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Line dry vs. clothes drier


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Our utility bill dropped by about $15/month when I began line drying clothes. That was when we had 6 dc. I can only imagine how much we are saving now!

 

I love line drying. Our clothes aren't wearing out as fast (very important for passing things down the line!) and the humidity it puts in our house is great (our lines are all inside).

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We recently used drying racks when I couldn't get my dryer properly hooked up (an entirely different and convoluted post!) and I can only assume we saved money....just not sure how much.

 

Sadly, we went back to the dryer because it's quicker and the clothes come out less crunchy. But there are certain items I still line-dry to save the color and shape. All in all, I've heard it's a great choice. I still need to get there.

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Just wanted to comment about ds--

 

He lives in an apt next to his college campus. Laundry is $1.50 per load, and 1.50 to dry. The washer doesn't spin the clothes very well at all (and he knows how to load it properly, so it's not a case of too much to spin).

 

He does two money-saving things--First, he uses tee shirts instead of towels to dry off after showering, and secondly, he line-dries everything, in his bedroom on clotheslines. On the "second day," he pulls everything off the lines, and takes it semi-dry to the laundromat and puts it in a large dryer. (Why doesn't he just use the laundromat in the first place? No car, too hard to carry all the heavy, wet laundry, and the washers there are $2 a load.) He only uses $.50 to dry it all the way. Makes it less "crunchy," as someone said.

 

So instead of spending $9 to dry his 3 weekly loads, he only spends $.50!

 

Good boy, eh? :001_smile:

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I use both depending on the amount of rain we are getting.:tongue_smilie:The month that our dryer was out of comission for about 2 weeks our electric bill was about $20 lower than normal. This is for a family of three but I was avoiding using the washer at home during that time too.

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My personal theory is that it saves 50 cents per load. We do 2 loads a day. Sometimes I line dry and sometimes I do not. I usually line dry sheets. I always line dry "trendy" type clothing that will get destroyed in the dryer. I have drying racks set up on our porch for items I don't want the sun to fade and a huge umbrella rack in the back yard. My husband doesn't like "crunchy" clothes, so if I line dry his, I pop them in the dryer for a few minutes to soften them. I always machine dry towels although I have line dried kitchen washcloths.

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Thanks for responding. :001_smile:

 

I was curious because our washing machine broke several months ago and we couldn't replace it so I started going to the laundromat once a week.

 

I spend $6 a week to dry 9 loads. So $24-ish a month. I wondered if I was breaking even by not using my dryer at home. My electric bill went down $40 one month which made me :D but then it went right back up :glare:. But then we were running fans and had opened the swimming pool. So that could have accounted for the right back up.

 

I do spend about $15 per week washing and drying. It was closer to $20 back in the spring when clothes were heavier. That sounds kind of pricey. $60-$80 per month.

 

But I can get all of our laundry done in 2 hours. TWO HOURS!!! Before I felt like I spent every spare minute fiddling with some load of laundry or another and it was never done. Of course, it's not "done" now but it's scheduled to be done on the weekend so I can not think about it other than getting it off the floor and into a hamper. It is so luxurious which sounds so weird because I'm hauling stuff to the laundromat. But then I think it's so much money. :tongue_smilie: I wish I knew how much it cost to run my washer and drier.

 

I could bring my wet laundry home and hang it (if I got hanging equipment) but I don't think I have the energy. I'm typing with a headache currently so that is certainly affecting my perspective.

Edited by silliness7
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When we first married, we didn't have a washer or dryer. I LOVED going to the laundromat and getting it all done at once!

I agree, it's just so.nice not to have it be an everyday thing. Totally makes up for the inconvenience. (Plus it was time away...all alone.)

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Thanks for responding. :001_smile:

 

I was curious because our washing machine broke several months ago and we couldn't replace it so I started going to the laundromat once a week.

 

I spend $6 a week to dry 9 loads. So $24-ish a month. I wondered if I was breaking even by not using my dryer at home. My electric bill went down $40 one month which made me :D but then it went right back up :glare:. But then we were running fans and had opened the swimming pool. So that could have accounted for the right back up.

 

I do spend about $15 per week washing and drying. It was closer to $20 back in the spring when clothes were heavier. That sounds kind of pricey. $60-$80 per month.

 

But I can get all of our laundry done in 2 hours. TWO HOURS!!! Before I felt like I spent every spare minute fiddling with some load of laundry or another and it was never done. Of course, it's not "done" now but it's scheduled to be done on the weekend so I can not think about it other than getting it off the floor and into a hamper. It is so luxurious which sounds so weird because I'm hauling stuff to the laundromat. But then I think it's so much money. :tongue_smilie: I wish I knew how much it cost to run my washer and drier.

 

I could bring my wet laundry home and hang it (if I got hanging equipment) but I don't think I have the energy. I'm typing with a headache currently so that is certainly affecting my perspective.

 

We did that for a few months very recently. My 18-year-old washer died and I wanted to save for a Speed Queen, so we went to the laundromat. There IS something to be said for having it done all at once and OFF your to-do list for a week.

 

I was washing there and drying at home, so I only spent 45 min there. DH came with me. We told the kids it took two hours and went to the coffee shop every weekend :D. I think it's more onvenient now hat I have my new machine, but I am back to having to always think about the laundry. :glare:

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We air dry delicate things in the house but can't line dry outside because of allergies :(

 

This. Also my kids are sensitive to staph so the towels need to be put through the dryer to sanitize them. I've done laundry 100% by hand at times (not always by choice) and it doesn't seem to save enough to justify the effort. I did a lot of research on it and the general numbers I came up with are that washing machines run ~350-500 a year and gas dryer ~200 a year. This just wasn't worth 2+ hours a day of my time so I use both machines now. We are 9 people in the house.

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