Tip #7 Natural Clothes Dryer

Green Living: a series in which we provide tips to help you implement practices, habits, and products into your life which respect and work towards the redemption of God’s creation.
 
This week’s green living tip is a simple one that can have a significant impact.  As I’m sure you guessed from the title, it is simply hanging your clothes to dry instead of using a clothes dryer.  You can do this by stringing out a clothesline, setting up a drying rack, pounding in a few nails, laying clothes on furniture or other improvised rack, or even setting them out inside your car (seriously, sort of).

By making the effort to hang your clothes – which really only takes a few minutes – you can make a big difference.

• You can reduce the amount of energy you use.  This results in savings on your energy (or gas) bill as well.  Of course this depends on how many loads you skip, how efficient your dryer is, what your utility rate is, etc.  Regardless, it will certainly save you more than a few pennies each year and result in an important reduction of energy.
• Your clothes (and other laundry) will last longer.  Going through the dryer is not friendly to your clothes.  Cutting out that process will extend the life of your favorite shirt, nicest pants, and most comfortable unmentionables.
• If you are a dryer sheet person, you can cut some chemicals out of your life.  Dryer sheets often use weird chemicals like chloroform to soften your clothes.  This way you don’t have to have any further contact with yet another chemical in your life.

By cutting out the necessary energy, making your clothes last longer, and cutting out the chemicals you are caring for God’s creation.  Such a simple act which only costs a few minutes per load can have an important impact.  Please consider it.  Right now is an especially great time to begin as we head toward the summer and clothes dry quickly in the warmer air.

I just have to mention that I have been hearing about more and more stories, such as this one, where people are being forced to take down their outdoor clotheslines.  You might want to check if hanging your laundry outdoors is allowed or not in your area.  Aside from fighting this, there are other options which mostly include hanging them on clothes racks (which sit lower if you have a fence) or indoors.

Want to read more?

Tips:

http://laundry.about.com/od/ecofriendlylaundry/a/hangclotheline.htm

Another take with savings and CO2 estimates:

http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/how-to-finance-2

Organization that supports air drying laundry:

http://www.laundrylist.org/

*Image from Project Laundry List’s Blog at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Loves.Nature/ClotheslinesAcrossAmerica#5432932130635996386

**UPDATE:

I forgot to add that drying your clothes in the sun has certain effects on your clothes.   On the positive side, it can naturally bleach out stains. On the negative side, it can cause your clothes to fade.  If you want to avoid this side-effect, simply hang your clothes in a shady spot.

Also consider:

Green Living: #4 Indoor Plants

Going Beyond Technology

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