Cutting Laundry Costs

**Blessed** · 12-26-2005, 12:12 PM

We have an electric dryer. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?! Anyway, how cold is too cold to hang your clothes out? I have drying racks and planned on hanging a line in the basement. The basement clothesline is still on the to do list. We need to take care of the sewer odor down there first. It's a little better since dh vented the septic tank, but everytime I do a load of wash I get an odor in the basement. I suppose I could put the racks in the tub? It would be a major inconvenience though.

I know someone has some ideas!

**homesteadmamma** · 12-26-2005, 12:31 PM

I don't hang my clothes outside once there is frost. I refuse to freeze my fingers and end up with arthritis because of it.

We have 3 clothesracks and I hang my clothes on them. Dd's room is large enough that I can hang a couple loads of laundry overnight and by noon the next day they are dry. It works perfectly for us.

When we lived in the city, we had a full size basement. I hung my clothes there during the winter months.

**sunshine** · 12-26-2005, 12:34 PM

I set my racks over the heat vents-- the clothes dry quickly that way, and add a bit of moisture to the dry winter air.

We don't wash most clothes after only one wearing-- as long as it still looks clean and smells decent- we rewear it.

Same with towels. I hang them up as soon as we are done , and only wash them if they smell sour or once a week (whichever come first)

**Blessed** · 12-26-2005, 01:20 PM

Hey! Thanks! I have room for a rack in front of the heat vent in the upstairs hallway and room for the other in front of the vent in my bedroom!

I expected they'd take a couple of days to dry, maybe not!

**canadian gardener** · 12-26-2005, 08:05 PM

In the Yukon, when I was a little girl most people either hung their stuff in the basement (dry indoor air in the winter works well plus you get a boost of humidity) or outside on the line for a day or two.

Something called sublimation happens when the ice evaporates directly into the icy air without ever turning into water.

same thing happens in your freezer, it's called freezer burn.

IF you do use the outside, BE CAREFUL with the frozen clothing, the fibres in the cloth WILL SNAP when frozen if they are handled roughly or dropped.

That doesn't happen till you get past 30 below so I don't know what you normally run down to, but people in the north used to deal with the dryer situation by leaving things outside a few days, then bring them in to thaw a bit, and finish drying. By that time most of the water in the form of ice had dried up thru sublimation.

If you were in a hurry, you just used your basement clothesline or dryer racks.

**savin4disney** · 12-27-2005, 01:31 AM

I live in an apartment. I hang my clothes on dryer racks. I only have 2 of them. I also put clothes on hangers and hang in the bathroom. IF I do wash early in the day they are dry by the next morning or so. When space gets tight I put the racks in the kitchen since there is plenty of room in there. As long as we don't use the kitchen it is fine.

I have to pay to do laundry so for each load I hang it saves me 1.00. Which I throw in a change jar. I do save quite a bit doing this.

In the summer I throw them out on the back deck.

**kestrel91316** · 01-08-2006, 02:22 AM

Here's an idea: Put your clothes in the dryer for just a FEW MINUTES, so they aren't WET anymore, then finish the drying on the rack. The dryer time, even if short, will make them softer than if they just hang to dry. But you won't use near as much electricity as if you dried them completely in the dryer.

**Pepper** · 01-08-2006, 02:47 AM

I don't have drying racks, but I do hang clothes all throughout the house on hangers. I do have a retractable indoor/outdoor clothesline also!!

The back bathroom is the warmest room in the entire house, so this is where I normally hang the jeans, sweaters and more bulky stuff!

**SHOPGIRL** · 01-08-2006, 12:54 PM

I hang all my clothes in the basement. It's heated. I have a drying rack and I have an over the door rack, plus another clothes rack to hang clothes on.

**ironmaiden** · 01-08-2006, 05:35 PM

We have a line that's in a hallway. You only need to be a couple inches away from the wall. So we put a hook in the space between the edge of the wall and the doorway moulding. So it's very close to the wall, it's not in the way of people using the hallway, I have two lines - one up high and one low, and it's over a heating vent.