10 Reasons Not to Use Your Clothes Dryer

There are lots of reasons why you might choose not to use your clothes dryer. Many of them have to do with saving money, but some go beyond that.

If you're not afraid of breaking tradition, then read on.

1. You'll Save Money on Electricity (or Natural Gas)
This is probably the most obvious reason not to use your dryer. Your dryer is one of the most expensive appliances to run in your whole house. Anything with a heating element is going to cost to run. Plus the cost to mechanically turn the drum.

2. Your Clothes Will Last Longer
Drying your clothes in a heated appliance is hard on them. Both the high heat and tumbling action remove small amounts of fabric each time, causing your clothes to gradually get threadbare. Clothes that are only line dried last years longer. This is either a blessing or a curse. For clothes you really like, it's a blessing, both financially and emotionally, not to have to replace them very often. For clothes you don't like, you can give them to a charity instead of trying to beat them to death in your dryer.

3. Your Clothes Won't Shrink
You can end up saving money by not accidentally shrinking your clothes if you never put them in the dryer.

4. You Won't Set Stains
Here's another way to save money by not ruining clothes. If a stain doesn't come out completely in the wash and you put the clothing in the dryer with noticing, you can permanently set the stain. If you've line dried the clothing and then notice a stain, you still have a chance to remove the stain.

5. You'll Save Money by Not Replacing a Worn-Out Dryer
This is a big savings that's easy to overlook. If you seldom or never use your dryer, you won't have to replace it as often. You won't need to pay a technician for service or repairs either.

6. You'll Have Less Fire Risk
Faulty appliances/wiring are one of the main causes of house fires. Reducing the use of a clothes dryer also reduces your risk of having it cause this type of problem.

7. You Won't Need a Humidifier
Line drying clothes raises the humidity in your house. Judging by the number of humidifier sold in this country, most people would consider higher humidity a benefit.

8. You Won't Be Heating Your House More in Summer
Running a dryer puts a lot of heat into the room in which it's located. This could be a plus in the winter, but it's a definite problem during hot months.

9. You Won't Have to Iron as Much
If you love to iron, then skip this paragraph. For the rest of us, consider the fact that line-dried clothes require less ironing because they don't wrinkle as much as clothes left in the dryer. In fact, they often need no ironing at all.

10. You'll Feel Good About Helping the Planet
Anything you do that helps conserve energy also helps to conserve resources on this precious planet of ours. Getting to feel good about something you choose to do is a nice plus.

Some Tips For Weaning Yourself From the Clothes Dryer

It can take some adjustment to learn to avoid using the clothes dryer. You'll need to dedicate some space for hanging up clothes. You can put up clothes rods in the laundry room or a spare room. You may need to get some more hangars or a portable drying rack to dry small things like socks.

I still dry sheets and towels in the clothes dryer. These items just come out too stiff and scratchy when line dried. But everything else in our house gets line dried.

It's made a noticeable difference in our monthly electricity bill and as a bonus, I haven't had to buy a new dryer in almost 25 years.