Hang your clothes out to dry.

When I was young, I lived in Florida for a few years. I remember having a clothesline in the backyard, and while hanging clothes one day I had my first encounter with a black snake. You would think that would shy me away from outdoor clotheslines!

In Kansas City, we have had a few days of warmer weather so far, but hopefully, there will be more spring-like weather soon, so I can start hanging clothes out to dry.

A small load of laundry is estimated to cost about $.36 to dry for 45 minutes. (thesimpledollar.com) Since all of my loads are large and take 60-70 minutes total to dry, I would estimate it costs me at least half a dollar to dry a load of laundry. That does not sound like much, and is definitely cheaper than the laundromat, but since I dry multiple loads of laundry in a week, it really adds up.

Besides saving energy by not running your dryer, you might be saving even more money if you normally use dryer sheets. (An eco-friendly replacement for dryer sheets is dryer balls.)

It does take more time to hang dry your clothes on a line, but I already have to hang dry lots of clothes my family wears, so it is not much of a change to go from using an indoor rack to an outdoor clothesline, except for the clothespins. I like the fresh air on my clothes anyway, as sometimes drying the clothes inside makes them a little stiffer.

I am lucky that I do not have to answer to a home association and I do not have backyard neighbors, so no one is going to see or care if I have a clothesline in the back. My plan is to put a retractable clothesline on my deck in such a way that I can pull it out as needed. Then, I can just go out from my laundry room to my deck to hang the clothes without dealing with any steps.

Wish me luck, or actually my husband, as he will be setting it up!