I’ve never been very motivated to line dry my clothes. I don’t always have the energy or the time to hang the clothes outside.
There are many good reasons why I should line dry. It is free (even though when I do use the dryer I wait until low $ times. It is definitely green. And I suppose I could count some
exercise for the albeit small bit of activity. Plus, I can hang while the kids are outside playing in the yard (it’s not like they want me to play with them – much too independent for me now).
Recently I read a post (sorry but I cannot seem to find where I read it). This post gave some as-fun-as-chores-can-be ideas. I really liked the suggestion to sort the clothes when hanging. For me, this was my “a-ha” moment. This was really the part of line drying that I didn’t like – the putting it all up, heaping the dry clothes into the basket, taking it in, folding and sorting. It seemed like a lot of extra steps to take. Now that I’ve been sorting as I hang I can choose to take off one person’s clothes, folding as I go, and put them immediately away before starting the next person’s. Or if I do them all at once they are in the basket ready to be delivered and put away in order. I’m so glad I read about this. Yes, it is a bit of a mind game to get me excited about laundry but if it works and gives us some pros (see above) I’m okay with that.
Now if only my husband would buy me a new line dryer I’d be even more excited about laundry (our current one is a turning one with four-sides. The center post snapped so it’s presently held together with a wire. It is not fully upright though so when I turn it the thing sways at me and I’m either tippy-toe stretching or bending my neck to get low enough to hang clothes.
How do you motivate yourself to line dry?
15 Comments
This is such an awesome post Thanks.
I have always wanted to line dry my clothes! Something about it sounds so appealing…maybe when I get out of apartment life into a house… :) You have a very cute blog! Stopping by from SITS!
Perhaps you could start with your delicates to dry indoors and then branch out from there.
Thanks. I hope I've inspired people that it's easier if you sort it first.
Visiting from SITS. Growing up in the country, we always line dried. I love the smell.
I don't line dry outside, our condo doesn't allow it. I dry my clothing and cloth diapers on 2 different drying racks inside. i rarely use the dryer! I am motivated because it is better for the environment! Happy SITS day!
I do love the smell of sheets fresh from the line … guarantee for a good night's sleep! :)
Enjoy your SITS day! :)
I can't explain why but I love line drying! It's cheaper, I get to be outside and it is one of those tasks for me that is relaxing and rewarding.
I try to sort as I go–for starters, we're still washing Baguette's clothing separately, so that's already sorted to some extent. And then I try to hang the pants all together, the tops all together, the pjs all together, etc., so that when I take them off the line, they're already grouped and ready to be put into drawers.
I used to always help my grandparents line dry their clothes when I was a kid. Imagine all the energy they saved.
It's growing on me, too.
As long as there is no grass on them I like line-dried sheets.
Exactly! That's part of why I'm doing it (to lower the dryer bills).
I'm doing that and by person. It sure does make more sense to me and it's better use of time I think!
I've been especially enjoying having something to do while the kids are outside. They are too big to want to play with me but I feel they are too young to be completely alone outside.