Well, cardboard towel season is here, time to shut off those dryers and get your clothes out on the line. I personally love the smell of line dried sheets and blankets. Such a lovely smell to curl up to at bedtime. But… I draw the line at towels. I can’t handle it. They dry like cardboard, and feel about the same drying off with. I’ve been told before to just finish them off in the dryer and they will fluff back up. I have tried but to no avail, they still feel like cardboard. I use good quality Columbia towels, so its not like the quality is a problem.
Do you line dry your towels? Do you just bare the cardboard feel and consider it extra exfoliation when you dry off? Is there a secret trick I haven’t been told?
If you have the space to line dry I highly recommend line drying what you can, it definitely puts extra money in your pocket by not turning on that dryer as much.
Also (I’m full of questions today) do you dry your intimates on the line? Do you care if your neighbours get a sneak peek at your gotchies and bras?
Have a great weekend Sc readers 🙂
i dont normally dry mine on the line, but i do remember as a child my babysitter doing it and your right they smell great.. i might just do it this year since its calling for a warm one.. and nope don’t care if my neighbors saw my panites.. mine are usually cute ones.. but i have a few granny panties too that i might put out just for a laugh.. cute post!
You can still draw towels on the line without them getting too cardboard-like…! Just toss them in the dryer to tumble for a few minutes and then hang them up to dry. They stay pretty soft, and you still get to save some money and get the wonderful fresh scent!
oh and re the undies…just hang them on a clothes rack in the yard. Usually less likely to be seen that way, and you can still dry them outside! 🙂
I wish I could dry clothes on the line, it would save so much energy. But strata bylaws forbid it…
WOAH! Your not allowed to line dry? What tha!!!!
We only use our dryer about 2 times a year, only in an emergency. We either dry on the line, or on an indoor clothes dryer if the weather really is too terrible.
We find that vinegar in the fabric softener holder (we do not use fabric softener either) makes towels a little softer. But, yeah, basically they provide extra exfoliation. Not a bad thing.
I line dry the towels till they’re cardboard stiff, and when I toss them in the dryer for five or so mintues with one damp hand/face towel, they come out perfectly soft and fluffy. Or I will throw in one of those wet Method dryer sheets, and that does the trick as well. As for undies, I cant bring myself to doing it. Some things just need to be kept private!
We’ll line dry this spring/summer! I’m buying two racks (I live in a 3 floor walk-up) and I have a large balcony, so I’m going to use it this summer to hang my clothes! We’ll see how far I get into the summer before someone complains.. (stuck up neighbours) and if they do, I’ll face my panties their way 😛
Towels.. I actually like the cardboard feel.. LOL it feels nice after swimming at the beach to slough off the water and stuff, but when I’m sick of carboard, I just stick them in the dryer for a few minutes and they fluff up again. Either way its alright with us 🙂
i wonder if it really does save huge amounts of money $
Depends how much laundry you do a month but anywhere from 10-60 a month!
I’ve found that either adding an extra rinse to the wash or using a little less detergent helps to reduce that cardboard feeling. Mostly, though, I consider it extra exfoliation! 😉
I live in an apartment building, so there really isn’t an option to put in a clothes line.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
Get one of those drying racks. That’s what I use for those unmentionables. OK, thongs for the memories.
ive never done it–i’m paranoid about little icky bugs in my stuff
im in an apt also…no way am I putting one of those portables on my balcony….dont need Pigeon poo on my clothes!!
I live in an apartment too. I never use the dryer because it costs $2 to wash and another $2 to dry, which is way too expensive! So I use drying racks – inside in the winter and on my balcony in the summer.
I remember when I was a teenager I actually shared my undies with the neighbours! I hung them on the line in the backyard and a sudden storm blew them all away.
If it feels like cardboard, you’re using too much detergent.
In most case, you can use 1/3 of the minimum recommended amount of detergent and still get your clothes perfectly clean. Try it! It’s better for the environment and your wallet.
Ally…I have strata as well, we are permitted portable clothes drying racks (the ones that can be found at Ikea). You can just about get a full load on a rack and move it discreetly in your yard. Unfortunately, not big enough for the bedding or large towels. To soften up the towels, clothes, bedding etc., I add about half a cup of white vinegar to the rince cycle and it makes the fabric softer and smells refreshing. Happy sunny days to all of us outdoor drying SC’ers.
I live in an apartment without a balcony. We bought an indoor rack a year ago and i figure it saves us 3.50-5.25 a week. (that’s the cost of 2 or 3 loads in the dryer.) that adds up.
as for towels, i justify putting them and sheets in the dryer because they are just too big to hang up. 🙂 but i hate the scratchy too, but if i had an outdoor line i’d just use fabric softener in the wash and deal i think.
also, i think the towns/communities that forbid line drying are really archaic. it’s so ridiculous that people are *forced* to use more energy than is necessary.
btw – i have one like this – it’s hold two full loads if you hang it efficiently:
http://www.amazon.com/Indoor-Clothes-Drier-Airer-Rack/dp/B001P7L8RQ
$17 at zellers is what i paid.
I love my clothesline…but don’t hang out towels or jeans…too rough on the skin !
I think there was a bylaw in burlington up until a year or two ago. We arent supposed to use them in out townhouse complex. I guess people are more worried about clean laundry making the place look trashy than the dog/cat poo and garbage.
Yup do the line thing every summer. Pray no birds hit the lines and all my undies are there for show even the ones that are holier than thou 🙂
One of the reasons why the towels hang dry hard is that many people don’t extract most of the water off and they don’t try to fluff out the garment well enough before placing on the line. If your washer has the means to do extra extraction (where it spins so fast removing excess water) than I would use that option. Than when putting laundry on the line… give the garment several extra waves in the air to loosen up the tighten fibers from the wash…. just remember you can’t do this with knits or stretches.
You can soften up clothes by putting them in the dryer for a few minutes… just include a damp hand towel or face cloth. Why? You need the steam to soften the material. Just putting the dried clothes into the dryer is not enough. The wet item added will provide the necessary moisture to soften the nap of the material.
Spring already? Where’s Winter?
I know…what happened to winter? I wont complain though…Spring leads to summer!!
I have never tried line drying..although I think we have a line in the backyard. Find it easier to toss from the washer into the dryer right beside it..lazy 😛
I’d rather pay the extra money and use the extra energy to have soft fluffy towels….. i dont like getting out of the shower to dry myself with FREAKING SANDPAPER!!!!!!!!! its the worst feeling ever….
extra exfoliating you say?? how about… is so uncomfortable when drying.. id rather dry off naked in my window with the window and blinds open…
take that society..
take home message : DO NOT HANG DRY TOWELS.. everything else ok…
My clothesline is one of my favourite things about our new house. I don’t line dry jeans (they weigh the line down), fluffy towels (just beach towels), or socks, oh…and DH’s undies (he’s self conscious)…lol.
i stop the rinse cycle after is agitates a few times ( with fabric softener). I let it sit over night, then restart in the morning. Then I hang it on the line. not so cardboard like.
For me, I try to throw the towels in the dryer while they are still a tiny bit damp, then they come out nice and fluffy. I put DH’s underwear on the line because they are just boxers, and I will hang my bra’s but not usually my underwear (I don’t want the neighbours knowing what kind of underwear I wear lol). But yes we are fortunate enough to have a huge clothes line in our yard so pretty much everything goes on the line. It saves us money and keeps the basement from getting too humid.
I line dry everything, Undies and all. Since all the backyards have a privacy screen along the sides of the decks, I hang the slow drying stuff first and when the line is fullish, I hang the undies on the end near the house. the only thing I haven’t figured out is how to stop the clothes from fading. Has anyone experimented with hanging sheets over the clothes to prevent fading? any other ideas?
cheers,
Pamdaa
I totally line dry starting about now(weather permitting) right through the summer. We save huge! Try using ultra downey(and yes there are coupons out there) and putting in the dryer for about 10 minutes. Works like a HOT dam.
I’m all for drying clothes indoors but they take a long time to dry, don’t they? Would drying clothes in the basement in the winter cause excess humidity problems?
To slow down the fading (can’t stop it unfortunately), sun your clothes inside out and in the shade.
I live in an appartment and to keep costs down I hang the towels over the doors… keeps me from having to run the dryer for hours,,, some times the towels are stiff and others they end up soft…
I am waiting to start line drying this year just like I did all of last year (April to Oct.) , its the most wonderful feeling :), but drying socks becomes too much of a chore so once every 2 weeks I’ll dry a full load of socks in the dryer, rest everything goes out , I hang dark colored t shirts etc on hangers and use the rod under the canopy of the swing on my deck to shield them from harsh sun.
I live in rural Newfoundland, and I line dry until November, and started again in February this year. We hadn’t had hardly any snow, or even cold weather, this year. I use a fabric softener, and my towels are fluffy as clouds, and I use a 100 foot line – takes three loads! My sheets smell like heaven, reminds me of childhood, no worries. We have very little polution, or busynoses to inspect my unmentionables – or step-ins as they’re called here.
I have 2 indoor racks(can hang 3 loads on them, bought lots of extra hangers and pant clips) and I hardly ever use the dryer in the winter. My electric bill went down $300 last year. Being 6 people I do anywhere from 10-15 loads a week, I actually had my towels outside today because it was 8 C and I have a front load with a fabric softner slot so they come out fine.
I only hang my undies with obscene messages on them outside and point them towards the neigbor I don’t like behind me. LOL JK
The towel only feels like a cardboard the first time that you use it. After it absorbs all the moisture from toweling you off, it softens right back up.
But yeah, I am not crazy about that first wipe =[, but you can’t beat that fresh sunshine smell.
I use fabric softener in the wash and dry them on the line – but only leave them out till they’re dry – seems that if they’re left out for too long, that’s when they get cardboard-stiff. But if I forget and they do, I just put them in the dryer with a wet cloth or t-shirt.
I have a drying rack that I put on the deck for my undies – that way the neighbours can’t really see it!
My family has been line-drying for YEARS….have a 100-ft clothesline in the backyard (deep lot). Favourite thing in the WORLD – had a few things out last week when it was really nice.
I live in an apartment. I pay $2 to wash & $2 to dry, too. I hang almost everything to dry on racks year round. My son has a loft bed, which is awesome for drying sheets (only takes a couple of hours or so to fully dry!). I use a clip rack from Dollarama to dry small items, I think I might have made my money back on this purchase 😉
CARDBOARD TOWELS….Well from my experience…. in my old house I always had crispy towel… but since we moved- our new place always has a bit of a breeze going through our yard, and now we always have soft towels….I love it in the summer! no more card board towels…. so you will have to move into a place that has a breeze that passes through your yard!
Best of luck!
I would hang my clothes, if I had a backyard. I hardly have enough space to do that indoors. We pay to do our laundry in the laundryroom. But there are certain things that I air dry often (like jeans, knits etc) so that they do not shrink.
I always hang my towels and jeans on the line. I put a little extra softner in the load and when it done I put it on spin again. I give them a shack before putting on the line. And my clothes line is in a nice windy spot so it keeps them soft. Before folding a shack the heck out of them again and then voilà they are soft. I have no problem hang my undies on the line. I just find so much work so I use a rack. I also only use the dryer for emergencies. I the winter I hang my clothes on a rack above the furnace vent so there is good air circulation and I also put my wash load on an extra spin.
Oh, I can’t wait to line dry washing again – we’ve got the long kind out in the backyard. No cardboard towels here, so I must be doing something right! And yes, gauchies go out on the line, too.
NOTHING in the world matches the heavenly smell and feel of crawling in a bed with sunshine-dried sheets – ah!!
I use vinegar for softener as well! Works awesome!!
I have a H U G E line in my back yard (little over 100′).
I refuse to put towels,underwear or socks on the line. I will just do all my laundry, then at the end of the day dry whatever I put in the dryer.
I detest my jeans being line-dried, but no one else in the house cares. I line dry then throw mine in with the stuff in the dryer to soften.
I used the line for the first time this year just a couple days ago. I hung an area rug, kitchen cloths and towels and some sheets. 🙂
Unfortunately I live in a rural area on a dirt road…if I were to
hang my clothes they would come back in dirtier than than they
went out (way too much dust -thank god for swiffer dusters!)
However….my dryer has bit the biscuit so I bought myself a new
set this weekend. The saleslady assured me that with the new
high-efficency washer that the clothes come out damp-not wet and
it only takes about 10 minutes to dry a load of jeans! (Not to mention
way less water). Does anyone have a he washer and dryer? Would love
to hear any comments…..
I have always line dried as much as possible because we love the smell and the bonus is that our Hydro One bill is smaller. ( Yes, I am cheap and proud of it!) Yes it is true that sometimes the towels are like cardboard but I find i quite windy where we live and my problem is that sometimes I have to unwind them from the clothesline. My solution is to hang the bath sheets at the end of the line (or last if you will) and that way if I do have to untangle them at least I dont have to grab the ladder from the garage! In fact I hung out my first load to dry (in 3 hrs) last week. Yah lower bills!!!
What about using a lot of fabric softener? I was just talking about this issue with a friend and we thought that might help. Not sure.
Its 7C here and I have already started hanging outside. Been doing it for years! LUV IT! Cardboard towels, rock hard jeans … I throw them in the dryer after they are dry for 10 minutes on fluff or tumble dry. My towels and jeans come out nice and soft and still smelling outdoor fresh.
If its a really windy day, cardboard is not the problem, all the flapping in the wind does a great job of softening them.
I hang until my fingers start to freeze during the hangout process! lol
I’ve never heard of vinegar as a fabric softener. I’ll have to try that! I normally don’t use any, but I bought some recently because my husband and I bought our first house last Fall and I’m planning to try line drying this year!
I came across a great site just yesterday for an American non-profit called Project Laundry List (http://www.laundrylist.org/). “Project Laundry List is making air-drying and cold-water washing laundry acceptable and desirable as simple and effective ways to save energy.” They have a store, a blog, some great FAQs, etc.
I’ve also read about something called a “Combination Washer/Dryer” that sounds interesting…
“Combination washer-dryers have been on the market for decades. They are used extensively in Europe and Asia and are practical for places where separate washers and dryers can not be placed.
“Also known as “combos,” these appliances wash and dry all in the same machine. You don’t have to move laundry from a washer into a separate dryer.
“All-in-one combo units are manufactured by many makers and usually require less energy and water, often eliminate the need for venting, and create more space in your home than regular washers and dryers.”
Cardboard laundry is what I call laundry hung out to dry outdoors during winter or wet laundry (in warm seasons) that did not get the water extracted–of course gravity is going to tilt the condition of the towels then, by making the water all sit at the ends.
For renters in apartments, yes the cost of doing laundry is tough, as is not having a personal washer to wring out water after doing hand laundry.
To the high-efficiency laundry pair buyer-10 min to dry jeans-really? I thought the water-efficient models had double the laundry time to make up for the less water used. Also, look online on how to keep your front loading high-efficiency washer smelling good-it involves air cirulation to dry up any moisture or you could eventually notice an off odour.
I use the Downy ball with white vinegar for fabric softner,it works great
The Front Loading machines some have a musty order if the door is always closed there was a class action law suit against Whirlpool front loading washers a few years ago.
to avoid fading I hang my clothes in side out this works somewhat
Im not sure about the humidty level in other peoples houses I dry laundry on a rack and dont seem to have any problems with the humidity.
Didnt dalton McGuinty make a law that line drying by laws were lifted and ppl can now line dry in Ontario?
I usually cannot hang clothes outside to dry…allergies 🙁
I have the WORST neighbour ever so I have no problem line drying all my grannie panties and because he is pretty old I make sure I put out some offensive thongs once in a while too……picture a 30 foot line of panties and an old man scowling at them…..its great!
Tracy, you’re right, Dalton McGinty did override any bans on clothes lines in Aug. 2008 – however that is only applicable in Ontario.
For the apartment dwellers who don’t have a balcony or room for a folding rack I recommend a retractable clothes line that goes across your bathtub wall (like you see in hotels) I love mine and it has definitely paid for itself.
I would love to line dry my lawdry, but I live on the 3rd floor of a condo complex (sure I could use the clotes rack) and we are right at the edge of the water (more like the marshes) and we have MASSIVE spiders…(with legs and all they are about 3 inch big…just the body is the size of a loonie) I can’t even go on my balcony during the summer because of does spiders…any suggestion to get rid of those bugs?
so I hang everything inside on my shower curten rod…all but towels and bedsheets.
I don’t dry my clothes outside as those pesky flies (or whatever bugs) are always stuck on them afterwards! I dry my laundry on a rack in my basement. As far as the cardboard towels feel… just pop them into the dryer for 10 minutes to fluff up and it’ll be soft again!
I am allergice to chemicals and so, I don’t add fabric softener and love vinegar. See: http://www.lesstoxicguide.ca for other cheaper solutions for housekeeping.
I live in an apartment building and cannot even use the coin-op washer and dryer with all the toxic stuff that people put in there. I use an apartment washer and dry on racks. I will put a fan on them if I want to get the drying over with fast. I actually like stiff towels!
When I am in a house I try to line dry everything but draw the line at undies. My gotchies are not cute!
I’m in the same boat as some other people. I live in an appt. and am too cheap to pay for the coin operated dryer. I have one drying rack that I use and then I hang what doesn’t fit on hangers on my shower bar and I also have a tension rod that I put up in another doorway to hold the rest. It works great, and I love that it makes my appt. smell like clean laundry.
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Lots of people are resorting to various sorts of this, as conventional methods are getting more complicated and displaying more negative effects.
I lived in an apt. for two years and line dried almost everything. We were charged $2.50 a load to wash, and the same to dry, so I bought two racks, set them up in the spare room, and then put a small fan in there. The fan helped circulate the air, I found this especially helpful in the winter. I would only pay for one load to go in the dyer (DH is a trades person so we have 2-3 loads of wash). Anyway now that we have our own house I find I still use the racks, things just smell better 🙂
Oh and a hint for ppl who like to dry there sheets but don’t have the space – I drape the sheet over two racks and it works perfectly!