We've been dryer free approx. 2 years. In the winter we hang in the basement; in good weather we hang outside. We used to hang most of our laundry outside, but when you have a dryer, it is convenient to find an excuse to use it. (It's raining!) Now, we just wait until the weather clears to do our wash. It CAN be done.

Kevin, In my entire adult life, the only time I owned a dryer was for a few years in the late 80s when my son was in high school. Now, in bad weather, I hang stuff around the house. I think that people who don't own dryers should get tax breaks (think how many more would give up those electricity hogs!)

WOW, Laceyvail, my daughters have said the same thing!

I just finished hauling the dead thing out of my basement. It looks kind of odd down there with that empty space. In a way, the death occurred at a good time. I was busy doing some fall cleaning and in the process doing a lot of washing of rugs and big stuff like that. Even without the dryer everything worked out fine using the clothes line to do the drying, so I don't think this is going to be so bad. I'm just going through an adjustment period right now.

I did some quick checking and had no idea these things use between 5000 and 6000 watts. What an incentive to do without.

Kevin

Kevin, please report on your first dryer free electric bill.

Yes, I'd also like to know the difference in your bill. I don't think I could get rid of my dryer completely at this point (for one thing my DH would have a cow!) I'm not set up yet to line-dry stuff, and DH won't let anyone put any kind of holes in the new siding, so there goes the clothesline attached to the house, which would be the most convenient thing. I'm looking into one of those umbrella-style lines, but again, due to the way my house is set up on its lot, that would have to be a bit far from the house and therefore would be somewhat inconvenient.

In the meantime, I do have some of those dryer racks, althought I don't find them very efficient - the clothes are too close together and there's not enough air circulation, and it takes days for some of the clothes to dry! Which of course only makes my DH point out all the more how much we need our electric dryer.

But I plug away. I do hang out the majority of the clothes. Mostly underwear and towels go into the electric dryer - underwear because it's too time- and space-consuming to hang and towels because they would take weeks to dry! I think in the winter when the house is warmer and drier, it will be easier. (Hmm, just realized that the machine and the adjective are spelled two different ways - sorry, I'm just a rambling grammar nut here....)

Congrats and good luck, Kevin!
:)
Dee

Yup, will report back on the electric bill although it might be hard to tell for sure how much it's dropped. Soon I have to start the lights for my orchids since they have to come back inside real soon. It's getting cold out there.

Now when I dry things in my basement on lines I use a couple of fans to help the process along. Even with the horrible humidity we had this past weekend, rugs were still drying in a day or so. This winter when the humidity drops down to nothing, the process should go much quicker.

K

When I told my husband I wanted a clothesline, he just out and out nixed it. I asked him why. He said he didn't want to have to try to deal with lines when mowing. He also thought it would cause me more "work". How considerate, lol. If I'm the one who is doing it, I am also the one whose comfort level should be the deciding factor. The dryer we had was not vented properly and used up twice the energy it should because the house got very humid, and it also took the dryer longer than it should have because of that.

I just waited until he went out of town, went to the hardware store, bought me an umbrella clothespole on sale for $14.00. Some line and pins and a bag of quickcrete and did the deed myself. The first time he mowed, I went out and folded up the line. Not an issue, so couldn't complain. Actually, by hanging the clothes with pins, the laundry folding time was nearly eliminated. I folded them when I took them down. I figure the amount of time I actually spent in drying clothes didn't change. The only difference was it took a little longer for them to dry. But, it wasn't like I had to stand there and watch them! I did something else.

The real eye opener for him was when we got our first electric bill after I installed the line. It was down thirty six dollars from the month previous and we had not changed one other thing in the house. This was maybe ten years ago. I suppose it saves us more now.

When it's rainy, I just either wait to do laundry, or hang them in one of my greenhouses on the two lines I put up there for emergencies. It's not like we have one outfit of clothes. LOL. When I did have a dryer, it was too much temptation for someone to throw on a wash just to get one item they wanted, but didn't need to have.

You can go all year in MN w/o a dryer? I know this sounds dumb, but what do you do when its snowing?

I remember hanging clothes inside when I lived with DD and DM and sometimes the clothes would take too long to dry and get that mildewwy smell. yukky!

p.s. not being critical, I hope I dont sound that way, just 'splaining...

We've had a dryer for three years now after 15+ years without one. I still prefer to hang clothes outside on the line, or just hang them on hangers to dry inside. Letting them dry this way in winter is a good way to add extra humidity to the house during the heating season. I think this dryer is ruining a lot of clothes, so not only is the electric bill higher, clothing expenses will become higher as well.

One thing I do like about the dryer is that it removes lint so our house is a lot less dusty.

dorisl - I know what you mean about the mildew smell, but I haven't had that problem. Like I said, I use a fan to help the drying process and then remove the clothes promptly when they're dry. If I would leave them hang on the line for days, the mildew smell would appear.

So far the only thing I miss are the fluffy towels and socks, but otherwise I'm still happy with my decision.

Kevin

Gotcha!

The silly snobby community that I live in doesnt ALLOW laundry hanging outside. My friend thought it was a joke, hung her laundry and the police actually came to her house, which she still thought was a joke and did it again, and they came AGAIN. I think she actually ended up getting a ticket.

Yes, I think that is becoming much more common. My parents live in a small town and the city council passed a similar ordinance. What on earth are people thinking?

K

Wow, Kevin, the *city* passed an ordinance?! I know housing associations are known for that, buy the city?! Sheesh. How sad...

Dee

You know, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal recently about how communities all over are jumping on people who hang their clothes on the line. Seems that's viewed as "lower-class" and people are worried it will destroy their property values. Lots of subdivisions have that in their bylaws that you can't hang up your clothes. Unbelievable.

Isn't it unbelievable?!

That's when you not only want to put up a clothesline, but put it up in the front yard and hang your underwear out to dry!

:)
Dee

One would think that someone would jump on these communities and make a really big stink about the energy wasted or the potential energy that could be saved. It reminds me of the mindset with some people who still continue to water lawns during periods of extreme drought. I think you know what part of the country I'm talking about.

I have been dryerless for about 5 years now, and the only thing I miss is the fluffy towels. I find if I put vinegar in the last rinse, hang them up, and then just before they are completely dry, give them a vigorous shake, they are almost as good.

Ashita

I think my community is one of those that doesn't allow clotheslines. My dryer is busted, but I do intend to repair/replace it when I get the money. Right now I'm doing half loads and then hanging them on the line of hooks I have in the laundry room, on doorknobs, and on my exercise bike in the den. May as well get some use out of it. :-)

It's really hard to tell whether it makes any difference in my energy bill. My furnace stopped working a couple months ago, too, so I've been using space heaters to heat the place. Yes, I made sure they had safety measures.

Ashita

Thanks for the suggestion about vinegar. I've kind of missed the fluffy towels too, but not enough to replace the dryer. I rarely even think about not having one anymore.

I don't think I'll be able to tell the difference in my electric bill until this summer. Winter is always kind of a high electric use time of the year for me.

Kevin

I've been *almost* dryer-free for about a year now. The only thing I use the dryer for is the bedsheets...and I have 2 sets of sheets. I make a point to wash them only when both sets are dirty so I only have to run the dryer once & get them both done at the same time. My excuse to still machine-dry sheets is that I am a super-single-working mom to a toddler...and getting those sheets done and beds put back together again is a house chore I don't have time to mess around with.

I hang everything in my basement year round. My house/lot is wooded with animals, birds, trees, pollens (I have hay fever allergies). Too much going on outside. Inside is better for me. Hanging inside takes 24 hours for everything to be dry. Generally socks and cleaning cloths take a day and a half...so I do have to plan ahead more when doing my laundry to allow for dry time, but it's not a big deal now that I've got my routine in-place & everything is predictable & consistent.

As for the towels...I actually prefer my bath towels line-dried and a little crisp. Soft & fluffy is nice, but I prefer the rougher dry. It's a bit more massage-like and a nice pick-me up in the morning.
Gayle

I'm dryer free for the moment, but not by choice. Ours broke last night, and now I'm going to have to figure out how to hang clothes to dry inside until it gets fixed. Naturally we're not exactly flush with extra cash right now either...

My biggest reason for keeping the dryer is more an organizational one - Sunday nights I'm almost always throwing a load of work clothes in before bed because I've forgotten to do them all weekend, and then I dry them in the morning while I'm showering. I don't have all that many clothes (decluttered), so a load has to be done every week. I'm afraid if I didn't have a dryer, I'd be constantly having to wear dirty clothes to work! I have a hard enough time trying to remember to hand-wash my bras in time for them to dry (and I often don't - I have some that are machine wash/dry just "in case"). I suppose the rest of it wouldn't be too bad to line dry...just work clothes.

Who knows...maybe while the dryer's broken I'll magically become more organized with the laundry and not need the dryer after all. Could happen, I guess...

I just hope I can figure out how to hang my clothes on racks to dry without wrinkles until the dryer gets fixed...I am not a person who enjoys or has time to iron things (everything we own is wash and wear).

Kudos to all of you who can do without though! :-)

Jamie

Going dryer free does take some rethinking and more long range planning in getting the wash done. I'll admit that. Since I'm a single person it hasn't been that big of a deal, but there certainly was an adjustment period when mine first died. If I had a family, it would probably be much harder. Since I've now been doing it since October, I really don't think about it anymore. It's just the way things are.

Keep in mind even a small fan will help dry your clothes faster. I've rigged up a couple in my basement.

Kevin

I don't think I'd like being dryer free....I went all through school that way when I was young and I hate the feel of line-dried jeans and towels. However I have found since I purchased one of the high effiency washers that the dryer only runs for about 20 minutes. Since I have a gas dryer I'm not sure what would happen with any electric one but the washer spins so much water out of the clothes that they feel almost dry.

My dryer is fixed...it was just the breaker. :-) But it did make me consider my options for potential savings down the line. We won't replace our appliances this year, since we're paying down debt, but I think once we're caught up financially, we'll be buying a more efficient set of a front-loading washer/dryer, which will use less water and hopefully less energy (since I've heard the clothes come out of the washer less "wet", so it takes less time/energy to try them (like shebear has found).

One other way we're going to cut back is to clean out our respective wardrobes - less clothes = less to wash/dry in the first place, which should save a little bit, anyways.

Growing up we didn't have a washer or a dryer. The clothes were hand washed in a tub and the clothes on the line. Now, I have both, but try to hang outside when I can. Not very many basements in Texas, so drying outside in winter or rain is difficult. But, we don't get a whole lot of either.

We've never had a drier and have never had a problem (30 years married and two kids). I have a retractable line outside and a ceiling airer indoors. It's above a radiatior in a passage so we get double value from that heat. We always had one at home with my parents and I've always had one too - long before green was trendy. It was just thrift then. It is raining now and has been for about 24 hours. If it's possible in my climate it's possible anywhere!

Here is a link that might be useful: ceiling airer

If anyone cares, my electric bill dropped on average $12 per month when I *almost* stopped using my dryer (see my post above for more detail). You mileage may vary depending on the rates in your area.

I would run the dryer about 3 times per week...about 40 mins per session.

Ive never owned a dryer and never plan to because Ive always felt if I had one, I would find a reason to use it. I do live in a pretty dry climate though and we only get a few months of rain each year. In winter I do washing when the weather is fine and if I have wet washing on the line and it rains, it just stays out there until the weather fines up and it dries again.
I also have a retractable line set up in the back room so if the rain is prolonged and I need to get some washing done, I have that as a backup.

gayle, just a suggestion but if you buy one more set of sheets you can still do the same thing but have one extra set so you dont need dry sheets in a hurry. I have 4 sheet sets and I wash two or three sets at a time (however many I can fit in the machine at once) but that still leaves me a spare set in the cupboard to dress the bed straight away. having that extra set means I dont have to get them dry the same day (or even wash them the same day) I can do them anytime as Im not waiting on them.

What do you all do to keep the wrinkles out of the clothes? I hang almost everything up but when I take them down they are all wrinkled because the washer spins so fast. So I either have to run them through the wrinkle release cycle or iron. Which I prefer to do neither.

I had to iron even when I did have the dryer, so it hasn't made much of a difference to me. I guess my cotton t-shirts have more wrinkles, but they seem to disappear once I put them on. Socks and underwear have more wrinkles, but who cares about that. Towels don't fluff up and have wrinkles (we kind of talked about that already), but once you use one, they seem to disappear too.

Clothes aren't supposed to have wrinkles :-)?

If you hang the clothes up right away, more or less, and you shake them out before pegging them up, it takes care of most of the wrinkles. They don't look ironed, but they don't look like you slept in them, either.