Seriously, Air Dry Your Laundry

It's obvious that air drying laundry is the right thing to do.

1. Air-drying your clothes can reduce the average household’s carbon footprint by a whopping 2,400 pounds a year. 
2. Many households spend more than $100 a year on the electricity claimed by their dryer.  
3. If you use dryers at a self-serve laundromat, you're spending even more to use the machine.
4. Dryers tend to over dry some clothing and slowly wear down most of your clothes.

Image via Amazon by customer S.D. Thiessen

One of my favorite things about living in Middle Village, Queens was being able to hang my laundry on the outdoor clothesline I accessed from the window of my second floor bedroom. My laundry never smelled so fresh! I've read that the sun is really good for bleaching whites (not that I own any- too much trouble) and killing germs on cleaning rags.

Drying Rack (Image via Amazon)

Unfortunately, installing an outdoor clothesline isn't something most urban apartment dwellers can do, but we can still air dry our clothes. We can rig a clothesline indoors. We can hang clothes from drying racks and hangers hung from curtain, shower rods, door knobs, or even the backs of chairs. I've hung sheets and blankets from doors. You just have to get creative! You may want to do laundry more often so you don't have to look for as many drying spaces.

Resources: 
Green America: Fire Your Clothes Dryer
How to Install an Outdoor Clothesline 
How to Install an Indoor Retractable Clothesline

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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