Drying Your Clothes Outside

As you may know, I do laundry every Monday. I know some people do a little bit each day but I prefer to do it all at once. Yesterday was such a nice day and our backyard was so sunny, it seemed a shame to have to use the dryer to dry everything when the sun could do it for me for free! So I found some old sheets (actually I think they were curtains) and laid them out on the grass and put the clothes on top. After about a half hour, I flipped everything over and the non bulky items (t shirts, underwear, shorts, etc) were all dry! In the same amount of time as the dryer! Some things that jeans and sweatshirts took a little longer but I didn't mind.

Now if I plan on doing this all the time (which I might), we would set up a clothes line or a clothes rack but since we didn't have anything like that, I just laid them on the ground. They still got some wind movement (which helps dry your clothes almost as much as the sun) but if you dry on a line, you wouldn't have to flip them over. I didn't have a problem with birds or animals or even insects. I was a little leery of that at first but they totally just left them alone.

Of course the day I do this is the day there is a surveyor in our back yard (we don't have a back fence and we're right behind the fire station) and a homeowner's guy (long story) came by and took pictures of the front and back of the house. He had to walk around the clothes. How embarrassing! David didn't seem to think it was all that bad but I was kind of mortified.

I do highly recommend drying your clothes outside. Of course you should check with your homeowner's assocation, city, state, etc because a lot of places have laws against it. But assuming you can do it, you totally should. It makes your clothes smell better, they don't get beat up in the dryer (the dryer wears out the elastic in socks and underwear, it makes your clothes worn out (thinner)), it saves money, and it saves electricity. What more could you want?

Some people do complain that their clothes, especially their towels, don't come out as soft but all you have to do is add vinegar to your wash cycle and everything comes out just fine!