The Clothesline

I just got a new clothesline last week. Actually, Dan built it for me. I am really glad to have it. Last Monday, I washed six loads of laundry and hung all of them on the line. The weather was perfect for it--it was warm, but not too warm, it was sunny and there was a breeze. I was surprised how quickly the laundry dried on the clothesline outside compared to the clothesline in the basement. In the basement, the laundry was likely to take all night to dry a single load of clothes; however, outside, the clothes are likely to dry in about an hour. Even the king-size mattress pad dried in the time it took to wash three loads of laundry, so about two hours and fifteen minutes. I did turn or flip the mattress pad a couple times to maximize the exposure of sunlight to it.

There are some wonderful benefits to using a clothesline. First, it cuts down on energy costs. We have pretty high energy costs for the house we are living in, so we have been looking for and investing in other options for energy use, like unplugging the TV and computers when they are not in use, and having a natural gas line run to the house. Even when some items that are line dried may need some ironing, the energy costs are lower since the dryer takes more energy than an iron. Second, the laundry smells and feels better when it has been hanging out in the fresh air and breeze. Come winter, I don't think hanging the clothes outside will be as effective since the clothes would basically freeze dry, and would need ironing as they de-ice just to complete the drying process. (At least, that is what I have read, but it makes sense.) Third, using the clothesline adds a little more exercise and some fresh air to the usual household chore of doing laundry. This is probably my favorite of the benefits since it has a direct affect on me.

I have experienced only a couple of drawbacks to using the clothesline. The first is that there is a greater presesnce of lint on the laundry items after they have dried. The second is that there are some items that will need to be ironed after drying on the clothesline that may not need to be ironed after drying in the dryer. The solution to the first problem is brushing the clothes with a lint brush rolling a lint roller on the clothes. Fortunately, the lint has been light enough or just traces on items on which it would really matter if there was lint on them, such as work clothes. Items like tee-shirts seem to attract more lint than a woven cotton shirt, but tee-shirts are casual clothing so a little lint on them isn't going to be as big of a deal.

The weather has not been adverse this past week when I was doing laundry, so it has not been a problem to hang out the clothes. There was one day last week when it threatened to rain so I took the diapers off the line before they were completely dry and finished them in the dryer. However, since they were half way dry, they only needed about half the time in the dryer as they would normally need.
The next time that I washed diapers last week, the weather was hot, sunny and somewhat humid, which turned out to be perfect weather for drying diapers on the line.

The cloth diapers I am currenly using are made of multiple layers of microfiber. Because of this, they take longer to dry than my normal laundry would take, and I am guessing they would take longer to dry than cotton prefold diapers would. I think the diapers took about 3 hours to dry. Drying the diaper covers on the line helps the covers dry faster than if they were line dried inside. I always dry the diaper covers on the line as opposed to drying them in the dryer, which increases their lifespan. Drying the covers inside though would take about five or six hours, where drying them outside only takes an hour or two!

As far as clothespinse are concerned, I have noticed that I prefer the clothespins with springs. (The only downfall is if Henry gets a hold of them and starts taking them apart!) I find that I don't really like the stick clothespins. They don't have the same kind of grip effect and adjustability that the springing clothespins have. Also, I find that it is easier to get slivers on the stick clothespins.

As I mentioned previously, some items that are line dried may need some ironing. One good thing I have found though is that items that are line dried outside tend to need less ironing than items that are line dried inside due to the breeze.

I am constantly thinking of things I could write about the clothesline since I am really excited to have and use it and since I have time to think while I am hanging out the laundry. But I think this entry is quite long enough, and what do you know? I have to go outside and hang up another load of wash. Today I have only four loads of laundry, (I may split one into a fifth load since it is large) but I started with hanging out the towels I washed last night and that has set me back a little bit becasue they take longer to dry and it was a little bit cool when I first hung them up this morning. Some of the smaller items dried faster and I took them down to make room for the sheets. In fact, I used all 100 feet of clothesline for the towels this morning! Most of the space was taken up by washclothes which I hung in half at first and then later hung up by the corners as they finish. I digress. Anyway, I have to finish the laundry. Okay, off to the clothesline I go!

Summary:
I like my new clothesline.
Benefits of using a clothesline.
Downfalls of using a clothesline.
Weather allowing for line drying.
Drying cloth diapers.
Clothespin preferences.
Ironing needed for line dried items.
Concluding paragraph