Save Energy, Breathe Fresh Air, and Embrace the Joy of Sun-Dried Laundry
Why hang laundry on a clothesline when dryers exist? Simple: because line-drying is eco-friendly, budget-smart, and surprisingly satisfying. From avoiding dryer damage to soaking in that sweet sunshine scent, here are 10 reasons to let your laundry dance in the breeze—plus a funny story about how a clothesline gift got mistaken for a pole-dancing kit!
I started out with an outdoor clothesline held up by wooden posts. When that collapsed, I found a new clothesline online featuring steel posts and crossbeams—and a lifetime guarantee.
Because it was a gift for the man of the house, I had the product delivered to my office so I could keep it as a surprise. It arrived one day when I was out of the office, appearing to be nothing but a couple of long, beefy steel poles taped together (the cross pieces were tucked inside the support poles, and customers provided their own clotheslines).
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Because of my reputation as the office exercise fanatic, my colleagues assumed I’d ordered a stripping pole since “pole dancing” was one of the hot new exercise trends that year. We all had quite a laugh when I let them in on the true purpose of the poles. I hauled them home in our ancient pickup, and the gift was well received. We set the support poles into 18 inches of cement, and years later, our laundry still swings brightly on sunny days year-round.
Line drying simply fits my down-home way of life: being self-sufficient, frugal, and natural. Let me give you some of my top reasons for hanging the family laundry outside:
- Line-drying prolongs the life of your clothing. The roiling and tumbling of damp laundry takes its toll on the fibers in clothing and bedding. High dry heat often shrinks and ruins some fabrics and can cause irreversible damage. Line drying is more gentle to fibers.
- You’ll lower your gas or electric bill. Project Laundry List estimates the average household could save 10 to 20 percent on utility bills by hanging the wash!
- Line drying laundry also protects the environment, conserving energy for your fellow humans. Air-drying clothes can reduce the average household’s carbon footprint by 2,400 pounds a year!
- You’ll lower your risk of a home fire. According to the National Fire Protection Association, clothes dryers or washing machines cause about 4 percent of house fires. In 2006, these appliances caused 15 civilian deaths, 360 injuries, and $194 in direct property damage.*
- Hanging laundry gets you outside. Being outside in bright light can alleviate depression, improve immunity, increase social relationships, and more. There’s also just something surprisingly peaceful about hanging the laundry outside. It’s even a physical activity that gets you moving and burning calories!
- Sunlight is a good bleach and disinfectant. This is especially great for white sheets and linens. The downside: Fading. To prevent bright colors from fading, turn the items inside out, or hang them on bars in the shade.
- You can’t beat the smell of laundry dried outside. Ah! Plunging my nose into a pile of sun-dried clothes releases a cascade of feel-good endorphins.
- Rough, air-dried towels make the best exfoliants. Not only do they save time and money but also you can multi-task by exfoliating all over while you dry off! No need to buy exfoliating scrubs and scrubbers.
- Line-drying helps remove stains without adding chemical agents to your wash. Getting ride of chemical laundry fresheners like dryer sheets and fabric softener is good for your skin, especially if you are sensitive to perfumes, dyes, and chemicals.
- Have you ever felt your bed sheets after they were dried in the sun and breeze? Fantastic!
Note: If your neighborhood has banned clotheslines in your yard, there are still many types of indoor clotheslines and collapsible drying racks.
Ready to hang? See our article on how to choose a clothesline.
Margaret Boyles
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My grandmother and my mother both hung their laundry outside until they got along in years. I think it's great that so many people get enjoyment from it, but it's not something I prefer to do. Bird poop, hiding insects, desert dust, etc. Plus, everything is stiff and I would need to fluff it in the dryer with no heat anyway. I never got any enjoyment out of it so to me, it was a waste of my time. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not pooh-poohing anyone who prefers it. It's just not my cup of tea.
I remember a funny story from my grandmother. In the early 20th century, my grandfather's underwear was what they called a union suit, basically an adult size onesie with a flap for your rear end. My grandmother left it on the clothesline in the winter and it froze. She propped it by the front door for my grandfather to see when he got home from work. That was quite the family joke for years!
I never used the dryer on a regular basis, only to briefly flip heavy clothes like jeans and towels to ease out wrinkles but everything is dried outside whenever possible, and on lines in the basement through the winter. In fact, I haven't had a working dryer for a couple of years and just got used to it. I also find laundry an inspiration to artwork--I've got four laundry paintings now, two from my back yard, here's one: https://portraitsofanimals.net/service/lilacs-and-laundry-pastel/
We have been hanging our laundry outside for many years, it is more efficient and cheaper than the dryer. My wife may use the dryer when it is raining, and hse uses it in the winter, I hang mine in the winter on a drying rack in front of a heat register. I never use the dryer unless I absolutely have to.
I dry as much as possible on racks in my apartment, rather than using the communal dryer. Pretty much the only things I put in the dryer are jeans, and then only until they are at least partially dry - I hang-dry them for the rest of the process - and clothing worn outdoors where ticks may have been an issue. Ticks don't drown in the wash, but they will toast in the dryer.
In my last apartment there was a communal outdoor clothes line. It seemed like a really great idea, until we realized that along with getting nice and dry and exposed to the sun's beneficial rays, our sheets and clothes were collecting pollen. Since we have serious allergy issues in this household, line-drying is not an option for us, unfortunately! And then, there was the occasional bombing by our local seagull population, which meant re-washing the item.
I would love to dry outside, the problem is the humidity where I live. the clothes never smell dry, they smell damp. I might have a couple of weeks in the spring and then a few in the fall.
My dryer recently broke and needs fixing. Money is tight, so I unplugged it. I have 2 rolling clothes racks and created some extra hanging rods in my laundry room. I now hang all my clothes on hangers and hangers with clips and air dry all my laundry inside in my Air Conditioned home. There is too much dust outside, living on a dirt road. So if I wash my clothes or sheets in the morning, hang them on my racks and by the evening they are dry. Saving money and wear and tear on my clothes. I always took my clothes out of the hot dryer when damp and hung them up so they were wrinkle free. I may have to use an iron to smooth out some wrinkles, but still cheaper than running the dryer for hours. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Here is a calculator that tells you how much time it takes to dry your clothes out
https://bambiker.github.io/drycloth/
All the reasons you wrote in support of not using a dryer are good, but I'd like to be more specific on another one: where do you think the lint from the dryer comes from? Yes, our clothes. In time the "vanishing" of our clothes via that lint/dryer adds up. This is why I'm able to have some of my clothes for decades!
I’ve had a clothesline for 40 years. Accessible from the back porch it’s on a pulley that sends the laundry out over the backyard. I have a rack in the laundry room for items I don’t want to put in the dryer like bras and delicate tops. I admit I put underwear and socks in the dryer and only use the clothes line April to October.
Allergies, allergies, allergies.
