Anyways, today's frugal offering is line drying laundry. Between myself and handsome hubby, we run about four loads of laundry a week. I know, it seems like a lot, but a. I'm clumsy and spill all kinds of stuff, and b. hubs works outside/with machinery, which wreaks havoc on his clothes. I've made the process of washing as inexpensive as possible- I only use cold water, only run full loads, and make my own laundry detergent (you can find the recipe I use here ). My dryer, however, runs literally all day once a week, and that's expensive and wasteful.
I wanted to run a clothesline in the backyard, but it's not fenced, and the entire neighborhood uses our path the greenbelt (like nature trails that run through our fair city, and our house backs onto one of them), and it's pollen season in Texas, so everything outside is COVERED with a thick layer of yellow. I decided instead to run a line in my attic. My attic is SUPER HUGE, and is accessed via a regular staircase, and not a ladder and trapdoor like most attics, so I have ample room. Check it out, two loads of laundry hanging-
Total cost to me was $2.91 for 150 clothespins at Wal Mart. I already had the rope. So far, so good. I hung the clothes yesterday early afternoon, and took them down this morning. I ironed the hanging clothes, and threw the non-hanging clothes in the dryer for 8 minutes (literally, I timed it) just to make sure they wouldn't mildew in my drawers (I'm paranoid, so sue me). I'm going to try for two months, and see how much my energy bill changes. WOO!
