HOUSTON – Houston summers are H-O-T, so I did something I always wanted in late May: I put up a clothesline.
Seriously? A clothesline?
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Yes. Like the kind grandmas used to have. I want to make them cool again. Because THEY ARE.
Why I did it (Hint: Go inside for the SAVINGS!)
No -- actually I’m not cool. I’m not even in the realm of cool.
I went the clothesline route primarily because I’m kind of lazy when it comes to laundry.
Ever tried fitting a queen or king-sized duvet insert into your dryer? I did. It’s REAL WORK. And I was SICK OF IT. My house has MOUNTAINS of bedding for my family, an endless number of towels, pajamas, workout clothes, regular clothes and dress clothes in circulation that take energy to wrestle from one large machine to another. I was just MAD by the time the load was smushed into the dryer.
I remembered when I grew up and my grandma used a clothesline in the yard and how nice it was to be outside with her in the hot weather and run through the lines of cool linens blowing in the breeze. It was nice and it felt like something good had been accomplished seeing the clothes on the line. Warning: I’m a romantic, y’all.
I’m also a pragmatist. My money was being used to heat up clothes in an already OVERHEATED PLACE. It just didn’t make sense. So I wanted to make a move that made some sense. I like to save money anywhere I can that’s reasonable and Houston’s got the heat, so I was like, seriously, why not exploit this dry heat while we have it? And it’s paying off -- at least a bit.
Direct Energy notes that dryers consume a lot of electricity like other heat-creating appliances like your oven, furnace and hot water heater. I use an electric dryer. Here’s a bit from its explanation on the cost of using a dryer: “Electric dryers span a wide range of wattages, from about 2,000 to 6,000 watts. That translates to about two to six kilowatt-hours of electricity. Based on the national average rate of 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, each hour of electric drying will cost somewhere between 24 and 72 cents, depending on the model.”
I’m paying 13.7 cents per kilowatt hour so my savings is likely higher due to the amount I’m paying. I’m going to be kind and round up to a buck for each load of laundry I’m putting out to dry. Even if I’m a romantic, I’m finding dollars and cents in this move -- and I didn’t have to go rifling through pockets to get it.
How I did it
At first, I put up a rope that I’d wanted to use for a do-it-yourself pandemic-era chandelier project. My rigged up situation was strung across hooks left by the previous owner for outside twinkly lights (so much classier than my clothesline, I thought as I strung up the line). The hooks are essentially just small screw-in hooks put into the roofline. The rope was just long enough to go between my garage and the main house on the breezeway. Here’s a look at it in action:
What I do and don’t share with the neighborhood
Clotheslines do make public your private laundry life. I don’t hang everything. Underwear are never out, waving to the neighbors, nor are mine or my husband’s pajamas. Other smallish items like kitchen towels or socks that could catch a wind and land in a patio potted plant go in the dryer for a few minutes.
How long does it take to hang the clothes?
Hanging clothes is fast. You can whip them over the line and let them just go. This is especially true of sheets, towels and curtains. I don’t even use clothespins yet. (I had some, but misplaced them. I think I’m remembering where they are right now as I write this. Yes, they’re in a box in the kitchen. I’ll put them out now. They’ll look so professional out there.)
But what about the laundry? Is it clean? Does it smell good?
I hear daily from Houston’s best meteorologists about air quality in the Houston area. It’s not great most of the time in Houston. I was concerned about this, so I tried out the line, ready to have to re-wash.
I was pleasantly surprised. No rewashing necessary. It doesn’t seem like air quality is affecting my laundry -- or my kids’ and husband’s allergies.
(I would add a caveat here -- tree pollen and the green grossness that it is in the spring could affect your outcome. I started the clothesline in mid-May, so I think I missed the biggest bit of the pollen heyday. Just be smart about it and talk to your doctors about what’s best for you. If your car is green from pollen, your clothes could be too. No one likes green white towels.)
After drying outside, the laundry is fresh and clean-smelling. Better than the dryer sheets, friends. A great way to dry feather-filled pillows and duvets is to dry them outside. They just dry better out there and you don’t need to hear tennis balls bouncing around in your dryer for the HOURS it takes to dry these things out.
How much does it cost?
$0 if you have a line already. It’s a few dollars if you go to Home Depot or Lowes and ask them to cut a piece of line for you (just be sure to measure your space first). Clotheslines are really inexpensive. The price goes up if you want some of the more elaborate setups, but I would urge you to start small if you’re unsure about whether you’d use it much.
After several weeks of clothesline use, I decided to purchase a handy-dandy $40 retractable one from Target (to class up the joint). The model basically makes the line disappear when guests came over. It’s built to stretch over to a hook and then retract back out of the way when not in use. I’m loving the “it goes away” quality. I mean, who wants to think about laundry when you’re making s’mores at the fire pit? But really, who am I kidding, it’s too hot to make s’mores anywhere but the microwave. Gosh, it’s hot in Houston. Let’s put out another load of laundry, shall we?
Yes, but...
What does the HOA think?
I have an HOA in my neighborhood, and since putting up the clothesline, I have not heard anything from them. The line luckily can’t be seen from the road. If I do get a note, I can just install it somewhere else in my backyard, but for now, it’s OK. Be sure to check your HOA or complex rules before you install yours.
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You can also install a clothesline inside your apartment or closet or any other small space. The savings are the same, but the time to dry clothes may be a little longer than with our crazy summer conditions.
So how long does it take for clothes to dry in Texas’ heat?
I thought a bit about this before putting up my line. How long would it take?
One of my favorite books from childhood is “Buffalo Gal.” A passage I remembered from that Bill Wallace book about a girl who comes to Texas notes the impressive drying quality of Texas’ weather: “When it quit raining, Charlie hung our clothes outside on a tree to dry. In all too short a time he brought them back in. ... The pockets of my Levis were still a bit damp, but everything else was dry. Back in San Francisco, the servants could hang a thin cotton cloth outside, all day, and it never dried. Here in the hot Texas sun, even thick denim was nearly dry in less than two hours.”
That passage is crazy-accurate of Texas. Two hours and my mountains of laundry are dry -- for FREE.
The weather is so dry right now that you don’t have to worry about humidity. However, when there is humidity, it might be smarter to hang inside, according to Christopher Baird, a physics professor with West Texas A&M University.
Reactions to the clothesline:
Friends of mine on social media loved the clothesline and said it reminded them of their mothers and said it was a smart financial move in their lives. What do you think about clotheslines in Texas? Let me know in the comments. Would love to have a discussion with you about the do’s and don’ts of their use.
But are you doing it right?
I’m probably not doing everything right, but there’s always learning to do in life. Love this guidance from The Spruce. Probably need to start giving everything a good shake before hanging and the stiff jeans and towels guidance is sooo good.
My grandma is probably laughing at my efforts in heaven, but at least, I think, she’d be proud of me. I’ll walk between those lines and be the neighborhood laundry weirdo -- it’s definitely cooler there. Who knows? Maybe when Urban Outfitters starts selling clotheslines I can say I did it before it was cool. Oh, dang, they beat me to it. $199? Seriously? Yikes.
What do you think about putting up a clothesline in the Houston area? Do you have one? Would love to hear what you think about this.