First of all, we're keeping the dryer as a secondary method. Most of the family prefer machine dried towels for the softness factor. I rather like the rougher texture myself -- exfoliation -- but want my family to be happy. Also, I live in part of the country with warm, rainless summers and cool, rainy winters. I'm sure I'll be using the dryer more in the rainy season.

Other than that, I love hanging my clothes. Is there a scent more evocative than clean, sun-dried cotton? I find that a brisk snap before hanging takes creases out. Are there wrinkles? Some, different from a dryer but not much more. I'm using a scent-free fabric softener for everything except towels and that makes a difference. Carefully hung, dish towels, placemats, and napkins come out ready to fold and put away. I hang cotton knits shirts on plastic hangars and put those on the line. If they are dressy shirts I press them, but I also did that when I dried them by machine.

One thing we have not seen is a decrease in our gas bill. That was a surprise. An adult child moved back home, so I guess increased laundry, showers, and cooking have made up for decreased use of a gas dryer. If we had not been doing this, I imagine the bill would have gone up more.

On the whole this has been a very satisfactory experiment, and I am going to continue. If anyone is considering giving it a try, I suggest starting out with sheets and kitchen laundry.

Rosefolly

Also, some loads like towels are often dried on HI heat, which uses more electricity than LO or MED heat. Which means hanging those items out to dry saves even more energy than hanging out other types of laundry.

When I was only hanging clothes out to dry and not using my dryer at all, my experience mirrored renee's -- there was at least a $25 per month savings, often more.

When my DIL's dryer wasn't working and she only used a clothesline, her electricity bill went down much more. She says that even with her new dryer, her electricity bills are still appreciably lower. Her old dryer was not functioning well before it went out completely, was taking much too long to dry laundry, so I'm sure that was a major factor. Also, she has continued to use the clothesline for some laundry.

Some electric companies (like ours, and we are total electric) charge more for electricity in the warmer months of the year when many people are using a/c.

My power company's summer electricity rates are also higher in the evenings when the majority of people are home (beginning at 5 pm, if memory serves) and don't go down to normal until after 9 pm -- one reason I commonly start a load of laundry after 9 pm and dry it in the morning.

(I also run the d/w after 9 pm, and often cook dinner in the slow cooker, which doesn't heat up the kitchen as the oven does, so that it's done just before 5:00. DH also BBQ's on the grill a lot on warm/hot days.)

There can be a number of variables which affect electric (and gas, I'm sure) bills.

I used $0.15/KWH as an average example.

You can dry your towels on the line, and then just before they are completely dry, toss them in the dryer on AIR-ONLY with a couple dryer balls (or tennis balls - if you can stand the awful smell of them) for a few minutes, and that will fluff them. Since switching to Charlie's Soap - no more stiff towels and jeans, and I DON'T even need to use the air-only treatment in the dryer.

-Grainlady

DH has relatives from Lake City to Tampa. His uncle built his aunt the finest clothesline I've ever seen anywhere -- it is still standing strong after decades of use. She always said she had to watch out for [what she called] "liquid sunshine" -- the daily showers that are prevalent in Florida -- but the intense heat dries laundry so fast, she said she could get it hung out and dried before it rained in the afternoons.

I can tell you from experience that having just one more adult in the house can indeed make quite a difference in the utility bills. I remember well what a drop we saw in our bills when an older son moved out on his own.

grainlady, my mother preferred using her basement clothesline (full-size, in a very long storage room) to hanging out laundry outside -- I suppose, because she didn't have to worry about outdoor elements. This is one reason I wish our house had a basement, although I do love the scent of sun-dried laundry.

About the liquid sunshine...LOL. Sometimes it'll sneek up on you and I let them stay on the line. A couple more extra rinse cycles ain't gonna hurt them. They dry so fast anyway.

Grainlady, when visiting relatives up north years ago, my Aunt had a clothesline in the basement too. I remember her having a fan too, to circulate the air. I'll admit that they didn't dry as fast, but it got the job done. They still smelled fresh and clean. I like your nickname for your dryer, better than my Lazy Susan, lol

There is an organization that is dedicated to promoting the use of clotheslines. See link.

I had to fight my husband to get a clothesline. He nixed it over and over, said it would interfere with his mowing. Well, I waited until he was out of town, bought the umbrella line, and a bag of concrete and installed it myself. After I showed him how it folded up after use, he settled down. He was making out bills several months later and told me, our electric bill had been down consistantly for several months and he couldn't figure out why.

I used to work for an appliance manufacturer, so I explained to him how resistance heating works, and how expensive it is. I am a number nerd, and figure our clothesline saves us approximately five hundred dollars a year. In winter, I hang clothes in my empty greenhouse, or a basement. It really doesn't take much longer to hang a basket of laundry than it does to load a dryer......and when I take them off the line and fold them as I'm putting them back in the basket, they're done and ready to be put away, not some hot, jumbled up mess I'd leave sitting in a basket till later.

I've been line drying for about six years now and never want to go back to those energy hogs.

I am a big advocate of line drying and joined project laundry list to try to help others secure their right to line dry.

www.laundrylist.org