Drying laundry can be expensive! According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, most households wash and dry up to 300 loads of laundry a year. What does that cost you in energy and money?

A clothes dryer can consume over 4% of a home’s energy usage! (If you’re in the market for a clothes dryer, make it ENERGY STAR certified. Here’s the one that I got.)

In addition to hiking up your energy bill, gas and electric clothes dryers add to your carbon footprint. Yes, your clothes get clean, but the planet gets a little bit dirty each time we turn the dryer on.

Clothes dryers take a toll on the clothes themselves. Washing and drying adds to the wear and tear on fabric. Clothes may shrink if they’re subjected to hot temperatures. And who doesn’t hate the static cling that clothes get from spinning around in hot, dry air for an hour or so?

Here are six ways you can dry your clothes without using a lot of energy, racking up big bills, or wrecking your wardrobe. They still use natural resources to get the job done, but those resources — sunlight, and air — are completely free.

6 Better, Energy-Saving Ways to Dry Laundry

1) Old-fashioned Clothes Line. Sunshine and fresh air are the best ways to naturally beat back germs and odors – which is why so many parents hang their kids’ cloth diapers on a line, along with kitchen towels, sheets, underwear and socks. Line drying t-shirts, dress shirts and pants works great, too. Just turn them inside out to protect them from the fading powers of the sun.

You can use a rope you already have, but make sure it’s thin enough to be able to clip a clothes pin to. Otherwise, you’ll have to throw things over the top of the line, where they could blow off. You should be able to find clothes line at your local hardware store. We also sell this 100 ft cotton braided clothes line in our green Amazon store.

NOTE: Most lines stretch over time, so when you see yours drooping a bit, re-tie it on one end or the other.

While some community Home Owners Associations have banned neighbors’ rights to dry their clothes on “unsightly” outdoor lines, a national movement is afoot to overturn these bans and promote line drying.

2) A Foldable Clothes Line – Foldable clothes lines collapse into each other, then fold flat against a wall so when they’re not being used, they’re out of the way. When you need it, unfold the frame and voila. This could be a good solution if you don’t have two poles to attach a regular line to. Just use the back wall of your house or garage.

3) A Rotary Line Dryer –  In this style, a central pole that’s permanently sunk into the ground opens up like an umbrella.  A mesh of lines unfolds, making it possible to hang an entire load of laundry. A hand crank on the pole makes it easy to raise the load a few feet above the ground, where the clothes can catch the breeze and dry quickly.

4) A retractable clothes line in your bathroom or laundry room. These lines can’t accommodate a lot of laundry at once, but they’re great for socks and underwear.

5) Dryer Rack – Dryer racks can’t be beat for convenience, and many of them are large enough to handle an entire load of laundry at one time. I use a light-weight rack I put on my sunny back porch in the summer. My washer and dryer are in a big utility closet behind louvered doors in my master bathroom; in the winter, I just set up the rack in there. The humidity from the clothes helps humidify the dry winter air. You can get racks made from wood, but mine are lightweight steel with rubber feet and

By the way, if you’re using a line of some sort, you’ll need clothes pins to secure the clothes. Use the sturdiest clothespins you can find. Choose wood, not plastic, and store the pins inside and away from the elements when they’re not in use to keep them from getting dirty or wet if it rains.

6) The Shower Stall – I regularly toss shirts, blouses, sweaters, pants and dresses over the top of my shower.

If you hang your laundry in the sun…

Stiff  towels?

Line drying is terrific for sports wear, underwear, jeans, pants, towels, sheets, blouses, socks, and shirts. But towels? They can get a little stiff  or crunchy when they line dry.

Some people find that adding white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser helps soften their towels. I prefer to dry mine on the line almost completely, then toss them into the dryer to fluff up for ten minutes or so.

What about pet fur?

My throw rugs collect a LOT of fur from my dog and two cats. Tumble drying is still the most effective way to capture all that fur, even when I shake my rugs out before I wash them. I let the rugs dry almost completely outside, then tumble them for about 15 minutes to capture the fur. See what works best for you.

Final thought:

Dry drier clothes. The wetter your clothes are when you take them out of the washing machine, the longer it will take to dry them.

We use the highest spin cycle on our washer to get as much water out of our laundry as possible before we hang it up to dry or throw it in the dryer.

It shortens the drying time significantly, which saves us money.

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Energy-Saving Clothes Dryer Alternatives

Rack – In the warm weather, I use this large dryer rack for almost everything except sheets and towels. You can see a variety of other rack options here. The advantage of a dryer rack is that it’s absolutely free to operate, since it uses the sun and wind to dry clothes. Where I live, in suburban Washington, D.C., I can use my rack about eight months of the year, from around the middle of March to the middle of October. I just set it up on my sunny back porch; it only takes a couple of hours for most clothes to dry. I could probably use the rack longer if I wanted to use it indoors, but it can take two or three days for my clothes to dry on the rack indoors. Most of the time, that’s too long.

Clothesline – I would gladly put up a clothes line if my yard were closer to my laundry room. Many people in my neighborhood use an outdoor clothesline; it’s certainly what I grew up with as a kid. But my washer and dryer are on the second floor of my house, and my yard is way below the house. It would be somewhat backbreaking to lug my laundry basket all the way down to a clothesline in the yard. Still, if your laundry room is on ground level, it could save you a lot of energy and money to hang your laundry to dry on the line rather than throw it in a dryer.

Gas vs. Electric?

Natural gas dryers are generally more efficient than electric; they also generate fewer climate change  emissions than electricity if the electricity is supplied by burning coal. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much choice here, as the old dryer was electric and it would have cost a fortune to run a gas line up to my second floor to power a new dryer.

So my question became, which electric dryer would be most efficient? According to EPA, a clothes dryer can consume over 4% of a home’s energy usage, a significant amount. Normally, I’d compare the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy STAR appliance ratings to help me choose the most energy-efficient option. But unlike for clothes washers, dish washers, refrigerators, and many other electric appliances, there’s no Energy STAR rating for this category.

My appliance retailer gave me some wise words of advice. “If you want to save energy,” he said, “don’t buy a bigger machine than you really need.” The bigger the dryer, the more energy it would use. “But don’t buy one that’s too small, either,” he warned. “Otherwise, you’ll be running your dryer twice as often to dry the same amount of clothes.”

After looking at various options and manufacturers, I chose this General Electric electric dryer. At 6.8 cu.ft., it is sizable but not as large as the 7.5 cu.ft. and even 9.0 cu.ft. models. No matter. It came with all the essentials:

^ An Auto Dry function that monitors air temperatures to set drying times

^ Very simple controls

^ 4 heat selections (Cottons Regular Heat; Easy Care Medium Heat; Air Fuff No Heat; and Delicates to protect heat-sensitive fabrics and lingerie, all of which have proven more than adequate for our drying needs)

^ A humidity detector, which senses when the laundry is dry and will shut off automatically

^ a Dewrinkle cycle if I want to dry the clothes lightly so they end up less wrinkled

The only feature that we might have wanted but didn’t get is a “cool down setting” which continues to tumble the clothes but not blow hot air around them.

Another advantage was the price. The machine I bought cost less than $500 installed, which was much cheaper than bigger models with more bells and whistles.

Other Ways to Save Energy Using a Clothes Dryer?

We’re pretty happy with this dryer. But we still look for ways we can save energy and money drying our clothes. Here’s how:

* Dry drier clothes. The wetter your clothes are when you take them out of the washing machine, the longer it will take to dry them. We use the top spin cycle on our washer to get as much water out of our laundry as possible before we toss it in the dryer.

* Use the moisture sensor option, rather than timed dry. This way, the machine shuts off automatically when the clothes are dry.

* Air dry as much as possible. We generally hang shirts, blouses, pants and jeans over the shower rod in the bathroom rather than toss them in the dryer. They dry with fewer wrinkles and don’t shrink, so they end up lasting longer than if we tossed them in with everything else.

NOTE: You can find a variety of clothes lines and rack dryer options in our Amazon store here.

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The post How To Pick a New Energy-Saving Clothes Dryer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

1)    Wash most everything in cold water (The only thing I wash in hot water is towels.)

2)    Hang your laundry out to dry.

Benefits?

•    Save energy, lower your electric or gas bill, and reduce your carbon footprint (the amount of energy you burn that contributes to climate change).

•    Longer-lasting clothes, since washing in hot water can fade colors and drying in hot air can shrink fabrics.

•    No static cling, one of the hazards of hot air drying.

•    Clean, fresh smell. No need for “natural fragrance” dryer sheets (which means more money savings).

What Kind of Clothes Line or Rack Should You Buy?

The Line

You can use a length of rope you already have, but make sure it’s thin enough to be able to clip a clothes pin to. Otherwise, you’ll have to throw things over the top of the line, which works unless a strong (i.e., fast-drying) breeze is about. You can find several clothes line options in the Big Green Purse store, or at your local hardware store. NOTE: Most lines stretch over time, so you may need to buy a line tightener to keep the line taut enough so that the clothes don’t end up dragging on the ground.

This foldable clothes line frame (pictured right) is terrific if you have a flat space you can mount it on. What I like about it is that it folds out of the way when not in use.

You can also try a rotary line dryer. Hang the laundry, then use a hand crank to easily raise the whole load another 16 inches or so to catch the breeze and dry quickly. For something simpler, install a retractable clothes line in your bathroom or laundry room. These lines can’t accommodate a lot of laundry at once, but they’re great for socks and underwear.

Dryer Rack

Dryer racks can’t be beat for convenience, and many of them are large enough to handle an entire load of laundry at one time. I use a light-weight wooden rack I put on my sunny back porch in the summer. My washer and dryer are in a big utility closet behind louvered doors in my master bathroom; in the winter, I just set up the rack in there. The humidity from the clothes helps humidify the dry winter air. Here are several types of dryer racks you can try.

Clothespins

Use the sturdiest clothespins you can find. Choose wood, not plastic, and store the pins inside and away from the elements when they’re not in use to keep them from getting dirty or wet if it rains.

If you hang your laundry in the sun…

Sunshine naturally beats back germs and odors, which is why I used to dry the kids’ cloth diapers in the sun. But the sun can also bleach or fade clothes. Turn shirts, blouses, and pants inside-out before you hang them to keep their color bright, and bring them inside as soon as they’re dry.

Stiff  towels? 

Line drying is terrific for sports wear, underwear, jeans, pants, towels, sheets, blouses, socks, and shirts. But towels? They can get a little stiff  or crunchy when they line dry. Some people find that adding white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser helps soften their towels. I prefer to dry mine on the line almost completely, then toss them into the dryer to fluff up for ten minutes or so.

What about pet fur?

My throw rugs collect a LOT of fur from my dog and two cats. Tumble drying is still the most effective way to capture all that fur, even when I shake my rugs out before I was them. I tumble the rugs for about 15 minutes to capture the fur, then finish the drying on a rack or outside. See what works best for you.

The post Dry Your Clothes for Free appeared first on Big Green Purse.