Line Drying Your Laundry

Hanging your laundry out on a clothes line as one obvious benefit of saving you money on your gas/electric bill, but let me tell you, it has many other benefits as well.  Line drying doesn't wear out your clothes as quickly as the dryer does.  The sunshine helps to kill any germs that may have gotten left behind after the washing machine has done it's job.  Sunshine also helps to lighten or even remove some of those stubborn leftover stains as well.  Line drying also makes your clothes smelly truly fresh.  This is freshness that you don't get out of a bottle, it's the real stuff!  Here are a few tips for line drying your laundry.

1. On your washing machine, set your spin cycle on low.  Leaving a little more moisture in the clothes helps with the wrinkles.
2. Use 1/4 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle and don't over do it on the detergent, more is not better.
3. To whiten whites, add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle of whites.
4. Hang your shirts and pants upside down.
5. Take your laundry off the line when it is mostly dry, but not entirely dry.
6. Fluff the laundry in the dryer using the low or no heat option, for about 5 minutes.  Of course this is totally optional.  If you have hung your clothes out on a particularly breezy day, the wind may have fluffed your clothes for you.

If you don't have a clothes line set up in your back yard, don't worry, there are other options for you.  While I wait for the hubby to put my clothes line up, I am using some ropes attached to the awning on my back deck.  It is working well for now.  I have also used camping clothes lines.  These are very inexpensive and have the added bonus of being easily moved.  You can simply wrap them around a pair of trees, fence posts or deck posts, clip the line to the clasp to tighten and you have an instant clothes line.  You could also use a folding drying rack.
 My absolute favorite thing about line drying is how my laundry smells afterward.  Right now, my laundry is being scented by the roses and honeysuckle that are growing nearby.

Before the roses and honeysuckle, it was honey locust blossoms and lilac before that.