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How Do You Dry Your Clothes (Frugal tips available)?
Since my apartment complex doesn't allow clotheslines outside apartments (they don't want apartments looking like shanty town), I put my clothes to dry in my car during hot days, especially, during the summertime. It dries pretty fast too. I also dry my clothes in a indoor clothesline, something that looks like this http://www.clotheslineshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=C&Category_Code=IC6 My clothes don't dry fast indoors, but it dries whenever it dries. I don't like to using the electric dryer that is included in my apartment because it wastes electricity and money. I am not poor or anything. I am very well off, just like to live frugally. How do you dry your clothes? Also, if you go on vacation and your hotel room has a radiator, wash your clothes daily by hand in the sink, and put a towel around your clothes and lay it on the hot radiator. It will dry your clothes! This will save you money from using laundry services. Regarding drying clothes in your car, it doesn't have to be summer, but whenever the day is going to be hot and sunny, so check the temperature in advance for the whole day! It is in the etiquette section because I'm wondering how you dry your clothes properly, if you want to call it that way.
Public Comments
- The car and radiator are really good tips! Too bad I'll have to wait till next summer to try the car thing.
I don't have a laundry facility in my building, so I do my laundry at my mother's. I hang the damp clothes all over the deck, and from the patio umbrellas. It's like having a big outdoor closet! =)
- That's all very interesting, but I have to wonder.... what does this have to do with Etiquette?
- The car is a GREAT tip, I also dislike using electric dryers.
I have used the electric radiator in hotel rooms before, just as you described and found it works very well.
Another way I have found is that if I have clothes that are not quite dry, they can be dried by having them in the kitchen while the oven is on. The oven heats the room and dries the last of the moisture from the clothes.
This is especially so in winter when a lot of hot meals are made in the oven.
The stove top is not as good because of the steam and smells from the cooking.
Cheers ;-)
- In a small space like an apartment, make sure there is good air current THROUGH the area where you are drying your clothes. Leave it in one room with windows open is not enough because moisture will just build up in the room. You can also try putting it under or above the air vents.
Note: Just remember that your clothes will smell like whatever the air will smell like - it'll stick to your pants/sweater/shirts/etc. - so an outside breeze is always better than circulating air from within your apartment.
Television sets, computers, and printers generate a lot of heat in one room so use it to your advantage. A dehumidifier does a good job in a small room (dry in ~0.5 day indoors) however it does run on electricity.
- I wear a lot of rayon and silk, which will be damaged beyond repair if you put them in the dryer, so I have had to perfect these techniques as well.
For things that are not damaged by an electric dryer, it is sometimes not a bad idea to put them in there for just a small amount of time on the lower heat setting. It'll get them to the point where it won't take long to dry, and your trousers will be less stiff. Then, you can finish the process on a wooden frame towel rack. You can either put this in a sunny window, near the radiator, or in the most breezy area. Making this a slightly more etiquette related answer- it's a good policy to keep one's drying clothes out of the line of sight of others, so you might want to have the rack in your bedroom or something. It might seem silly since people are going to see your clothes ON you after all, but enough people are wierded out by displays of clothing that your apartment complex thought to make this rule. I even knew a girl who was reprimanded by her roommate's parents for folding her laundry in front of people when they dropped by unexpectedly.
