This week’s Tuesday Tip, air dry your wash. I’ve been trying to sun dry my lightly used towels to reduce the amount of laundry I do, and I’ve also been much better about air drying my laundry to save energy and money.
Tip #21: Use the warm summer sun to air dry your laundry!
Air drying your laundry saves money.
- Instead of using electricity to dry a load of laundry, let nature take care of it. My husband installed an inexpensive shower rod directly above the washer and dryer. Since most of his shirts are made of the quick-drying golf shirt material, I can hang them up in the laundry room to air dry. Not only does this save money by not turning on the dryer, I’m also extending the life of the shirt; electric dryers can be harsh on some materials.
- Reduce the laundry load. I’m trying to get better at air drying our bath towels instead of throwing them in the wash as soon as they get damp. The middle of summer is a perfect reason to place the towels in the sun and let them dry out naturally, instead of wasting water and electricity cleaning them after each use.
Air drying laundry is better for the environment.
- Not having to turn on a dryer in the middle of summer is also better for the environment. Saving electricity not only saves me money, it keeps the house cooler, and is better for the environment. Much of my laundry gets hung in the laundry room, so it’s not an eye-sore for the neighborhood either. My clothes last longer, reducing the need for additional resources, and I limit my electricity use. I’m reducing on many levels!
Do you air dry your laundry? Have you found you are more prone to air dry in the summer months than in the spring or fall?
9 Comments
We don’t air dry, but I do try to shut the laundry room door when we’re drying in the summer so not to warm the rest of the house, particularly when the a/c is on.
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@Money Beagle – You mentioned a tip for winter, though. If you keep the door to the laundry room open during the winter, you can passively heat the house!
It’s too humid for things to dry well here most of the time…plus Mr. BFS just has to have his dryer sheet smell, lol. We do re-use our bath towels for a week before washing though…we just lay them over the tub to let them try in between showers. We also only wash the bed sheets every two weeks. I think we “only” do about 2 loads of laundry a week on average…
@Budgeting in the Fun Stuff – Living in the west, I forget that it’s humid in most parts of the US! Only 2 loads of laundry a week is very impressive. I’m pushing 3-4 at least (and there’s only 2 of us!)
We do have a drying rack that I use for towels and we try to stretch the towel washings out. We bought each child his/her own towel that gets hung up after bath time. That way if a towel is left on the floor we know who is responsible 🙂 and we turn them over to the towel police. LOL! We really do entirely too much laundry around here though….but with 4 kids it’s to be expected.
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I think this is a great tip, if only I had larger yard…
I noticed that the neighbor puts her clothes drapped over her deck to dry, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea considering most decks will get the cloths dirty…
I live in the South. Most of the time from March through October, line drying laundry works. However, due to the humidity lately, line drying is difficult. I hung clothes out at 8 am one morning and took them in at 4pm. After 8 hours, they were still quite damp. So, I dried them. The humidity in the house would have just caused them to sour. No way! In the spring due to my allergies, drying anything outdoor is prohibitive. I must say that I hand things on the line outdoors until allergies start, then I quit and use the dryer. In the winter all my clothing is hung in the doorways to dry. The dryer takes care of the volume I cannot hang–towels, sheets, etc. Usually in the winter I do a combination of hanging outdoors and hanging clothes to dry indoors. I just refuse to hang things outside when my fingers are in pain. So, the dryer is employed. About 2/3 of my laundry throughout the year does not go into the dryer.
@Linda – 2/3 of your laundry being hang-dried is pretty impressive! It’s pretty dry out here in the west, humidity-wise, so we can normally lay things out to dry year-round. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget to take them in, then they end up with leaves on them!
@Barb Friedberg – No worries! I won’t say anything. I sometimes catch myself not following my own advice due to laziness (only to be razzed by my husband!) 😉