How To Air Dry Laundry Without A Clothesline

Last Updated on March 30, 2023

Most of us are aware of the benefits of air-drying laundry. And we’ve all had clothing or linens get ruined or shrunk in the dryer.

But there are three main problems with the conventional method of air drying your laundry with a clothesline:

  • Adequate space to hang a clothesline.
  • The aesthetics of a clothesline
  • The manual labor involved – pinning and unpinning each laundry item

You can solve all three of those problems by using a laundry drying rack!

 

a laundry rack full of wet clothing

 

  • It can be placed anywhere
  • it can be placed out of sight
  • No clothespins needed

With a drying rack for laundry, you just hang each item from the individual metal racks and then walk away. Time does the work for you.

 

How To Use A Laundry Drying Rack

Most laundry drying racks are foldable for easy and convenient storage, so the first step will be to take it out and unfold it.

 

a laundry rack folded and placed under the bed

 

Place the rack wherever is convenient for you – in your garage, in the bathtub (yes, it will fit), in your patio, in the backyard, in the kitchen – wherever.

The second step is to find a spot for each item. You can drape the laundry over the racks. You can use clothing hangers and hang them directly from the rails – whatever works for you.

Depending on where you place the rack, and the air temperature, the drying time will usually take between 2 – 5 hours.

For larger households, particularly if you have the available space, we recommend a large drying rack to accommodate larger items like sheets, comforters, etc. These fold away for storage as well. 

 

a large drying rack with clothing and bedding hung from the rails

 

Overall Benefits Of Air Drying

The method used for drying laundry has a major effect on how clothing and linens look and feel.

It also affects how long fabrics last, and are suitable for your wardrobe or for use in your home. One essential way to prolong the usable life of fabrics is to treat them with care when washing and drying.

You already know that materials sold with instructions to “wash by hand” should never be machine washed.

 

a woman washing a garment by hand

 

Yet the average person doesn’t know that choosing to air-dry delicate or sheer fabrics is just as important. Let pure silk, linen, and thin-woven cotton items dry in the open air, and you may be amazed at their longevity.

Although modern clothes dryers can be eco-friendly and conserve energy use, the benefits of air-drying clothing and linens are many.

The old-fashioned method of letting natural air, breeze, and sunlight create a healthy drying environment is green and clean.

 

 

5 Benefits of Air Drying Clothes and Other Fabrics

Important benefits of drying your clothing and linens in the open air rather than in your dryer include the following:

 

1. Air-Drying Fabrics is a Healthy Green Habit

Air-drying your laundry is a healthy, eco-friendly practice. Laundry drying machines are high energy-consuming appliances, especially in busy households.

You may need to run frequent loads of wash to ensure that all the members of your household have clean clothes. If so, this consumes significant amounts of energy.

 

a laundry basket full of towels and sheets

 

Most households require plenty of fresh towels, sheets, and other linens as well. If you decide to air-dry your household laundry, you can actually reduce your carbon footprint by 2,400 pounds each year.

 

2. Open Air Drying Laundry Extends Fabric Life

Even if you only use gentle laundry detergents with natural ingredients, fabrics can still be damaged in dryers – especially if you accidentally use the wrong drying cycle.

Air-drying clothing on a drying rack can alleviate fabric wrinkling, shrinking, streaking, or fading.

It can also keep your fabrics from wearing thin in spots and pilling. Your clothing, sheets, and towels will last longer, while also feeling softer.

 

3. Air Drying Reduces Overall Household Expenses

Everyone can agree that hanging laundry to dry eliminates a part of the expense involved in using and maintaining a laundry dryer.

 

a woman pulling a dryer sheet from it's box

 

When you air dry, you don’t spend money on electricity to power the dryer or on fabric softener sheets, and the less you use your drying machine, the longer it will last.

On a side note, if you do use your dryer, switch to wool dryer balls.

 

4. Air Drying Prevents Lint Buildup

How many times have you taken a load of clothes from the dryer only to discover lint-covered fabric surfaces?

Only then do you realize that you forgot to empty the lint filter before starting the drying cycle.

You then must decide whether or not to dry this load of laundry again. If the lint layer on the fabric is thick, you may have to wash these clothes again as well to eliminate them.

a ball of lint from a drying machine

 

This occurrence is annoying, time-consuming, and definitely not cost-effective.

The combination of heat and tumbling causes wear on fabrics, causing small pieces to break away, which get caught in the lint filter. Lint is just tiny bits of fabric.

When you remove the harsh heat and the tumbling, there’s no more lint to be dealt with – which again, extends fabric life.

 

5. Sunlight Brightens and Disinfects Fabrics

Line-drying laundry in the open air whitens, brightens, and disinfects fabrics naturally.

The UV rays from the sun purify and disinfect wet laundry as it dries. Light stains on clothing and linens literally disappear when these items are air-dried on sunny days.

 

clothing hung from a clothesline

 

The old myth that direct sunlight will streak and fade fabric colors can be disproved on every sunny laundry day. Also, many items of clothing are made of fade-proof and streak-resistant fabric.

This helps to maintain bright, attractive fabric colors and patterns as well.

 

Backyard Air-Drying Encourages You to Be Outdoors

Many people say that regular outdoor line-drying of your laundry is both healthy and therapeutic. While brightening and refreshing the fabrics of clothing and linens, it also requires spending time outdoors.

You can finish your laundry duties outside while enjoying energizing sunlight and soothing breezes. For clothing, use a regular hanger. For larger items, like a pillow, try a mesh drying bag.

 

a mesh drying bag for a pillow

 

If you have small children, you can involve them in your laundry day activities.

The kids can make a game of carrying baskets of newly washed laundry outside for drying and folding dried items for shelf storage indoors.

Everyone will benefit from more time spent together in healthy outdoor air. Your entire household will also gain health-promoting benefits from wearing air-dried clothing and using air-dried sheets and towels.

 

Give It A Try

There are many healthy and energy-saving benefits of choosing to dry your laundry in the open air.

Although this practice may seem old-fashioned to some people, many households are now enjoying wearing fresh, air-dried clothing.

These home dwellers understand the advantages of using line-dried sheets and towels. Many family members also realize the health-related and aesthetic benefits of air drying these fabrics in fresh, natural sunlight.

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