Ideal Bite

Jenny - Take them off the line before they're totally try - a bit damp will translate into perfect, soft clothes later. I even spray my clothes with water if I accidentally leave them to dry too long. I live in a TEENY apartment and find a way to line dry - anyone can do it!

We moved into a new place almost 3 months ago and went from gas everything to electric everything - so now we're hang drying our clothes. Another little plus with drying your clothes in the sun - no more bleach! Actually we put some lemon juice in the Downey Ball (since it opens in the rinse cycle) instead of using bleach. Even the tomato sauce stain came out nice and white! We're using white vinegar (also in the Downey Ball) on everything but the bedding. We're still using the lavendar fabric softener for that. Anyone with a good recipe for Lavendar Linen Water??

I LOVE my just from outside sheets when I line dry. My mom and dad have always dried clothes outside, and now I do the same, but I tend to put my nicer clothes inside.

Mr. Stephenson writes, "If they won’t let you hang laundry, there are probably a lot of other beneficial things they also won’t let you do!" See an article from AlterNet by Stan Cox, called "The Property Cops" for an expose of the things that they won't let you do. You can find it at http://www.laundrylist.org.

I have been line drying clothes for years. In the winter months, I hang our clothes on lines in the basement. I also have a drying rack. As soon as the weather warms up, I am outside using my two retractable clothes lines that go from my house to nearby trees. When my sons went to college, I bought drying racks for them.

Added benefits: Whiter whites! Line drying naturally bleaches whites. Also adds an inch of length to jeans that may be a bit too floodsy for you. Does anyone know if it's more environmentally friendly to use a dryer or to line dry & iron?

Oh, I forgot to mention that drying indoors can save your life. Many, many years ago, my toddler sister was going down the basement stairs, lost her balance, and fell off the stairs: right into the basket of laundry my mother was putting on the in-door line...

My daughter loves the smell of "just off the line" clothes so much- "So fresh! and so Clean, Clean!" that it gets my housework-adverse child to actually hang the laundry for me...when she is home! She is spending this summer in Chicago. Hope you find a line, Bean.

Great tip! I don't own either an electric or gas dryer, so I ALWAYS air dry my laundry. Maybe I should look in to getting a drying rack for winter drying. That Whitney retractable clotheline sounds good, too, and it's VERY reasonably priced! As many posters have stated in this thread, NOTHING beats the smell of clothes that have been dried outside on the line. At any rate, I've said that if they ever come out with an electric dryer that makes clothes smell as good as they do when they're dried outside on the line, MAYBE then I'll get one. Rucifey, you do need to be careful with the sun. While it bleaches whites, it can also cause colors to fade. The sun is an indiscriminate bleaching agent. Jenny, you want soft clothes? Use a fabric softener! I would never even THINK of doing laundry without it. If any fabric is going to come in contact with MY skin for any length of time, it absolutely MUST be SOFT! Hmmm, Ashley. I'm VERY skeptical about softening your clothes with just water. I don't see how just plain water can accomplish any kind of softening. Besides, water doesn't smell as good as Downy or some other commercial fabric softener.

Another option you did not mention is using a GAS dryer instead of an electric dryer. I got my first gas dryer about 15 years ago. My current gas dryer is one of the energy efficient Whirlpool Duet's. Most dryers come with a gas powered alternative if you ask. Using natural gas is very inexpensive compared to an electric dryer, and I've found my clothes dry a lot faster. We use a clothes line in the summer for some things, but with each of us working plus living on a 30 acre homestead with lots of animals and agriculture to care for, using the clothesline is often creating much more work than necessary. Thanks =) HG