Updated: 13-Mar-2021
Line drying gives your sheets the smell of fresh air. That sounds a bit ‘slogany’ but it’s true. Line drying feels like a luxury and it smells like a luxury – but it’s cheaper and simpler than using a dryer.
Catch your breath
The biggest surprise of all – laundry doesn’t seem the chore it used to be. Instead you get to break your day and catch your breath in the fresh air.
By the way, check out who wrote this article. My name’s at the top of the page. Did you know that men do laundry too? 🙂
Here are some of the reasons I love line drying.
The benefits of line drying
It’s much cheaper to use free sunlight than pay for electricity to run a dryer. And it costs much less to buy a clothes line than a new appliance.
Fewer callouts and less waiting on the phone
The sun whitens your whites. Gone is the dingy greys of tumble-dried clothes. The ultra-violet rays get rid of stains without bleach, though it might take a few drying sessions to make them as bright as you would like. Aim to dry your whites when the sun is at it’s brightest (for most people that’s will be some time in the afternoon). Choose more overcast days for coloured clothes.
Big savings for the environment
Line drying uses less electricity and requires less chemicals as the sun makes things white. So there’s no need to add bleach, no more dryer sheets. All together this means big savings for the environment.
- Clothes smell wonderful. Forget the synthetic smells of fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Line drying helps remove strong odours rather than just mask them. You no longer have to search the aisles for the least offensive fragrance.
Hanging up clothes avoids the serious crushing clothes receive in a dryer. Less wrinkles means less ironing. With line drying you might even get away altogether without ironing some things. I still iron cotton but it’s a much easier task after line drying.
Save space
Dryers can make your clothes softer but their tossing and tumbling action weakens the fibre and seams. It means extra strain for buttons and zippers too.
If you miss that ‘pummelled’ effect you can pop your air-dried clothes into the dryer for a short softening.
Line drying is gentler so your clothes last longer. And you don’t get those shocks to the system where your favourite sweater has shrunk to doll-size.
Line drying puts an end to the plague of static cling
When I used a dryer I was always plagued with static cling. You know how it is, the clothes stick to each other and to you. You may have tried countless remedies in the hope of solving it, including dryer sheets. But with line drying you can ditch that search and cross it off your shopping list for good.
There’s not much effort involved in using a dryer, just throw in the clothes, push the button and wait. But hanging out clothes is good exercise. All that bending and reaching is perfect for getting your heart pumping. And unlike a workout video it’s exercise that you don’t know you’re doing.
Line drying clothes outside gets you outside. That’s a moment of fresh air that breaks the day and clears your head.
Peace, relaxation and therapy. Yes, hanging clothes out to dry is relaxing… it’s the most relaxing of chores and it lets you switch off. It doesn’t take a lot of brain cells to carry out the task at hand so you’re free to catch your breath. Now you can take time to think about the good things in life. ☺
