Line Drying

[Shelli_wnj]

I have been trying to dry my laundry without using the dryer as much as possible. The problem is that I don't have a clothesline. I have a rack - one of those wooden ones that folds down flat. It holds about 3/4 of a load, with the rest getting hung on hangers on the shower curtain rod. So one load at a time, and it takes almost 2 days to dry. I need to do more laundry than that! So I end up using the dryer. It's rainy season, and rains almost every day - probably for about another month. I just don't want to run the dryer every other day because I have nowhere else to dry the clothes! Any free suggestions??? Thanks!

[Missy]

get a fan to circulate the air around the rack. It should cut that time down some. Where do you have your rack? is it in an area that is warmer...like the kitchen? Or somewhere naturally more humid, like a basement or bathroom?

[khjmom]

I actually sit my drying rack over the top of the heat/air vents. It's puts just a little moisture in the air...since our house is usually so dry. I also will hang shirts on the shower curtain rod in the bathroom. I just have a tall drying rack...

[Mckeekitty]

Indeed, inside laundry drying during a rainy season will take a couple of days.

I noticed that you mentioned pay "association fees"...does this mean that a clothes line is not permitted? I can't wrap my mind around such restrictions!

Continue to dry those items you can with your rack, and consider hanging an indoor line in a suitable space to allow for your "overflow." When you must, use the dryer...the idea here is to reduce the use of the dryer, and you seem to be determined to do so. Kudos!

[savvy_sniper]

I had a couple of rolling clothes racks up in the attic from when hubby and I rented an old house with very little closet space. I got them down and use them on the back porch when it is sunny. When it is rainy I roll them inside and point a fan at them.

I also have a baby gate (used when the dog was a puppy. I balance it on the back of two chairs and lay socks, small towels, wash clothes on it in the dining room under the ceiling fan.

You have to think outside the box and be creative!

[Shelli_wnj]

Thanks! For some reason, I didn't think of the fan! (doh) I will try that tomorrow when I do the whites. I have the rack in the kitchen/dining room. Right now we aren't running the heat or ac. I am trying to not use the ac for as long as possible, and even though nights are cool, they aren't cold enough to justify having the heat on. As for the association, no - they don't allow clotheslines. They don't say anything about drying clothes outside, just no clotheslines. So I put my drying rack outside on nice days, no one has reported me yet

[MaryCarney]

OOOHHH! I was going to be so smart and suggest the fan, and someone beat me to it
But how about buying another rack?
Lehman Hardware in Ohio (they have a website) sells HUGE drying racks - a little pricey but VERY sturdy and they hold a ton of laundry. They also sell a retractable clothesline you can mount between any two walls. The clothes are then in a single 'layer' and combined with a fan works really well. When you're done, it compacts down to a unit about the size of a smoke detector.
I actually use my big drying rack to dry homemade noodles before they get cut for the final time- works beautifully!

[Siebrie]

I agree with MaryCarney: can you buy another rack? Maybe one that hangs over a door? A bathroom usually isn't the best place to linedry items, because there is no draft. If you can create a draft somewhere and stand the rack in that draft (e.g. the top of the stairs) your clothes will dry faster. Also, you can hang small items such as handkerchiefs by one corner, 3 to a peg.

[mamamia]

Yes, I was going to say fan too. Here in FL, we have rainy seasons also. When that happens I incorporate my ceiling fans. The one I have in my kitchen, I'm able to dry about 6-8 shirts on hangers, hanging from my light fixture. Now, I don't want company dropping in, mind you. But if it's just us, we don't mind. Or I'll do it late at night, and let them dry overnight. It's still cheaper than the dryer!

Is there anywhere that you can put up an indoor line and use a circulating fan? I had about a 10 ft one in my laundry room that worked in a pinch.

Theresa

[tigo]

Our association doesn't allow a traditional outside line. I have a chain hidden under my deck that I hang clothes on (they are on coathangers then slipped into the links). We have had nothing but rain for days so I go to my back up plan. I have a line that retracts (bought at Lehmans for under $20). In the summer it is the hottest room and they dry fast. Otherwise, my family just has to deal with clothes on hangers that are hanging from every doorway in the house.

[dean]

Hang your overflow around the perimeter of your clothes baskets, socks, underware, tea towels, washcloths, set the basket in front of an open window. On the backs of dining room chairs works nicely too. Turning the clothes over after about 8 hours will quicken the drying time also.

[CrazyCat]

HAH~a lot of these responses....reminds me of my house.~!
I hang my clothes in the bathroom on the shower line.....sometimes over chairs....there are some of my work clothes that DON'T go in the dryer..even in the winter, so I do this all year. My dh wears work shirts that have these huge reflection strips on them. I can't dry them, so I hang them yearround too.

Lehman's is SO COOL! I go there every year...(girl's weekend out) around fall...and it's a store I could get lost in. Mind you..it's not cheap, but many of the older things you can get are worth it.

So....airflow is the key to drying quick. In Amish country, I've seen these clotheslines that come from upstairs windows...and go all the way over to the top of their barns~must be on a roller of some kind. I told my dh that I wanted one. Imagine how many clothes you can dry on that sucker~!

Funny. Amish have clotheslines...and some of their properties are the prettiest places I've ever seen. Clean, neat, crisp.

I just don't get the concept that a clotheline brings down propery values.~Heh.

[Grainlady]

I have a retractable accordian drying rack in the laundry room (http://www.containerstore.com/browse...8&PRODID=60113).

That's where I dry wet-from-use kitchen towels/dishrags, and other things I dry before tossing in the laundry baskets. When we do laundry, this rack also holds a lot of small things like bras and socks for drying. It's surprising how many it holds.

We keep our furnace fan on constantly year-round (as suggested by the company that installed it) to filter the air and it helps maintain a more constant temperature throughout the house. Before we installed lines in the basement, I would position drying racks over the floor vents for added air-flow.

We installed 6 lines in a room in the basement the first winter we lived here, and also put a ceiling fan in that room to aid in faster drying, and that's the clothes drying method we use on a regular bases now. They dry fairly quickly when we run the dehumidifier in the basement this time of the year.

[Shelli_wnj]

Well, I have to pick a "best answer" and because you all made such great suggestions, I have to go by the old standby - first to mention the fan gets it Thank you all - I will put some of your suggestions to use today, and look into getting a retractable line to put in my hallway. When I open the windows in the side bedrooms, that gets a nice cross-breeze

[RaineyDaye]

Besides a clothes rack, I hang a clothes line in a spare room. I wrap the clothesline around the top hinges on the doors of two opposite closets. It is really easy to take down in less than a minute. (I have the old fashioned hinges that have knobs on the top; I'm not sure if this would work with other types of hinges)