This may seem like a lot of work to do but trust me, it’s not. I have a friend who all her married life has hung most of their laundry in the basement or laundry room to dry. It seemed like a lot of work to me but I understood the reasoning. Clothing fades with heat applied and can get worn, tangled and dried up in the dryer. She said that their clothing seemed softer and jeans lasted longer with hanging them to dry. They also keep their shape better. So this summer I went and bought two drying racks and began hanging my clothing on them to dry. When I have more laundry to do at once I use hangers to hang the shirts and dresses from the racks on the garage doors. Things dry pretty quickly in the summer so it’s not a days long wait to fold and put them away. I live out in the country where no one can see my house and drive so sometimes I placed the racks in the driveway and in no time, things were dry. My clothing seems softer and the few wrinkles shook out, ironed out or I put them in the dryer for five minutes to get a little heat. Shorts and jeans for the most part did not require this service but sometimes I added them to the load just because.
Yesterday I received my electric bill and it was Seventy Dollars less! That reflects the first full month of savings. Amazing to save money on an electric bill in the summer too! I wish that I had thought to do this years ago! Just think of the savings we would have had while raising a family! In a year’s time at this rate the savings will be $840.00 on a total electric home. Well worth the small effort of hanging the clothes to dry and savings on the clothing that lasts longer too! Also, there is the whole carbon footprint that is reduced by using less electricity. This last six weeks has been my only change in that direction as far as electric use and my total consumption was down by almost 5KW compared to last month where I was doing this for only two of the five weeks of June. Consumption over last year in the same period was down by 10 KW. So the challenge is out there for you. How much can you save?
Until tomorrow! Happy savings,
Holly
The Humble Home 