For the love of the laundry line
I shouldn’t be living in this huge metropolis. I grew up on a farm, went to college in Vermont, spent two years in a tiny town in Central America, and yet here I am in Los Angeles. The truth is, however, that while I have been a surprisingly happy city person for the past 18 years, a more simple life calls to me.
As a sometimes conflicted big-city dweller, I am always trying to tweak my urban life to more closely reflect my rural and greener roots. I change little things one by one so that I can feel closer to the ground, connected to my surroundings, and more aware of our collective impact on the earth. One tweak is my favorite home improvement that I find a way to make wherever I live: the simple, wholesome, cost-effective, eco-fabulous laundry line. I have such love for and attachment to it that I have made one at every home I have had and I think I always will.
A good clothesline is easy to make and everything can be purchased at your neighborhood hardware store. The one I have now is the best I’ve ever had. It is hung along a fence line adjacent to our garden. I planted sage bushes underneath it so all the clothes, sheets, and towels smell amazing. It is right next to the back door, giving a simple, country feel to a house in the middle of a city. I use plastic coated laundry line and wood clothes pins for the outside line, either strung between trees, or with 4″x4″ supports of its own. I also have a small drying line in my laundry room and I use plastic clothespins on that one. The wood clothespins seem to do better in the sun where they stay dry and the plastic ones better in the shade where they don’t get brittle.
I do my laundry early in the morning and late in the day during the off-peak energy consuming hours, both an energy-wise and penny-wise practice. This schedule meshes well with hanging things out to dry; I load up the washer at night, I set the timer to run the cycle in the early morning, and when I get up the clothes are ready to be hung out. On a really hot day I can bring that load in around noon and hang another load (which I have washed in the morning) to dry in the afternoon. On a cooler day, I give the clothes a little more time on the line and my daughter and I bring them in when she gets home from school. It is always a good, green, teachable moment that we both benefit from and it gets her in the habit of using the line. With both of us pitching in it is an easy chore, but even when it’s just me, I estimate that it adds only 5-10 minutes on to the laundry routine. We make the effort to hang the clothes out and the sun’s renewable powers do the rest.
Here in Southern California, you can hang your laundry out to dry year-round, but even in less balmy and dry climates there are so many ways to be creative and green about drying your laundry. You can mostly dry it on the line and then pop it in the dryer for a quick finish; my daughter likes this option because it makes her clothes feel softer. If you have done a load combining a variety of weights, you can hang the heavier things (towels, jeans, bathmats, etc) that take longer to dry on the line and throw only the lighter items in the dryer and enjoy shortened drying cycle. These are just a few options I like. There is lots of middle ground between never using the dryer and always using it. Experiment in your own home laundry lab, find what works for your household and put it into practice.
On a very basic level, I need this simple twine and clothespin contraption in my back yard to make it feel like home. I grew up hanging things out to dry and I love carrying that element of my childhood forward with me. On an eco-committed level, having a clothesline allows me to make the most of the sun’s talents, use appliances sparingly, and keep things simple. These added eco-bonuses make it all the more appealing…. irresistible even.
My quest to slow down the buzz of urban life feels like a futile crusade at times, but I know that it is not. The little steps we all take to lessen our environmental impact are actually huge, so I will keep chipping away at the parts I can change, the parts I can green, and the parts that will let me breathe easier.
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Samantha Chapin - Ecoist
Samantha hangs her laundry out to dry in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, their daughter, and their baby boy. Dedicated to enjoying all that California has to offer, she and her family try to ski, camp, and hike as much as they can. She has been a proud supporter of the Outward Bound Scholarship Fund and Heifer International, as well as LA-based Tree People. She hopes to learn to surf this year.
Tags: clothesline, dryer, hanging clothes to dry, laundry