I have been line-drying the laundry for my family of 4 for over 3 months and I love it. Our weekly output averages about 10 loads a week (give or take a few). We live in an apartment building with a communal laundry room. I wash a load or two a night and hang the clothes up on lines easily strung with bungee cords at each end. Depending on the tempurature, the clothes are usually dry in the AM or by afternoon at the latest. Folding and sorting is much easier and if I can’t get to it right away, I don’t worry about a) either inconveniencing someone else in the laundry room by leaving my clothes unattended, or b) letting them wrinkle before I find time to fold.
Over all, I have saved $180 since September ’09. I would like to estimate the global significance of not running a large capacity gas dryer (with a 30 minute run-time) 120 times since then…any idea?
Since making this life-style change, I have found that this process brings a new sense of pride and awareness to the laundry-chore. In fact, my kids would say it’s fun. I really think I save time doing it this way, but I can’t quantify it.
Next: investing in a handwashing machine!
This post was submitted by Ann Lane.
I too have become a line-drying fanatic. We have a house with an outdoor line for sunny days, and an indoor drying rack for when it’s too cold or wet for the outdoor line. I love the crisp feel of the clothes!
I’m curious about your idea of the handwashing machine, and would love to hear what you come up with. I’ve found some interesting web articles on the topic… like this one: http://homelessdave.com/hdwashingman.htm. I’m not sure I’m quite up for such a challenge though.
So I’ve been experimenting with Colin’s “grape stomping” method with mixed results. The hard part is most definitely the wringing… especially with large items. I’ve also found that a bit of care is necessary to keep from falling in the tub and killing oneself in the stomping process!
For the moment I’ve adopted a system of using bath greywater to wash smaller items (socks, undies, shirts, dish towels etc.) I basically scoop out a dishpan full of grey water, add some borax and a tiny amount of detergent, and do the washing part in the dishpan. (5-10 minutes) Then I wring and toss into the tub full of grey water for the rinse. I stomp (or just hand agitate) for about 5 minutes to rinse and then wring and line dry. Anything really dirty gets soaked in the sudsy dishpan overnight.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I kind of enjoy it. For some reason I get a real kick out of seeing the water in the dishpan turn brown with grime… it’s like visual evidence that you’re actually removing dirt. Plus I find that I do smaller amounts of laundry more often, so it’s not such a big chore.
Anyhow, I’d love to hear what others have come up with in terms of hand washing.
Comment by Rebecca — November 25, 2009 @ 5:29 pm
i bought this small pressure washer to use b/c i live in tiny apartment and hate hauling laundry to the laundry mat especially in the winter.
http://www.laundry-alternative.com/wonderwash.htm
it was totally worth every penny.
Comment by Tabatha — December 2, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
10 loads of washing for only 4 of you? some of those clothes can’t be that dirty.
Comment by squirrel — December 30, 2009 @ 9:58 pm
OK… I did some research and found mixed reviews on the wonderwash. I finally ended up buying a plastic laundry plunger: http://www.breathingwasher.com/index.htm. Their website didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, so I actually bought it through Amazon.com.
It is actually a re-make of an older product called a “rapid washer” that you can get at Lehman’s: http://www.lehmans.com/store/Home_Goods___Laundry___Washing___Rapid_Washer___66RW?Args=&customField1=W9
I chose the plastic one because the tin variety will rust if you’re not fairly religious about drying it afer each use.
So far so good! The thing really works! It still doesn’t solve the wringing problem though, and wringers are really expensive. I’m thinking I might just get a mop bucket with a mop wringer and give that a try.
Comment by Rebecca — January 28, 2010 @ 12:02 am
Sounds good, i had read the mixed reviews about the wonderwash also, and there is knock off wonderwash machines that have similar names. I decided to just give it a try anyway and i didn’t have any problems ordering from the company nor have I had any problems with my wonderwash, but i make sure not to overload it. The plunger looks good though. I just wring my clothes out by hand, but i usually do really small loads and then hang then on a drying rack, so it might only be one pair of pants, or a two or three shirts, or a load of underwear or socks.
Comment by Tabatha — February 9, 2010 @ 11:51 am
Check this out: http://studioblog.designaffairs.com/?p=264 It’s like a big ball that you fill with water, clothes and detergent. Then you just roll it around to wash. I want one!!!
Comment by Rebecca — February 9, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
OK… don’t know if anybody is still reading this thread or not… but I have come upon a great solution for my hand washing woes… You can read the whole story here: http://open.salon.com/blog/the_almighty_beckster/2010/03/14/over_the_laundry_deep_end_-_eco-mania_goes_clean
It’s amazing! My laundry is MUCH cleaner doing it by hand!
Comment by Rebecca — March 15, 2010 @ 12:48 am