OT-Providers That Hang Clothes to Dry

[Country Kids]

HELP!!!!

I have hung clothes to dry for years but its such a pain in the winter and I get soooooo behind on laundry.

How do you guys do it during the winter months?

I try and do a load in the morning so it can dry all day and night but if I don't then I'm a day behind and it just starts the snowball efect.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[itlw8]

I used to but never in the winter unless it was warm outside. Though a windy day will dry them fast if they do not freeze first. Ok I do some but hang them near the gas heater.

[countrymom]

I don't in the winter. But yesterday I bought a dryer rack, this one is sturdy. I got tired of hanging our laundry over the shower and bathtub.

[bluemoose_mom]

I have a drying rack in my laundry room. I bought it at menards for $10.00. I need another one though. I have enough space on it to hang almost 2 medium sized loads. I two loads of line dry things, then two loads of dryer things, by the time I'm ready to do line dry things, they're dry and ready to be hung up.

I love doing it this way, because I always fall short on getting things hung/folded/put away. This gives me more of a "buffer" between loads I have to actually fold.::

[Solandia]

Our wet clothes are currently on hangers, and hung in the doorways of various bedrooms (like balancing on the moulding?) Hey, it works. I clothespin socks & undies to hangers, and hang them in the same places. I run a box fan in the hallway, everything is pretty dry by the end of naptime. Our neighborhood has a strict "no clothesline outside" rule, so we can't hang outside no matter the season.

I am not hang drying by choice, though. Our dryer broke a couple weeks ago, and we don't have the time or money to fix it at the moment. We do have an extra dryer(hand me down) from my sister's bff that is at my mom's house. But that is 3hrs away, but they are coming in a couple of weeks for a visit, so we will have it then (or my dad can fix our old one). My sis lives a few blocks away, so if I REALLY wanted to use a dryer for free, it is available. I am just lazy, really.

[MNMum]

Put a load in when I get up (or night before), hang to dry at nap time - dry sometimes by evening. We are in MN so it is cold, and the furnace dries everything up. I put all of the adult shirts on hangers and hang them in the closet to dry. I have a large drying rack that supports everything else. I always put them in the dryer for about 5-10 minutes to dewrinkle first. I'm opposite of some others. I use a dryer in the summer but not in the winter. Our laundry room is on the upper level with the bedrooms and clotheslines are not allowed in our neighborhood...

[Country Kids]

I do use a drying rack but it can take a good 24 hours to get things dry. I can also only do one load at a time.

I just love that in summer I can do all my laundry, hang it and its ready to go by that night.

[Scout]

I don't do this but, it makes me wonder what i would save on my utilities!

[LittleD]

I don't do this but, it makes me wonder what i would save on my utilities!

Cost VS benefits.

I will spend the extra $2-3 per day for the convenience of having dry, soft clothes to fold right away as opposed to having to wait all day for 2-3 loads to dry!

I will fight energy costs other ways, like installing sensor lights in my kitchen and hallways! or setting my tvs on timers. or other stuff!

[ABCDaycareMN]

Cost VS benefits.

I will spend the extra $2-3 per day for the convenience of having dry, soft clothes to fold right away as opposed to having to wait all day for 2-3 loads to dry!

I will fight energy costs other ways, like installing sensor lights in my kitchen and hallways! or setting my tvs on timers. or other stuff!

Me too! I have to dry my clothes!

[nothingwithoutjoy]

I do a load each night before bed, then hang it first thing in the morning. That usually gives it enough time to dry. (I do extra loads on Saturday to catch up.) If it's rainy or too damp out, I hang on hangers and clippy lingerie racks in the basement, but I much prefer the outside air.

[bluemoose_mom]

For me, I line dry to keep my clothes looking nice. I spend a lot of money on my clothes, and since I like to look nice even though I'm caring for kids, they get a lot of abuse (I save my "nicer" stuff for the weekend). Line drying my clothes makes me feel better about using them during the week. I line dry 85% of my clothes, 50% of my daughters. My DH much prefers them to be dried in the dryer, so I only line dry 5% of his.

They do take longer to dry...but I really like that. Like I said earlier, it gives a long buffer between when I have to fold them. And, if I don't get around to line dried clothes for awhile, no big deal. They won't get wrinkled, whereas the clothes sitting in basket will.

[Country Kids]

The reason I started line drying is I was so tired of our clothes shrinking!

My kids only get clothes maybe twice a year and the only reason the don't fit anymore is because they grew not because of shrinkage.

Also, our clothes stay so much nicer from not being thrown in a hot dryer.

[saved4always]

I only hang my clothes and my dd's, my sons (17 and 19 yo so do thier own laundry) and husband don't care if thier clothes shrink and fade so they go in the dryer. I hang most of the clothing on hangers on a portable garment rack with 2 poles...I use the higher one for my clothing and the lower one for my dd's. It fits next to my washer and dryer in the laundry room. A couple years ago I replaced my old washer and dryer with the high efficiency kinds with the doors on the front and had them installed on top of each other since my laundry room is tiny. This has been working well for me.

[e.j.]

HELP!!!!

I have hung clothes to dry for years but its such a pain in the winter and I get soooooo behind on laundry.

How do you guys do it during the winter months?

I try and do a load in the morning so it can dry all day and night but if I don't then I'm a day behind and it just starts the snowball efect.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Your thread reminded me of when my mother used to hang our clothing out to dry on the back porch. In the winter, we'd bring in our jeans and they'd be stiff as boards. It took a bit for them to thaw out so there were days when I'd have to wear damp jeans to school. Brrr.

My mil used to use a drying rack next to a heating vent to dry her clothing.