We all know that we can save on power by line drying our clothes. Unfortunately it’s against the neighborhood regulations where I live. I still sneak and line dry from time to time, but I don’t feel comfortable line drying everything since it’s against the rules. (at least we have a neighborhood pool!)
But there are other ways to save on power when using your dryer. Always make sure you clean the lint trap between loads. It also helps to wash it in the sink periodically to make sure it has good air circulation.
Also make sure your actual dryer vent is clear of lint. If you have one like I do that runs up through the roof, try sticking your leaf blower in the hole once a year to blow out any trapped lint.
Does anyone have any more tips about how to get the most use out of either line drying your clothes or keeping your dryer in tip top shape?
Be sure to catch up on all the previous Let’s Save Some Money posts.
patricia says
Put a dry towel in the dryer with the load of wet laundry then turn dryer on. Adding the towel cuts down on how long it takes for the laundry to dry.
Michele says
I know this doesn’t have to do with drying only – I only wash our towels 1x/week. We hang them on the bathroom rack and as I strip the sheets on Saturday morning I add our towels to it.
Msrabbet says
We use laundry lines in the summer and use a wooden drying rack. In the winter we stick the rack near our heater and in the summer we put it on our back porch. The clothes dry in no time. I used to have nasty bird poo problems til I moved the poke bury bush to the from yard. I also hang stuff in the bathroom on the shower curtain rod at night and it’s normally dry by morning.
Melanie says
I line dry the clothes until they are almost dry, then put them in the dryer. The dampness will let them soften as they dry. if the clothes are on the line too long and get “crispy”, I will wet a sock or undies out of the load and put it all in the dryer. The rest of the clothes absorb the dampness and soften up. Since it rains almost every afternoon in the summer, we have to get our laundry done early so it can dry before the rain starts. Our dryer takes forever to dry (and yes I clean the trap and the vent), so I try to use it as little as possible, but we don’t like crispy clothes, LOL.
Karen says
Here is a tip if the dryer breaks- try to fix it yourself. Our dryer drum wouldn’t turn so we looked at it and it was a broken dryer belt. We bought a new one and then we put it on and it worked perfectly.
Amy says
Wooden dryer rack! We went to Amish country in Ohio a few years 10 years ago, and bought one that is taller than I am and has really solid rails, not the thin ones you get here in the stores. I also hang things on hangers in my laundry room. My mom used to have a retractable clothes line that she ran in the spare bedroom in the winter when there was no one using it. I am thinking of putting up one in my laundry room.
Andrea says
I have had to hang dry my clothes since highschool. I am 6’1″ and can not afford shrinkage, fortunately I found a tall man and now we have tall kids! I hang dry our clothes using the shower rod in my guest bathroom, near my laundry room and I have two old fashioned over the door hooks that stick straight our and are metal, they are collapsable too so if not in use i can just fold them down. I do a quick low heat 5min run in the dryer to help get the wrinkle, just wrung out look our of the clothes then i hang them to dry the rest of the way. And i always wash our ‘outer clothing’ shirts, pants etc in COLD water, the colors stay longer and i don’t worry about shrinkage. I do dry towels, undergarments etc using dryer balls.
Kimberly says
I grew up in the country so hanging clothes out on the line is normal for me but my city boy hubby can’t imagine having our clothese displayed for the whole neighborhood to see so no clothes line for me.
So I do 2 loads in a typical day. The first at 7 in the morning is things that go into the dryer.Then around bedtime I do the second load and hang the clothes over the shower curtin rod and the dining room chairs to dry overnight. In the morning I collect them on the way to turn on the morning load.
Shell says
We live in a rural area and our electric co-op asks us not to use high electricity during peak use hours. In the summer that is during the hottest part of the day and during the winter it is early morning and early evening. I find it makes sense for my bill to do this. The dishwasher puts lots of steam into the house, so the ac works harder if I run it when the ac is already working hardest. The dryer pumps lots of hot air next to my house. The ac unit picks sucks some of it up, but it also just makes the house hotter with all that hot air being pumped out around it. In the winter, you can use that heat to help your heater. Running the dishwasher when your house needs more heat helps the bill. The same with the dryer pumping warm air near your house is good during the winter.
sheryl says
I Bought the dryer balls, at first I thought this would be stupid but wala, they really cut down on drying time and they make the clothes softer!!!!
kelli says
I usually put my shirts on hangers and hang them up in the bathroom. If they end up being too stiff, I throw them in the dryer for a few minutes to fluff them back up. It’s a little extra work but I like to think that it saves us enough money to make it worth it.
CJ says
This is what I do also. My Husbands shirts shrink in the dryer and he is very tall so when they shrink they become belly shirts(not attractive). I am going to try the Tennis ball next time.
Tiffany says
I live in an apartment complex so no clothesline here either. I have a wooden rack that I dry clothes on outside. It’s not out long enough to draw any attention. I also bought one of those octopus drying things at Ikea that I hand undies and shirts from that thing is great it has tons of hooks. It’s this thing if anyone is interested http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80189663
Kate says
Cleaning out the vents that go through the attic is not only important to save $ and the life of your dryer, but also for fire safety. I manage homes for adults with disabilities and one has had two small fires because of dryer lint.
Randi says
Take your lint trap out of your dryer and try to run Hot water through it. A lot of the time you’ll see it pool in puddles. This is due to an invisible coating that comes off of the dryer sheets and sticks to netting material. So like a dirty filter in your furnace, the blockage isn’t good.
Just keep the hot water on it and wipe it with a rag or sponge until the water runs through it. I try to do it once a week at the end of my laundry day.
jess says
We have 2 drying racks and 2 clothes lines (1 inside, 1 outside). I usually put clothes on the hanger then hang them on the clothes line so I take up less space. I also time dry my clothes because I don’t think the sensors are that great either.
When our previous washer died, we purchased a nice (LG front end loader (with a timer which is amazing!!!) so now our clothes come out more than half dry and we use so little detergent that it saves us a ton of money. When our dryer died last year, we were able to purchase the cheapest dryer we could find because our washer is so great!
jo ann says
When I use my dryer I rip the d yer sheets in half so I get double the use out of them,.
Jackie says
I hang most of our shirts in the doorways in the hall. I use the dryer for everything else. My dryer vent goes up to my roof and even though I vacuum out the vent about once a month, it still takes 1 1/2 hours to dry 4 towels. I am going to try your idea and put the leaf blower up the vent. Hopefully, if there is some lint trapped in there and it will blow out. Then I can save a few $$ on my electric bill :)
Lindy says
If your dryer is taking that long to dry 4 towels your heat element might be going out or it could be lint trapped or when we moved into our house we are in now our dryer started acting up. It worked fine at the other house. We did some checking around and found out the hose in the back was too long and we had to shorten it. An hour and half is way too long for 4 towels!
Amie says
I’ve always had a clothesline but when my family went on vacation in Amish Country in PA a couple of weeks ago and I saw how long there clotheslines were I had to have one! I bought their special pulley wheels that they make and my husband put a 100′ cable on it for me so now I can fit 3 loads of laundry on it at one time. I love it, I haven’t used my dryer since the end of April. Luckly it’s been super hot and humid up here, especially living in Maine, so hopefully the weather will last so my power bill will keep going down be for it sky rockets during the winter!
Belinda says
We use the old fashion clothes lines during the summer and the dryer during the winter. We live out in the country so we don’t have to worry about any neighborhood rules. :)
We also have a privacy fence and our dogs running around in it to scare out any animals that may cross into our yard.
Thrisha says
Our HOA technically says no to clothes lines, too. However, we found out that it is against the law for them to do that (at least here in FL). They can can regulate the type we use, but cannot ban them altogether. We mentioned this to the HOA and they said that I was right, but they had no intent to take it out of the HOA contract!
Missy says
I have friends who swear by dryer balls – http://www.buddhabunz.com/store/Default.asp
Randi says
I just use plain (new) tennis balls. Works like a charm, I paid a dollar for three about 1 1/2 yrs ago and they are working wonderfully.
Tami says
Neat tip! Thanks :)
Jenna says
I use a roll rack that I purchased at Target to dry my clothes. It is large enough for just about a full load of laundry (I only do one load a day)…I also fluff my clothes and throw them in the dryer for a few minutes before I hang them up. It seems like this takes care of some wrinkles!
Christy says
Try drying clothes on the lighter cycles just to see if the extra heat is needed. I tested my dryer with this and I found that I can dry almost all of my clothes on the lower settings. When I use the pre-set times my clothes are so hot i can barely touch them. That just uses way too much energy plus it wears out the clothes faster.
Carol says
I use quite a few wooden drying racks. You can also get retractable clothes lines to put in your bathroom, or wherever. The little drying balls seem to help stuff dry faster. Also not totally loading up the dryer.
JJ says
I try to have the washer run an extra twirl to wring out as much water as possible when dealing with towels or jeans. Then it only takes half the time to dry. I also always hang light items over the shower (nighties, Baseball jersey, nylon work shirts etc).
Cindy Phillips says
I used to dry my clothes outside until the birds found a wholeload of baby clothes. EVERYTHING had to be washed over. I used the dryer ever since then.
Set the timer, don’t use the sensor that decides when the clothes are dry. That silly sensor took an extra hour to dry my clothes. I only did it twice. I find that 45-50 minutes has been enough to dry most any load.
Shake the clothes out. Don’t put them in the dryer all wadded up. It takes themn longer to fall out and dry if they are wadded.
Suzanne says
I had my husband hang a clothesline in the basement, so I hang most of our clothes year round.
Randi says
We use our rafters in the garage to hang things from in the winter and in the summer we use the outdoor clothes line. Sometimes if the outside line is full in the summer, I’ll use the garage too. Since they are high up in the garage they dry just as fast there.
carilyn says
We use a wooden drying rack. In the winter we stick it near our heater and in the summer we put it on our back porch. The clothes dry in no time. It’s small enough that it doesn’t draw attention to itself either!