Mother Earth Monday - Airin' Out

I almost wasn't able to do this post today - I was going to have to think of a back-up plan. Lucky me, the weather broke this afternoon and we ended up having such a pretty, sunny day after a week of rain.

I want to talk today about air-drying clothes. This is one of my most favorite things to do in the whole wide world - no joke! In our first little house in the 'Cove', we had a laundry line and I was so in love! It was up on top of a hill overlooking the mountains and a beautiful pasture and I would stand up there and think and listen to the birds and daydream while I hung out newlywed laundry. Ahh - those were the days :) Here's a view of my first laundry-line-love -

When we moved to our house now, there was NOTHING - no grass, no garden, no laundry line. Heartbroken! Logan made sure that was one of the first things he did was buy the supplies I would need for my laundry line!

Now, let's relate this back to our Mother Earth Monday. This is an easy one for me because it's something I love doing and my mother always when I was growing up. Luckily my husband comes from laundry-hangers too! Let's see just some of the benefits of hanging out laundry as opposed to drying it in a dryer:

-clothes last longer without the agitation of a dryer

-clothes smell clean and fresh

-sunlight is actually a good way to brighten whites and remove some stains

-it saves money on your electric/gas bill - it's free!

Boy - that last one really hits home especially now with everything going crazy money-wise. According to Project Laundry List, electric dryers use five to ten percent of residential electricity in the United States. Wow!

Ok, now let me list all of the reasons that I have heard of why people don't want to hang clothes out - 1. It takes too much time 2. my neighborhood has a policy against hanging a laundry line 3. the clothes are too stiff 4. I have allergies.

So let's talk about what we can do to solve these problems! Hanging laundry out really doesn't take a whole lot of time - at least it doesn't me. Now, yes, it takes longer than throwing clothes from the washer to the dryer but remember our good effects outweigh the bad ones! Skipping to number 3 which is something that I have a hard time with jeans and towels - I hate stiff towels when I get out of the shower! My solution for this is take the towels down when they are still a TINY bit damp - not wet - and either hang them inside to finish drying or you could pop them in the dryer for 5 minutes or so. Remember - 5 minutes in the dryer is better than 60 minutes in the dryer.

Now, for 2 & 4 - here is your next solution - a drying rack for you house or an indoor line! I use my rack a lot in the winter when it is just too cold to go out and hang stuff or when it has been raining for days like it has here lately. This is also a very good idea for dark laundry as I mentioned before, the sun is good at brightening whites - but it's also good at bleaching out darks! I try not to hang out nice dark clothes if it is intensely hot and bright out but use the rack instead.

So there you have it. Another easy way to help save our environment the easy/free way! I had better go get my clothes off of the line before it gets too dark!