Well, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out over the past several days without any luck!
I am ashamed to admit…
…I have never mastered the art of line drying my laundry.
I rely way too much on my dryer. My mother rarely line dried anything when I was growing up. Hmmm. Maybe that’s my excuse. She used her dryer on everything except sleeping bags, quilts, bed comforters or other oversized items. Our clothes line was so rarely used, my brother and I used it to volley balls over, swing from like a trapeze bar, and it always worked perfectly for Barbie’s tight rope walking routine! In retrospect, I don’t know how my mom could have ever line dried anything on that line! After swinging on it like little monkeys, the line had a permanent droop that I doubt would keep a wash cloth off the ground! After a while, the droopy line was removed and everything went into the dryer, the dry cleaner or it was hung over our chain link fence in the back yard!
My second excuse reason for never learning the art, until now I have not lived anywhere with a clothes line. I lived the first 30 years of my life in Tennessee. Perfect for line drying clothes outside nearly year round but I lived either in an apartment, duplex, or in a place with too much shade and low hanging tree limbs, too small of a lot or too much limestone rock to set up a proper clothes line.
Line dry INSIDE??? Honestly, it never occurred to me until after I started blogging!
Now I am on a quest to find all the secrets of line drying clothes. I want luxurious soft towels and smooth jeans. The crunchy clothes have got to go! It’s a winter wonderland in Minnesota so I am hanging our clothes in the basement. This serves two purposes. Eliminated the cost of running the dryer and increases the humidity in our home. Our indoor humidity is so low, we have to run a humidifier 24/7. I would LOVE to eliminate the cost of running both appliances!
Here is what I have tried so far:
- Downy in the rinse cycle (I usually don’t use the stuff but I won a huge basket of laundry supplies a while back and thought it might help.) = clothes still a little stiff and rigid no significant difference
- Converted my homemade laundry detergent to a commercial detergent (Again, I've had this for a while and hoped it would give me better results.) = the same results with both detergents
- Half the detergent recommended = jury is still out on this one
- Drying the clothes for a few minutes before hanging = this helped a little but not much
- Snapping and smoothing the clothes = only resulted in fewer wrinkles
There has got to be a trick to this. I just can’t seem to figure it out. Anybody have an ideas to help a girl out?
13 Smart Sayings:
I kinda of like the stiff clothes and especially the towels, but I think that was an acquired taste. Try vinegar in the rinse cycle to help completely rinse out the detergent. I've read tumbling the clothes for a few minutes after they have been on the line takes out the crunch, though I can't say that I've tried it myself. Good luck! :)
It could be your method of hanging that causes items to be stiff. To hang sheets, towels, cloth diapers, and linens, pin them on the line so they form a "bag." Fold these items across the middle, so the short ends meet and the fold is at the bottom. Use clothespins to fasten the corners to the line. Then fasten one side of the sheet or towel to the clothesline with several pins, leaving the other side free. The wind will get between the layers of fabric, and make it billow out into a bag shape. It is the action of the wind and the fabric rubbing together that produces soft, fluffy sheets and towels dried on a clothesline.
I read a article on how you should/could wash your laundry with no detergent and it's very efficient. To me this sounds downright unreal, but, it stands to reason if your clothes are stiff, it has to be because of detergent left in the clothes. I'd try cutting <span>way</span> back on the detergent and see if this helps, and also the vinegar in the final rinse would definitely help.
Let me know if this works. Good Luck.
I know this sounds like it defeats the purpose, but when they are mostly dry, I throw them into the dryer and it helps a lot;} Hope this helps!
well, my mom always hung our clothes up both outside in the summer & inside in the winter because we had no dryer, we grew up useing woodstove for heat. And our clothes were stiff from air drying inside in winter. But me being 50yrs old now I too like you have a dryer but want to save money so I make sure I put fabric softner in my rinse cycle and then I hang dry inside for winter times on a retractable pull clothes line & clothes pin the items up some people go ahead & hang them on hangers but then when I just fluff dry to help soften them & help kill any spiers etc that might of tryed to go onto them (loving the dampness) it makes you have to double trouble hanger them so thats why I clothes pin them up. But i do dry them on fluff cool just so it softens them some & rids any spiders etc that might of gotten on them.
sewitupjulie at gmail dot com
Julie-Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any spiders lurking in my basement. This�is a very good since I'm scared to death of them! The only�concern I have is keeping my cat from pulling down my laundry by�swatting at the�dangling clothes. I'll also have�to remember to set up my outdoor line away from our dog or she'll have clothes all over the yard!
I would like to set up a retractable line since I'm sort of making do with rope and clothes hangers strung all over the basement. I'm�hoping�Walmart or Lowes will have one reasonably priced.
�Frugally Fun-Jenn
Ma21cuteboy-Thanks for the tip. I'll�try this today.
�Frugally Fun-Jenn
Ladyethe16-I've cut back the detergent to half but I suppose I could try cutting it back a little more but I will definitely give the vinegar a try. We have extremely hard water here so hopefully this will work. I've also heard baking soda helps but�I haven't tried it yet. I'll be sure to post my results�in the next week or so but if you have any more ideas, PLEASE let me know!!!
�Frugally Fun-Jenn
Hi - I have tried everything and finally decided I'd have to live with stiff line dried clothes. I do love the smell of clothes that are line dried outside. I guess that's the trade off. I don't like how stiff the towels are, everything else is OK. When I was little, my Mom would hang clothes outside in cold weather. I remember the jeans & pants would freeze so hard they could stand up by themselves. I like using a wooden drying rack in the house, as the clothes dry it adds moisture to the dry indoor air. I have tried using laundry soda and borax in the wash and vinegar in the rinse and have decided it's the tumbling that softens the clothes. I'll still line dry in good weather and use my wooden dryer in the house and use the dryer when I have to.
Karen-That's funny. Sometimes my jeans dry so stiff I think they could stand on their own...and I'm�drying them indoors!�If�I�figure out how�to get�rid of crunchy stiff clothes, I'll be sure to share it with you.
Frugally Fun-Jenn
I have line dried clothes for years. They will be stiff when line dried inside, even with using fabric softener. But when you hang them outside and there is a breeze, you will have softer clothes. When my kids were growing up, I stored the blankets in the dryer in te summer. Told them they could have air conditioning or use dryer but could not have both. We had air conditioning.
Thanks Debby - I'm going to dig out my oscillating fan to see if a breeze from the fan will help soften them in the basement. The fan will still use less energy than the energy hogging dryer I have. I like the idea of using the dryer for storage!
Frugally Fun-Jenn
Thank you for the tips about line drying clothes. It seems like a tricky process to dry clothes while minimizing wrinkles. Good post
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