Shades of green: Greening your laundry (Part 3)

Green meter: medium green
One of the most significant steps you can take to green your laundry (and help your power costs) is to hang up your laundry to dry. It's quite easy - often easier than people believe; it’s a breeze!

One of the challenges I face is homeowner’s association bans on permanent clotheslines. To combat this, we have a retractable clothesline that is non-permanent and hangs on a tree in our back yard. I also make use of wooden drying racks, which can be moved quickly and easily in and out and from room to room.

We have a hanging drying rack mounted on the wall in our teeny tiny laundry room. It holds about half of a load of clothes. We also use a standard drying rack for our other garments. In the winter and during pollen season, I place the movable rack under a vent overnight while we are sleeping. They might not be completely dry in the morning, but I can at least cut my drying time down by 75%. During the summer months, clothes will dry very quickly on a drying rack in the sun.

Another of my personal challenges is the hardening of fibers hang-drying causes; my family is sensitive to “crunchy” clothing. When laundering, I add a cup of vinegar to my rinse cycle; the vinegar acts as a fabric softener. Most washing machines have a fabric softener dispenser that automatically releases the softener into the wash during the rinse cycle; if you have an older machine, you can simply add the vinegar during the last rinse cycle.

Tara’s hang-drying process:

• Wash clothes normally, but add an extra spin with a top loader machine; this will significantly cut down your drying time, whether hanging or drying in the dryer.
• Hang clothes up carefully, trying to keep them from overlapping. I tend to hang the heavier items on top and the lighter items on the bottom so that the heavier items get more airflow.
• Allow clothes to hang until dry or almost dry
• Once clothes are either completely or almost dry, toss them in the dryer with a wet hand towel and fluff for about 10-15 minutes with heat. This softens the fibers and helps release wrinkles; the moisture from the cloth reduces static.
• Fold as usual - you’re done!