This is on my portable clothesline today:

I  love that the weather here in North Carolina is so springy.  Once we hit May here in the South, you can assume the weather is going to stay warm. And with warm weather comes more regular use of my portable clothesline.

I don’t routinely dry clothes on my drying rack.  Our jeans and pants and most shirts just won’t fit on it well without dragging the deck floor.  I occasionally dry the baby’s clothes on it since a) they are little and fit easily and b) they often have stains that the sun bleaches out.

However, I always use it to dry my throw rugs outside.  Throw rugs are thick and have a plastic-type backing and both of those are bad things for a dryer.

During the spring, I also dry my cloth diapers outside.  Since I use a dry-pail method, my diapers often have stains on them.  I dry them so I can get the free benefits of the sun’s stain removal power.  It works most every time!  And keeping cloth diapers out of the dryer keeps my power bill lower while ensuring the long life of my diapers.

So what is on your clothesline today?  Do you routinely dry your laundry outside?  Why or why not?

Drying clothes without using the dryer is one of the most frugal things a person can implement when it comes to laundry.  There are several methods: hang drying, using the clothesline and also using a drying rack.

If you’re in the market for a new drying rack, here are a few possibilities from which to choose:

This is a wall-mounted drying rack that can be mounted indoors or outdoors sold by Space Savers.  It easily folds up against the wall, however is not the most aesthetically pleasing when folded in my opinion.  It does come with a protective sleeve if using outdoors.  It appears rather sturdy – it can hold up to 100 pounds of clothes!

This drying rack is a stackable mesh unit also sold by Space Savers.  While it can only accommodate one sweater or shirt at the time, if you purchase multiple units they stack on one another to save floor space.

This drying rack from Ikea has loads of drying room.  You could dry sweaters and shirts on the top while hanging other items down the sides.  I love this design.  And it folds compactly when not in use.

I just adore Project Laundry List.  Go take a peek around their site if you have even the slightest interest in green laundry.  They sell this over-the-tub rack in their store.  This is a fabulous design idea for those with extremely limited floor space.  And it folds flat to 2 inches when not in use.

I stumbled upon this little gem from Best Drying Rack.  Did you see how small if folds up?  It’s fantastic!  The video on their site shows it to be extremely sturdy and not made of any plastic parts, which I really like.  This is such a cleverly designed device.  The top even turns around so you (and your basket) stand in one spot and let the rack do the spinning work!  I love it!

Lastly, this is a product from Envirodryz.  This is an indoor/outdoor drying rack that comes in a large and small version.  The above picture is their smaller version.  I really like the casters on the bottom of this rack.  The large version holds up to 4 loads of laundry.  Now that’s serious.

Do you use a drying rack?  Have a specific rack that you love?  Tell us about it in the comments.

I am pleased to link this post to Frugal Friday over at Life as MOM.  Go visit for more frugal ideas than you can shake a stick at.

I love clothespins.

They are versatile and have literally hundreds of uses.

These are a few of my favorites…

A Con Agra treat from Blissdom:

My Sweet Sadie Grace in her Clothespin Bib:

Holding open my hymnal:

What are your favorite around-the-house uses for clothespins? 

I’ve written before that I like our current house, but I do wish it had a clothesline.

We cloth diaper most of the time, and I like to air those on my back deck in the sun.  Cloth diapers can never get enough air and sunshine in my opinion.

And then there is the occasional sweater or delicate item that I don’t want to put in the dryer.  So without a clothesline, what’s a Mama to do?

I use this:

I purchased it at Lowes for $30. 

I’m sure many of you Frugalistas out there are thinking, “Wow – that’s way more than I would’ve paid!”

But have you seen the rickety wooden ones?  They’re terrible!  They can hardly hold any clothes on them without collapsing.  While $8 isn’t much to pay for hanging out clothes, you get what you pay for in this instance.  So I went big and bought the $30 one.

It costs me $0.60 for every hour I run my dryer.  And that really adds up over time!  So if there are items that I can hang on my portable clothesline, I try to do so. 

It also has a mesh liner for the top so I can lie sweaters flat to dry.

Anytime you can not turn your dryer on and use free, warm, God-made sunshine…you’re saving a little.  And anytime you don’t expose your clothes to the heat of the dryer, it keeps them looking newer just a little longer.

And we all know that saving a little here and there turns into a lot.  So before you turn on the dryer next time, consider using your clothesline instead!

Do you line dry your clothes?  If you don’t have a clothesline in your yard, what is your method?

I am pleased to link this post to Frugal Friday over at Life as MOM.  Those ladies have great ideas.  Click over and check them out!

I’ve talked before about bleach and how it definitely has its place in washing and whitening laundry.

But what if you have an item that won’t tolerate bleach?  Such as lace or a delicate linen or an old handkerchief…

There are a few options that you have as an alternative to bleach.

1.)  Good Ol’ Sunshine

Our Great-Grandmas definitely knew the wonderful bleaching powers of the sun and they took advantage of them every Monday (Wash Day).

Women left their whites hanging on the line all day long to maximize the sun’s bleaching effects.

When my cloth diapers are looking a little dingy, I hang them outside and it is amazing how quickly they whiten up.  Not to mention that they have that irreplaceable ‘line-dried’ smell.

There’s no trick to using the sun.  Simply wash as usual and then hang on a clothesline, a drying rack, or even in the grass to take advantage of what I consider to be free bleach!

2.)  Cream of Tartar

Yes, the item that you use for making meringue and homemade biscuit mix.

This works especially well for items that are yellowed or dingy.  Items like old baby clothes, or old lace doilies.  You typically wouldn’t use this concoction for everyday white socks.

It’s pretty simple: Wash your item as usual (handwash if needed).  Dissolve 1 teaspoon cream  of tartar in one quart of luke-warm water.  Soak your item overnight and then dry on your clothesline or drying rack.  Of course double or triple the recipe as needed for the dingy item to be fully covered in water.

This is an old-timey method, but still works beautifully today!  And it’s cheap!

3.) Oxi-Clean

If you’ve read here at Mama’s Laundry Talk  long at all, you probably know my love for the Oxi-Clean.  We’re such bosom buddies.

Oxi-Clean rarely bleaches clothes, but definitely try it on a seam first if you’re nervous about it.

It is similar to the cream of tartar recipe in that you make a concoction and then let the item soak overnight.

For a smaller item, like a baby outfit or lace doily I use a 1/2 scoop Oxi-Clean dissolved completely in about a gallon of water.  I just eye-ball the water.  Let it soak 1-3 hours and then check to see the progress.  I’ve even let items soak up to 36 hours without the color fading, but you need to keep an eye on it, especially if it is a delicate item.

After soaking, I rinse well under luke-warm water and hang dry outside in the sun.

Do you have questions about how to soak items?  Or how to whiten them?  Feel free to ask in the comment section…

Do you hang your laundry on a clothesline?

In our current house, we don’t have the space for a clothesline.  I long for one during the spring and summer months though.

My mama occasionally hung our clothes and sheets on the line to dry in our backyard.  I can easily still smell that clean, fresh scent in my mind’s eye.

A clothesline quickly brings to mind a more simple, relaxed time.

When mamas used clotheslines exclusively, there was no saying, “Hurry up!  We’re going to be late.” or “I’ve sent you a text message and an email.  Why haven’t you gotten back to me yet?”

Hanging out the wash gave women an opportunity to check on each other.  And it gave little people an opportunity to run off some energy in the evenings when getting the laundry off the line.

So why have we gotten away from such simplicity?

Too much work to hang it outside?  No space outside to have a clothesline?

Or worse yet: the Homeowner’s Association won’t allow it?

Laundry doesn’t have to be hard.  It doesn’t have to be mundane.

It can be the most rewarding task you complete today – clothesline or not.