Hanging clothes out on the line is thereputic for me. I like seeing clothes sway in the breeze, the actual hanging and then taking down, folding and putting them in the basket. They get a good snap before and then after hanging. I've never had a problems with wrinkles either. I also like the little bit of roughness of the towels. They seem to absorb much better than dryer towels. I do have a dryer, but it's only used when the weather is rainy. I try to do laundry according to the weather, but there are times when I have to use the dryer and I've noticed that my power bill will go up at least $50 to $75 when using the dryer. Last winter, a friend of my husbands stopped by and I was outside hanging clothes, it was about 50 degrees out and windy. Friend asked my husband why doesn't he break down and get me a dryer, hubby laughed and said we have one but she prefers to hang them out. Nothing smells and feels better then sleeping on line dried sheets!

$50 to $75 per month. At $0.15/KWH, and estimating 1 hr per load, $50 would be ~2 loads per day for a typical 5,400 watt electric dryer .. and that's with the heating element running 100% of the 1 hr cycle, which it doesn't. $75 is ~3 loads per day. Seems like a lot of drying, but I suppose possible for a large family.

dadoes, electricity rates vary from one area to another. My DS and DIL live in the same county as we, but have a different utility company and pay higher rates -- a source of great irritation to them. They wish they had known that before they built their house in that location.

Also, some loads like towels are often dried on HI heat, which uses more electricity than LO or MED heat. Which means hanging those items out to dry saves even more energy than hanging out other types of laundry.

When I was only hanging clothes out to dry and not using my dryer at all, my experience mirrored renee's -- there was at least a $25 per month savings, often more.

When my DIL's dryer wasn't working and she only used a clothesline, her electricity bill went down much more. She says that even with her new dryer, her electricity bills are still appreciably lower. Her old dryer was not functioning well before it went out completely, was taking much too long to dry laundry, so I'm sure that was a major factor. Also, she has continued to use the clothesline for some laundry.

Some electric companies (like ours, and we are total electric) charge more for electricity in the warmer months of the year when many people are using a/c.

My power company's summer electricity rates are also higher in the evenings when the majority of people are home (beginning at 5 pm, if memory serves) and don't go down to normal until after 9 pm -- one reason I commonly start a load of laundry after 9 pm and dry it in the morning.

(I also run the d/w after 9 pm, and often cook dinner in the slow cooker, which doesn't heat up the kitchen as the oven does, so that it's done just before 5:00. DH also BBQ's on the grill a lot on warm/hot days.)

There can be a number of variables which affect electric (and gas, I'm sure) bills.

Yes, I know rates vary ... from one electric provider to another within the SAME area, or from one bill to another at the same location from the same PROVIDER. I'm served by a local electric cooperative. My last bill was a tad more than $0.09/KWH. A couple months ago, it was $0.12 or $0.13.

I used $0.15/KWH as an average example.

Thank you Mara!!! You took the words right out of my fingers LOL!! My DH is a licensed electrical contractor and has been for over 30 years. He always says that anything that requires heat usage, your power bill will have a noticable jump. Here in Central FL. the power company is screaming for higher rates. I run the dishwasher maybe once a month, just to keep it in use. During the hurricane/rainy season there was a month that I did dry clothes in the dryer all the time. I noticed a big difference in the power bill compared to all the other months. DH loves that I'm aware of this and I really save on the power bill by hanging laundry outside, besides, this is one chore I enjoy doing.

I enjoy using both an indoor and outdoor clothesline - so I can hang my clothes in any kind of weather - and at anytime day or night, when using the line in the drying room in the basement. The dryer is so rarely used, we've started calling it Rip Van Winkle.

You can dry your towels on the line, and then just before they are completely dry, toss them in the dryer on AIR-ONLY with a couple dryer balls (or tennis balls - if you can stand the awful smell of them) for a few minutes, and that will fluff them. Since switching to Charlie's Soap - no more stiff towels and jeans, and I DON'T even need to use the air-only treatment in the dryer.

-Grainlady

renee, Florida is clothesline heaven! LOL The last time I was there, I was amazed to see clothelines everywhere -- even in upscale neighborhoods, unlike my area where they are banned by HOA's.

DH has relatives from Lake City to Tampa. His uncle built his aunt the finest clothesline I've ever seen anywhere -- it is still standing strong after decades of use. She always said she had to watch out for [what she called] "liquid sunshine" -- the daily showers that are prevalent in Florida -- but the intense heat dries laundry so fast, she said she could get it hung out and dried before it rained in the afternoons.

rosefolly, I cannot think of a single scent more lovely than clean, sun-dried cotton. Sleeping on sun-dried linens is sheer luxury to me.

I can tell you from experience that having just one more adult in the house can indeed make quite a difference in the utility bills. I remember well what a drop we saw in our bills when an older son moved out on his own.

grainlady, my mother preferred using her basement clothesline (full-size, in a very long storage room) to hanging out laundry outside -- I suppose, because she didn't have to worry about outdoor elements. This is one reason I wish our house had a basement, although I do love the scent of sun-dried laundry.

Mara, In the HOA's around here, clothesline are banned also. I will never understand why, except, maybe the 'officials' think that it's tacky to see clothes hanging on a line??? I think the power company has something to do with that decision. More money for them.

About the liquid sunshine...LOL. Sometimes it'll sneek up on you and I let them stay on the line. A couple more extra rinse cycles ain't gonna hurt them. They dry so fast anyway.

Grainlady, when visiting relatives up north years ago, my Aunt had a clothesline in the basement too. I remember her having a fan too, to circulate the air. I'll admit that they didn't dry as fast, but it got the job done. They still smelled fresh and clean. I like your nickname for your dryer, better than my Lazy Susan, lol

To soften line-dried things, put them in the dryer on "fluff" for 5 minutes. The tumbling softens them nicely.

I love my clothes line too! And like Grainlady, I also have an indoor line to use during inclement weather. To knock out the wrinkles, I throw the clothes in the dryer (with heat) for 5 minutes with a dampened cotton T shirt. Like Rosefolly, I put shirts on plastic hangers.

There is an organization that is dedicated to promoting the use of clotheslines. See link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Project Laundry List

Some states are over-riding HOAs about an occupant's right to line dry clothes, for the sake of energy conservation. I believe Florida is one of those states, and that might help explain why you see so many lines.

I had to fight my husband to get a clothesline. He nixed it over and over, said it would interfere with his mowing. Well, I waited until he was out of town, bought the umbrella line, and a bag of concrete and installed it myself. After I showed him how it folded up after use, he settled down. He was making out bills several months later and told me, our electric bill had been down consistantly for several months and he couldn't figure out why.

I used to work for an appliance manufacturer, so I explained to him how resistance heating works, and how expensive it is. I am a number nerd, and figure our clothesline saves us approximately five hundred dollars a year. In winter, I hang clothes in my empty greenhouse, or a basement. It really doesn't take much longer to hang a basket of laundry than it does to load a dryer......and when I take them off the line and fold them as I'm putting them back in the basket, they're done and ready to be put away, not some hot, jumbled up mess I'd leave sitting in a basket till later.

I've been line drying for about six years now and never want to go back to those energy hogs.

Now you are making me miss hanging mine outside. We have had nothing but rainy weather here for days and days. No matter what you us in the wash the clothes always come out smelling wonderful.

I am a big advocate of line drying and joined project laundry list to try to help others secure their right to line dry.

www.laundrylist.org