Summer is here! Warm breezes and sunny skies make it perfect for line drying cloth diapers. Many of us know the benefits of line drying cloth diapers such as preserving PUL in AIO or Pocket diapers. However, many of us over look the benefits of sun drying our everyday clothes. And one of the great things about the warmer weather is the softer and nicer the clothes seem to feel.
Line drying clothes is an easy way to help cut the electric bills during the summer months. A few different sites quote the savings around $156(1) a year or about $25(2) a month for electric dryers. The lower your electric bill the lower your family’s carbon foot print is. Its a great way to get outside and get some sunshine especially with a continual rise of Vitamin D deficiency. The summer months are especially great because the warm weather keeps clothes from getting stiff and they will feel just as soft as if they were in the dryer. Another good reason is that clothes last longer think of all that lint, which is a sign of the fabric being worn down.
Here are some tips to get the best results when line drying:
1. hang the colored clothes inside out to help maintain clothes
2. shake the wrinkles out and smooth as many as you can with your hands. Reduces any need for ironing
3. hang heavy jeans folded over then half way through drying flip and shack out wrinkles to optimize drying and helping to prevent stiffness
A helpful hint when line drying sheets fold over and allow to blow in the breeze like a sail to promote even drying. Another good hint is if you want to hang out your “intimate” items hang them in between two layers of regular clothes creating a few walls to hide them behind.(3)
In our house, to help us remember to hang and dry our darker clothes inside-out we just inside them out when we take them off. Its also better for the clothes to be washed that way. We also try to wash most of, if not all our clothes in cold water. This will help maintain your clothes and fabrics longer. 65% of Americans use hot water or warm water to wash clothes(2) lowing that percentage could help the environment as well as your personal pocket book. Cold water cleans most clothes just as well but if you plan to use warm or hot water save it for visibly dirty items. Its even better to use cold water when cleaning cloth diapers, make sure to do a good soak ahead of time, especially with PUL which gets worn down from the rough hot water and then being heated in a hot dryer. These are just a few of the many reasons that hang drying clothes can be great for you and your family.
(1)http://gogreeninyourhome.com/how-to-save-electricity/save-money-doing-laundry-drying-clothes/
(2)http://www.laundrylist.org/en/line-drying
(3)http://www.momadvice.com/money/line_drying_clothing.aspx
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