - set on air fluff - with a couple of clean tennis balls to soften them up.  It really works.

I remember hanging clothes on the line with my mother when I was growing up.  I am so glad to be continuing this forward thinking by being more dependent using these simple resources that are available to me everyday.  All while saving money, and spending more time outside and in the fresh sunlight.

I hope you give it a try.