thoughtful thursday: line drying

One way I try to save the planet (and cut down on costs) is to line dry our laundry. There are definite pros and cons to this, and all sorts of excuses for not doing it. However, I do 13 loads of laundry a week (2 loads 6 days a week, plus 1 load of linens) minimum, so that is a lot of drying that needs to happen, and thus a lot of opportunity to do this the best way.


pro: it's free! yay!

pro: it doesn't use up resources! by line drying I am not only not using up energy resources directly, but also indirectly by preventing wear and tear on the dryer, which would have to be replaced eventually. (yay! more money-saving!)

con: somewhat weather-dependent. now, I do hope to eventually have an indoor or covered clothesline, but for now it is out in the open so we need sunny weather in order to dry. Also, I then make excuses for not going outside to hang clothes, as in the summer "it's too hoooooot." In the winter, "it's too cooooold". Basically, I need to stop whining.

pro: free bleaching! Line-drying gets our cloth diapers nice and white again.

con: free bleaching! Anything dried in the sun will get sun-bleached. Until I have a covered clothesline to mitigate this I hang our clothes and anything else I don't want faded inside-out. So, yes, they still get faded, but on the inside.

con: line-dried laundry is really stiff.Not the t-shirts or other knit fabrics, but cotton sheets are somewhat stiff, and those jeans? well, they soften up eventually with wearing. give it an hour or two.

pro: line-dried laundry smells amazing. seriously, so nice. If laundry is still stinky after drying outside, I would definitely get that washing machine looked at.

Now I need to put away all that line-dried laundry, and get to bed!

happily,
nava