Going dryerless

After getting nagged by some friends in Europe about using a dryer to dry clothes, noticing the wonderful California sun, I decided, why not try going without a dryer?

I went to Ikea bought a Frost drying rack, a Jall clothing rack, and tried it on my next load of laundry. It actually worked out pretty well. In the garage, not even in direct sunlight, the clothes dried overnight. Jeans and really thick clothing take a bit longer. If I put them out in the sun, they dry even faster.

Pros:

• Less energy: not using a dryer means less electricity
• Quite: our dryer is right under my roommates room, this means I can do a load of laundry late at night and leave it to dry without disturbing their sleep.
• better for your clothes: you know all that lint in the lint trap? Guess where it comes from

Cons:

• Takes some more time: the dryer you just throw it in and run the dryer, hanging you have to take a little time to hang it properly
• Not soft and snuggly: Nowhere as nice as soft as a dryer and dryer sheet, but use of a liquid softner in the wash will help alleviate this problem
• More ironing: While nice shirts have to be ironed anyways, hang drying has more wrinkles than electric dryer. Some attention and stretching when drying will help, but especially thin shirts will have to be ironed.

The only caveat I have is how well this works in the winter. Right now in the summer, things dry really fast. In the winter with higher humidity, it may take longer. But then is that really a problem? If you don't wash every singles piece of clothing you need, you can hold out for a day or two. As usual with these things, it takes a little foresight some planning.

So would I recommend it for others? Yes, very much so. The above two items cost me about $25 dollars, which my mom promptly laughed at me for because she thinks you can just hang clothes anywhere you find the space. But lets say you spend $25, you don't even need a garage or backyard, you can do it inside just fine. Spend a extra say 5-10 minutes to hang them up, save yourself a lot of electricity. (I've seen numbers that a dryer is about 5.8% of household electricity use) So really, go ahead and try it. It's not like you're going cold turkey, your dryer is still there. If you're in hurry go ahead and use it. Otherwise if you're not, take the extra time to hang dry them.

What's much harder is going without the washing machine. My mom does that, but somehow I don't think I'll be able to do that.