Save Money -- Use a Clothesline!

Electricity has become an important topic of conversation around my house. With temperatures that belong in a desert hanging around for weeks and ceiling fans running continuously while the air conditioner only shuts off a couple of times in the middle of the night we did a bit of brainstorming to find ways to cut our electricity usage while staying relatively cool.

The dryer is a big consumer of electricity and it works against the air conditioner, so we decided to put up a clothesline to give the dryer (and hopefully our wallet) a break. Finding the right location for a clothesline is very important; it needs to be out of the way of pets and not directly underneath any trees. (I'm sure the starlings would amuse themselves with contests to see who could hit the most targets with droppings ...) We used the top rung of a jungle gym about 30 yards away from the back porch and a plant hook under the soffit on the back porch to attach a length of ski rope. The wooden clothespins are an inexpensive way to attach your clothes to the line. I bought a pack of 100 for $1.00 at Dollar General.

So the line is up and the first load of towels have dried much faster (it seemed) than our dryer could have done. The only trouble was the coarse, stiff feeling of the fabric. I was able to soften the towels up by placing them in the dryer to tumble with no heat for about 5 minutes!

Our electricity bill was about $10 dollars lower than the previous month. I can't say the savings was all due to the clothesline but it certainly didn't hurt and I've got an old-fashioned tool in my backyard and it feels good to know that clotheslines are a "green" alternative.