Postby Harriet » Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:44 pm
Drip drying clothing -
The benefits of drip drying clothing on a drying bar (mentioned two posts above) are longer life for the items, less work doing laundry chores, money-savings on energy usage, and extra household humidity in winter.
If your household can spare the space, another good spot for one is an extra shower curtain rod placed down the middle of the bathtub space, parallel with the curtain rod. This gives a lot of drying space and is out of sight as soon as you close the curtain. Install like any other curtain rod, or in the case of some shower/tub surrounds, it can just be set on top.
To use a drying bar efficiently, the object is to avoid wrinkling. If you like fabric softener, the ones made for the washer can help you cut down on wrinkling, too. Be present when your clothes washer finishes its cycle, with the plastic hangars you need at the ready. Fluff the load in the clothes dryer briefly. Work with just a couple drip dry-able items at a time, starting the dryer tumbling again each time you take a few to hang. Hang slacks from the hem so that the weight of the heavier waistband gives extra pull to further avoid wrinkles. On the bar, space the hangars for air circulation.
There's very little ironing to do when you drip dry as many clothing items as possible - most can avoid the iron completely. Since you are also using your dryer less, you're saving electricity on two appliances. Since the fibers are treated more gently, clothing items stay new-looking longer. When dry they are closet-ready. No more clean laundry in baskets, or lying in the bottom of the dryer, compressing and waiting on an iron to undo wrinkles that didn't have to happen in the first place.