Washing Line Dries Faster Than the Dryer!

Yesterday was a rainy day, well it was in my part of the world anyway! Therefore drying was done in the dryer and attempted on the indoor airer. Today we awoke to sun and wind, a great combination for drying the laundry. There were two loads waiting to be put out and a dark, light and coloured load to wash today, plus 3 loads of bedding! I pegged out 3 full baskets then ran out of washing line. I ended up taking the indoor airer outside too with the damp clothes left over from yesterdays attempt at indoor air temperature drying.

Although I have done laundry for years, today definately felt different. Since we did the laundry experiment with the energy meter I am now very aware that every load cost me 20p. Not much you may think but seeing as we are a large family and do approximately 4 loads every week-day, totalling 20 loads a week, it soon mounts up! The dryer alone actually amounts to £50 a month in the Winter. Anyway, today I hung up the first load then thought that's 20p saved, second basket hung, 40p saved etc until all the lines were filled, 60p saved!

I was thinking again of all the benefts of hanging the washing outside such as getting me out in the fresh air, keeping me active, making the clothes smell fresh and actually prolonging the life of the clothes as they're not losing fibres/lint in the dryer. Then I found there was an even further advantage! A couple of hours after I had hung it all out I went out to bring the dry stuff in again as I now had three more loads to put out which I had washed on my usual quick cold wash setting - this takes just half an hour per load. It was all dry, wow, that's quicker than the tumble dryer! There was no way that the dryer would have dried 3 full baskets of washing in just 2 hours, more like 5 or 6 hours because there were thick towels, denim jeans and bedding which always seem to take forever to dry if put in the dryer.

In the evening I picked in the rest of my loads which were all dry apart from a couple pairs of jeans which are now hung indoors to finish off, they can go in the airing cupboard tomorrow. My eldest Daughter had put a load of bedding out late afternoon which she needed for tonight so she put it in the dryer to finish off but in total today I saved at least a pound on the dryer bill which will be appreciated when the electricity bill arrives, every pound counts! Here's hoping for another dryer free day tomorrow!