Many of you know that I have a thing about air drying our clothes. Unfortunately, I do not have a fancy-smancy, nor handy-dandy, laundry line….just a make-do-with-whatcha’-got line that is cobbled from an inexpensive retractable single line attached to my garage and ending on at a tall pvc pipe slipped over a t-post. Isn’t that something?

Last year I reported to you that we had cut our utility costs by 33% for the months of June/July and that I felt that solar drying and cold water washing made the huge difference. Unfortunately, my solar drying is meeting with some opposition this year from Hais and JMorgan. Both cannot stand the smell of fresh, air dried laundry…nor do they care for the crisp feel of nature on their clothes. Between their protests and my own issues with my life being totally unorganized I confess that my solar dryer is not getting much attention this summer. I still hang MY nicer clothes up in the basement instead of letting the dryer vent fill up with the threads from my favorite garments, but I have to admit that I have thrown loads of towels into the dryer lately.

Maybe the wet beginnings of summer kept me from getting in the groove with things…or maybe it is that I am just being lazy because my thoughts are scattered from here to yon. Who knows? Maybe today will be the day I begin to work toward re-establishing my old laundry habits. Hais’ comforter is hanging on the line as I write. She will be home from school in a few hours…maybe it will be dry before she arrives and I can just throw it in on her bed without her noticing. Maybe she won’t notice the lovely aroma…maybe it will soke up the “aroma” from her room before she gets home….maybe I can get away with saving some money while making a tiny impact on energy overuse.  We’ll see.

For those of you who are looking for ideas and motivation for solar drying your own clothes, I strongly urge you to take a look at Project Laundry List. From their website….

“Project Laundry List is making air-drying laundry acceptable and desirable

as a simple and effective way to save energy.

Save approximately 15% on your energy bill.

Do your laundry the green way.

Want your clothes to last longer?
Use a clothesline and cold water wash.”

They even have a store where the profits benefit the non-profit Project Laundry List.

See what I ordered? Adorable! I can hardly wait for it to arrive…..

from the website….
Nova Scotia Dress Clothespin Bag

“These beautiful bags are sewn in Nova Scotia by a woman who spent decades pinning things up on her clothesline. She wanted to have a place to store the pins that was attractive and whimsical. We bring you…the Nova Scotia Dress Clothespin Bag.”

Stop by and take a look at all they have to offer at the Project Laundry List Store.

 In celebration of great weather and being able to hang my freshly washed blankets and sheets on my laundry line, I am posting this article submission from Jill Cooper at
LIVING ON A DIME.

Air Drying Clothes Without A Clothesline

By Jill Cooper

Living on a Dime

    We all know that if we don’t dry our clothes in the dryer we save on electricity, but many of us don’t think about how the dryer reduces the life of our clothes. For a long time I couldn’t understand why so many people were buying scads of socks and underwear for their families every few months. When my children were growing up, they almost never wore out their underwear and socks and we owned only about a quarter as many pair as most people. No I didn’t buy some name brand known for its child proof quality. I usually bought the least expensive ones I could find.

    Fast forward a couple decades. One day after folding my grandson’s new underwear, I noticed that the waistband was terribly rippled. After doing some research, I discovered the answer: The dryer was destroying the rubber elastic in the socks and underwear. I rarely dried my family’s clothes in the dryer, so the elastic never broke down. It doesn’t just happen with underwear - Have you ever noticed pilling (those little fabric balls) on your clothes and linens and the resulting lint in the dryer? That is the result of the fibers being rubbed thin. The dryer also shrinks clothes and sets in stains.

    The two reasons I think most people don’t line dry their clothes are that they think it is inconvenient or they’re just not sure how to do it. Here are some of the best tips I have found to air dry clothes without a clothes line.

    Though I don’t use the dryer to dry my clothes, I do use it for five minutes or so with some loads (just long enough to fluff the clothes). I put one load in the dryer and only leave then there as long as it takes me to load the washer with the next load.

    If you have no clothesline, you live in an apartment or your homeowners association won’t allow clotheslines, here are a few ways to dry without a clothesline.

    Using a clothesline to dry your clothes can save lots of money!

    You need at least one drying rack and some type of clothes rod. You can buy drying racks at most discount stores or hardware stores. You might locate a clothes rod in your laundry room above the dryer, use a sturdy shower curtain rod in the bathroom or get a metal clothes racks that hooks over the back of a door. You don’t need much. I can hang two loads of laundry on one drying rack and 2 feet of clothes rod.

    Hanging on a Clothes Rod

    Hang as many items as you can on clothes hangers, beginning with the obvious things like dresses, dress shirts and blouses and hang the hangers on a clothes rod to dry. Be sure not to put the hangers too close together or the clothes will not dry. You can also hang things like pajama tops, t-shirts, small kids shirts and one piece outfits. Lightweight pants, pajama bottoms, skirts and sweats can be pinned on clothes hangers and even sheets can be folded and hung on them. If you are really short of drying rack space, you can hang socks, underwear, wash rags, hand towels and towels on hangers and add them to your clothes rod, too.

    Hanging on a Clothes Rack

    When hanging clothes on a drying rack, I start at the bottom with socks and underwear, wash rags and baby clothes. Young children’s clothes and hand towels go on the middle layer and the top rack is for towels, jeans, pillow cases, sweaters, sweats, pajama bottoms and t-shirts. I try to use every inch of space, so if I put a pillow case on the rack and there are a couple of inches left next to it I put a sock there. I even hook bras on the corners of the rack.

    Drying racks are handy because they can be moved to speed up the drying process. Place them outside on a sunny (but not windy) day. Inside the house, try putting them over a vent and the heat or air conditioner will dry them faster. If you don’t have central heat or air then you can place them in front of your heater or a fan. Don’t place clothes close enough to heaters to be a fire hazard.

    If you are short on space and don’t want to look at a drying rack in the middle of the room, do the laundry before bed, hang it and in most cases it will be dry by morning (especially if you set it above an air vent).

    Try hanging large king sized sheets or blankets over your shower rod, over the rail of your deck, between two lawn chairs or folded in half or quarters over your clothes rack. When you fold large items, you must flip and turn them every 5-10 hours so that each side gets dry.

    Sometimes it is useful to hang a clothesline in the basement or attic. Be sure to check out your department stores and hardware stores for other ideas. They have many clever items like retractable clotheslines, things to hang over doors and some not so new ideas like extra large drying racks that can hold two loads of laundry each.

    Even though this may sound complicated at first, once you do it a few times it becomes second nature to you. Pretty quickly, you will discover the most efficient way to hang your clothes on the rack. I know automatically that three wash rags fit across the bottom bar of my rack and the two socks will fit next the that particular t-shirt. It’s like putting a puzzle together- the first time takes you longer than the times after that because you know where the pieces fit.

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the editors of  LIVING ON A DIME.

As a single mother of two, Jill Cooper started her own business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income.

I guess, about somethings, I am very naive. I never knew there were places where you could not hang your laundry out on a line. On occasions Anita at Prairie Dreams has mentioned that she is not allowed to have laundry lines in her “community” and it always makes me feel badly that I am able and she is not. I love hanging laundry and find it difficult to understand why a such a basic thing as hanging laundry can be denied. In Anita’s case, I believe the reason for the “law” is mainly because it is temporary housing, but there are places in the United States where is it actually written in the laws that laundry cannot be hung outside the home to dry. I find this absurd and right up there on the STUPID LAWS shelf with…not being able to collect water off of your roof line.

Project Laundry Line is an organization dedicated to education and advocacy of “making air-drying laundry acceptable as a simply and effective way to save energy.”  My Project Laundry List newsletter arrived the other day and it referenced an the article, about a laundry line art exhibit titled “Unmentionables’ Sculpture is Hung Out to Dry” from the Washington Post.

{snip}

“From The Washington Post, “Of all the office buildings downtown, Washington Square is perhaps the oddest place for an underwear-art [hung on a clothesline] controversy: One of its tenants is Victoria’s Secret. The lingerie store, under renovation until fall, is just a few feet from where [the] installation once stood. Victoria’s Secret is known for its racy window displays of scantily clad mannequins.” Nevertheless, lawyers got involved and an experienced artist, Joyce Zipperer, was forced to remove the exhibit…..” Read more HERE.

{snip}

Another interesting find at Project Laundry List is the “Petition to the Whitehouse to Regain Your Right to Line Dry” from the Right2Dry.org. (Be sure you have your volume turned up to hear the banjo music.)

“It is the inalienable right of every man, woman and child to line dry.”

I have promised to post the recipe I use for my homemade laundry soap. Making my own laundry soap is not without scrutiny, nor rewards. My family thought Ihad gone bonkers when I began making my laundry soap. DD complained about everything from the scent to the new soap was “bleaching” out the colors of her favorite tee shirts. I happened to like the scent, as it had such a clean aroma to it and the reason her shirts are fading is that she wears the same favorite ones over and over…which means more washing…duh!

DH poked a slight bit of fun at me making my own “hooch”, but after I proved to him the amount of money I was saving, he hasn’t said another word. Correction, when my last batch failed to thicken, he made asked me what I did wrong..haha!

Today, I was going to make another batch and take photos to share, but I found that our water was turned off for the day. Okay, I cannot side step a quick rant here. Our city is undergoing a complete water system revamp..for over a year now. The town is divided into sections and assigned a letter…ours is E. On the post office door, the sections and hours that the water will be turned off are posted…however, I have learned not to depend on the validity of it. I had not check the television or the post office today and found, as I was putting a load of laundry in that there was no water. After a few words left my mouth, I turned the television on to find that the water is to be turned off in my section between 10AM and 4PM with the note An Emergency-Sorry. Holy Cow, has the day gotten away from me? Is after 10:00 already? A quick check showed it to be only 9:15 AM. ! Now my question is why even bother to post something, if it s not going to be correct?  {end rant}

Making your own laundry soap does save a considerable amount of money. I believe my initial investment was less than $20, and yet I have not purchased commercial brand detergent in several months. I still have plenty of my supplies left, and even have FELS NAPTHA Bars for sale at $4.75, which includes shipping.  I figure that I have gone through 40 or so bottles of detergent since I started this method and it boggles my mind, how much I have saved.

Anyhow, here’s my re-SESS-i-peee (recipe) for the laundry soap…it comes with no warrantees, gaurantees, or promises. I now make mine up in a double batch and fill several recycled laundry and vinegar bottles, but I suggest that anyone trying it for the first time to mix only one batch.

HomeMade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha Bar-Grated

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

~In a large pot, add soap to six cups of water and heat on the stove, set at medium, until soap has melted.

~Add soda and Borax and stir until dissolved.

~ Remove from heat.

~Pour 4 cups hot water into a 5 gallon bucket.

~Add mix to hot water in bucket and stir. ( I use a recycled long piece of wood from a window shade.)

~Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water to mixture and stir until mixed.

~Allow laundry soap to sit for 24 hrs. to gel, stirring occasionally.

I use a little over 1/2 cup for regular loads of laundry. You can adjust as needed. Please note that this soap does not really produce bubbles. I have substituted other soaps for the FELS NAPTHA because I could not purchase it locally. Ivory soap, Zote, or homemande scented soaps work also.

If you decide to try this, let me know how your project goes.