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!
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We use those too, but ours came from IKEA> I think we paid $7 for it years ago….they are probably more now.
🙂
Why not dry your own clothes?
.-= niki´s last blog ..Snow Day? AGAIN? No Problem! =-.
Oh I wish there was an IKEA near us! I hear such great things about it.
And I definitely dry our clothes in the dryer. There are times though that I don’t want to run the dryer: I want something to dry in the sun, there’s only 1 or 2 items, etc. And then I want to dry on a rack if possible.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Lauren
I put a pull out clothesline on our back screened porch. I doubt anyone notices it when it is not pulled out and when it is, I can hang all kinds of things on it. I also use the wooden fold up clothes hanger but I put it upstairs in our bathroom… it is so warm up there that clothes dry in no time!
Great idea re: the retractable clothesline!
We have an itty bitty cozy bathroom that heats up too! When I want something dried fast in the winter, I hang it on the shower rod in there. Dry in no time. 🙂
-Lauren
Does anyone know of a good solution to drying sheets outside at an apartment? I have a nice-sized patio in the back, but don’t want to put a clothesline up with poles, etc. I was looking at the retractable ones, but not sure how I’d attach it to the far end of the patio. (Oooo, just had an idea – maybe put a planter pole there and hang a plant when I’m not using it to hang sheets!) What do you think? I *so* miss my big clothesline since I moved. ~sniff~