Outdoor Laundry

When we moved into the house in September one of the things I was excited about was being able to hang laundry outside to dry. Mr. Ramon thought it was very amusing that I requested a clothes line. In almost every home I lived in we dried our clothes outside in the warmer months. I love the smell of grass and sun on the clothes - so warm and fresh. Sheets were my favorite. Hard like boards but so soft and sweet when you climb in at night. 

Hanging clothes saves money on energy to run the dryer. We are using so much more water with the garden it is nice to cut back somewhere. 

I started with a folding clothes rack from Ikea that worked really well inside over the winter and great on my porch this spring and summer so far. I used it for delicates and dark cloths. But I really wanted an actual line outside. It slipped my mind for a couple of months until I was in Lowe's picking up some light bulbs for the store. I wandered down the cleaning tools isle - no surprise there and found a retractable clothes line by Minky. I purchased the clothes line and a bag of classic clothes pins. 

The Minky I bought is the 49-ft Retractable Clothes Reel. It gets great reviews online. I love that is closes up to be out of the way and can easily be brought inside for storage in the winter if needed. It has these benefits and features. 

• Easy to use fully retractable outdoor clothes line offers 49' of line drying space
• Weather-resistant, stable protective casing
• Unique mounting bracket allows reel to be removed when not in use
• Used to dry clothes indoors and in outdoor backyards
• Stows neatly away when not in use
• Wipe clean PVC coated line
• Plastic housing with metal mounting bracket

It was easy to hang only requiring 3 screws. I was able to hang clothes on it right away. 

Here is my first line of clothes. I took them down dry and summer smelling today. I am really excited to save the use of the dryer for things that really need to be dried. 

This type of clothes line could fit almost anywhere - even inside. I urge you to let nature dry and freshen your clothes this summer!