So I get to dry my clothes and save money!

I just want to start off saying that I think the dryer is one of the greatest inventions of the last century. And if my dryer reads this post, I just want to say that I love you and that there will always be a place for you in my home. That is until you break down and I get the most energy efficient model that I can afford. But still, I won't give up my dryer completely anytime soon.

I have heard horror stories from people who live in HOA's about not being able to put up a laundry line. One of the reasons I chose the house I live in is that if I want I can put up a laundry line in my backyard. In fact there was a device that had a line to use for laundry but the locking mechanism was broken. If you pulled the line out it would sag when you put any weight on it, not a very useful way to dry your clothes.

So I decided on running the line in a different direction and attach to a hook on the side of the sun room. This was a good plan except that it didn't make the line taught enough. Using a hook to hang plants on pounded into the ground worked, that is until I put on more than two pieces of laundry. Then gravity (stupid gravity) took over, the hook tipped but I caught the line just in time. Then a solution presented itself.

Yes, I ran the line across the roof. Not actually the roof, but the covering over the south garage door. I then stretched the line as far as I could and found a nail on the sun room that it reached to. The line was now tight enough to hang laundry and to keep it from hitting the ground. I proudly put some on my laundry just wet from the washing machine with the wooden clothes pins I got at BiMart and went inside.

It takes time to dry clothing on a laundry line, but it doesn't use any electricity. It works better when the sun is out, but even though it was cloudy and late in the day, I was glad that I could get the laundry out and not have to run a dryer load. When I checked the laundry before I went to bed it was still a little damp, I knew it would by dry by the morning.

I woke up that Saturday morning and looked over at the clock and saw that it was 5am. I laid there and listened to the rain falling outside. RAIN! I got up and ran out to the backyard and quickly pulled the laundry off the line, it wasn't too wet but got a good soaking. I waited until it stopped a few hours later, put the laundry back on the line and let it dry, again.

As the days are sunnier during the summer I will put laundry out on the line. Why not, it saves money and it keeps the laundry room from getting too hot. Also the dryer does make a lot of noise (again sorry to my drier if it's reading this) which I can do without. Some items, according to my wife, still need to be dried in the dryer. I have done two loads of laundry in my life, last year while my wife was in the hospital, so I am no expert when it comes to laundry, I'm guessing that she must be right. She tells me that she is always right. But even if I can reduce at least one dryer load then I'm saving energy and most of all saving money. If the dryer is not running then I'm not paying the power company. The dryer will still be used in the winter, it will help keep the house warmer when it's on and I don't want to have to run out at 5am again to pull clothing out of the rain.