clothes hung on deck furniture

this past weekend was super hot — 90-100 degrees fahrenheit — in the solano-contra-costa counties area. ok, the east bay of the sf bay area in general.

when it was time to dry the laundry on saturday, a thought occurred to me –

this is stupid. why use the dryer for 40 minutes, when i can use the blazing hot sun for probably about 5 ??

so off i went to dry the majority of the laundry outside on our deck.

i hung towels, pants, socks wherever i could — the lawnchairs, hanging from the outside shade umbrella, and the balcony’s wooden plank things/rails. i was not bothered by the minor dust or leaves or whatever was on the wood. i’d just shake off the clothes when collecting them later of any bugs, etc. i did check if there were any bird doo-doo or other unpleasant stains though on surfaces i draped clothes on.

the only clothes i did not hang outside were intimate apparel such as our underwears and other undergarments. we have 2 other roommates, and i didn’t want to feel uncomfortable or make them feel uncomfortable. those we hung in our bedroom, draping them over lamps, laundry baskets, etc.

several hours later when we remembered to collect the laundry from outside, they were all dry, as expected. (i knew it did not take several hours in actuality, but rather more like 10 minutes in that weather!) and no extra financial energy costs had to be incurred, just a little physical energy from our end. so maybe we even got a very minuscule amount of exercise too :p we definitely got to spend a few pleasant minutes in the sun. i felt like i did a good thing that day

(i must admit that i don’t know at the time of this writing exactly how much of the monthly energy bill points to the use of our dryer.  i do know however, that we all pay about $300-$400 a month to pg & e.)

the SO did point out that the clothes were not as soft, and i realize this also. however, i personally do not mind the slight stiffness — i just shake the clothes around a bit to loosen them up (and to get any dust off, bugs out). neither of us at this point in our lives need to have any of our clothes pressed regularly for work, as we tend to dress down most of the time. (i’m in the tech industry.)

i think we americans have gotten really spoiled by our dryers. in japan, there is not much room for the average apartment household to own both a dryer and a washing machine. often there is no dryer. the washing machines are probably half the size of ours, if even that.

my sister-in-law there does the laundry in the evenings or in the mornings. then in the morning before work or over the weekends, she hangs them on the balcony on the clothesline and special clothes hanging hangers (for hanging like 24 socks or underwear, etc.). when she returns from work, or at the end of the day on the weekends, she collects everything from the line to fold them and put them away. they seem to be getting along without a dryer just fine.

from age 10 through 18, i used to have to do the laundry occasionally at home with my younger brother. we didn’t have a dryer at the time. every couple of days we would have to hang the clothes to dry on the clothesline on the balcony, and on the balcony’s wooden rails. we didn’t have clothespins — we would hang them on hangers, or just drape the clothes. then at the end of the day, we would collect them, fold them while watching tv, and then put them away (we called this task, ‘delivering laundry’). when we did eventually acquire a dryer at home, we still found ourselves being instructed to save energy and hang the clothes outside to dry (unless it was raining).

when i started to use both a washer and a dryer weekly in college, i found it to be somewhat of a luxury not having to hang clothes on a line!

when the weather is pleasant at home on the weekends or the days when the SO and i do our laundry, i’m going to make the effort to hang the washed laundry outside instead of using the dryer from now on. we only do about 2 medium-sized loads every week or so between the two of us with a maytag washer, so it isn’t that laborious or time intensive. and we even discussed the possibility of setting up a clothesline of sorts from a tree to a fence, or from fence to a post we could stick into the ground. added to our home and financial projects list!

of course, when the weather isn’t so great (ie, raining), it would be much more efficient and sensible to use the dryer.

what do you think about air-drying clothes? do you or have you done this? if not this, what sort of other alternative and/or creative methods of drying have you or do you use(d)?

do you know how much of your monthly energy bills go to your dryer use?  how much do you believe you are saving by air/sun-drying your clothes monthly?