As a new mother, I understand my limitations and I'm also very practical. Like most mothers, I'm a multitask-er and am always looking for ways to save time (and money).
Considering my time constraints (and sleep deprivation), I did not think drying my cloth diapers (and covers) outside on a line was very practical. However, I live in Austin, Texas - where we have an average of 300 days a year of sunshine - so I wanted to at least try.
My backyard isn't very conducive to hanging a rope in one location. I have several trees and no single area of our backyard stays sunny all day long. Since I never know what time of day I might get around to doing laundry (back to that new mother, no sleep thing), I didn't want to install a permanent rope line that I could only use a couple hours a day.
My solution - HANGERS! I have tons of them and they're super easy to place in multiple places in my backyard depending upon the time of day and where the sun is shining. Also, hangers make it easy for me to group items together. For example, I can hang two covers on one hanger and two AIOs on another hanger and since the covers dry much faster I can bring those hangers in sooner. In the event of rain, hangers are very easy to hang on my shower curtain rod.Granted I haven't been doing this very long, but I feel like I came up with a good solution to my line drying problem. Hangers make it possible for me dry my diapers outside in an efficient and cost-effective way.
By Stephanie N.
35 comments:
wow brilliant idea. I have been cloth diapering for a year and never thought of that! We arent allowed to have clothes lines in my community so I have always just put them on my car lol!
Great solution! I had to think creatively as well and decided to use a collapsable drying rack that I picked up at Target for $13. I love it because I can place my dipes on it as I pull them out of the washer. Then I take it outside and place it in a sunny spot.
Great idea. I have a 3 tiered drying rack that I use. It has wheels so I can easilly bring teh whole rack in once the weather turns. It has been so unpredictable here lately, gorgeous and sunny one second, crazy storm the next.
This is our solution! We live in an apartment, and when we air dry, it's either on hangers on a rigged wooden rod on the deck -- though I miss my rod being in the closet -- or on hangers in the bathroom when the weather is bad.
It's versatile!
great idea! We have a hanging dryer we got from Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80189663) that I hang our inserts on, it's great. I love the thing and if we lived closer to the store I'd get another one. They are very handy!
I have a hanger in my laundry room that I use to dry covers that I change throughout the day. Great solution!
I had my husband install a retractable clothes line for my dipes. It seems to work really well. I just hang them over the line and don't use clothes pins or anything.
I do this too!! In my Laundry room, or outside...only I just peg one corner of the diaper and put 6 on one hanger. Works great! I also lay them out on our trampoline. LOL
That is an excellent idea! I will have to remember that one when my little one gets here!
I clip mine to the patio furniture!
thanks so much for the idea! i actually posted on the diaper shops facebook last night about line drying inside overnight with a line strung up between chairs. but i live in florida and its sunny here...when the liquid sunshines not round [ie. rain.] i dont have any place to hang a line simply because i dont have anything to tie the line to in my back yard. but, i DO have a fence around its perimeter, unshaded by ANY trees, and i DO have hangers! no cloths pins, but file clips...spreading the ingenuity around! thanks for the idea! i just finished my diaper laundry this morning, but next time around, ill give it a try! thanks for the tip!!! :)
What a great idea! I don't have enough room in my backyard for a laundry line and I've often thought that it would be nice to hang our dipes out to dry. Unfortunately, we don't have anywhere to hang clothes hangers either. I'll have to check into that collapsible drying rack.
That is awesome! I can't wait until we're in a home. We're in an apartment right now and having to just use a drying rack next to a sunny window =/
You do what you have to right? ;)
great idea! I had my husband hang a retractable clothes line from my deck to our shed. I love it because if it rains he also added a hook on the other side of the deck so I can hang them covered!
Hmm. I have a clothesline but we're moving and I might not get one at the new place immediately. I will consider using this idea. Plus I could prepare them all indoors instead of trying to watch a toddler outdoors while clipping them onto the hangers.
I use hangers on a drying rack with wheels. The wheels are very helpful when weather turns bad.
That sounds like a great idea! It looks like your yard is very sheltered. Just wanted to post a warning to those with open yards in high wind areas (like me). I've hung items out on hangers before only to have the wind toss the hanger off whatever I was hanging it on onto the dirty ground. So while this will work for many, just watch out for the wind!
We don't have an area for a clothesline either so we use these: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80189663
$4.99 each at IKEA and SOOO worth it! Each one holds at LEAST 8 diapers and it's super easy to hang on a shower rod or (for us) a hook on the deck.
My clothes line is in the shade so hang my covers on pants hangers on the wire shelf in my laundry room. If I want to sun them, I just lay them out flat in the yard.
I also use hangers, I live in North eastern PA so not so much sun :-( and I live in an apartment as well. I use hangers in the winter and hang them along the large picture window we have in our living room. It might not get the sun but I don't have a better place to hang them so this has worked for the past year. I do like to sun them but the weather up here is just not that nice. Thanks for sharing. I don't hang mine like, but it would probably be better.
We actually like having our clothesline in the shade as it keeps the rest of our clothes from fading quickly. I know where the sun hits in the late afternoon, so that's where the diapers go, insides facing the sun, to get a good bleaching without the rest of my clothes losing their brightness. :)
How do you dry outside in the winter time or do you not? Are there any ideas for winter drying? I have a baby due in February and being a new CDer, I was told not to tumble dry them. I'd love to take advantage of the sun rays, but winter is a toughie.
We have a clothes tree, but our backyard isn't very sunny and drying clothes are targets for sap and bird poop. Plus, it's been uber-humid in NY. I use an old pants hanger from a dry cleaner (it's made to hold 6 pairs of pants or skirts (the clip style hanger) and will put it outside if I can catch a good sun spot, but I can easily move it to the porch or into the house if need be.
I use a drying rack too. I load it inside and then bring it outside when I am ready. I have dried a few diapers on hangers, and I might have to do that again once our deck is redone.
For winter - if it is really cold, I would just dry inside at a window (so you still get some rays). If it isn't freezing, I would go with a drying rack or hanger approach so I could easily bring them in if it turned bad.
Wow! Great idea! I just had a baby (Aug. 7th) and have an older child still in cloth. Now, I do have a clothes line in a great spot, but it seems like it would be so nice to be able to hang the diapers on hangers while I'm still inside with my little ones instead of having to find a block of time big enough to hang the dipes directly on the line.
Great idea! I'm fortunate to have a large clothesline, but I don't hang my clothes/diapers outside in winter. My solution for wintertime drying (and for rainy days any other time of the year) is to use my folding clothes drying rack and place it over one of the vents in the floor (if I need to sun my diapers I can just move my drying rack out onto my front porch). My clothes dry faster than if I just left the rack sitting in the laundry room. I also put the drying rack in front of our wood stove (we have an insert in the fireplace) and my clothes dry super fast then plus make my house smell clean and fresh :) Sorry for the novel! :) Pam
Great idea! I'm fortunate to have a large clothesline, but I don't hang my clothes/diapers outside in winter. My solution for wintertime drying (and for rainy days any other time of the year) is to use my folding clothes drying rack and place it over one of the vents in the floor (if I need to sun my diapers I can just move my drying rack out onto my front porch). My clothes dry faster than if I just left the rack sitting in the laundry room. I also put the drying rack in front of our wood stove (we have an insert in the fireplace) and my clothes dry super fast then plus make my house smell clean and fresh :) Sorry for the novel! :) Pam
I love when other moms share such great ideas. I've used hangers inside in my laundry room and also have a line outside that I use when it's nice. I love the idea of hangers outside. My porch gets most of our sun so hanging the hangers around the rails might work better for me than the clothline that is mainly shaded. Also hangers would proabably be quicker to grab than pulling each diaper off the line when it gets ready to storm in the summer. Thanks again for such a great post.
Love this idea! We use a drying rack so we can use it inside during the winter (Pacific NW here, so not much sun from October to April :)) and then I can put it outside in the sun during the spring and summer. The hangers could also be a good idea for travel since I usually have to resort to the shower rod :).
The hangers is a great idea! Any idea how to handle hemp that gets stiff when line dried?
This is a great idea! I like the idea of moving them around to get the best light all day, or to grab quickly when it rains.
I did that the other day too!!! Glad I'm not the only one with diapers hanging from our plant trellis! It did work out super well - they dried much faster than hanging in the basement! Wish I lived where the sun was shining that much ;-) -Joy
Ii bought a drying rack, that way I not only can move them from porch to porch, I can bring them in when it rains (I live in FL, during rainy season this is a real issue!).
Just before reading this post I had just finished putting all my diapers on wire hangers and scattering them around our yard on lawn furniture!
It's great! It gets the wire hangers I hate out of the closet and repurposes them to save energy, laundry time and make a sure hide and seek game for my neices and nephews... They love to help with our 5 month old!
I put some on my trampoline, and zip up the enclosure. We can't really hang things up here, there is too much wind! The others that I don't lock in a tramp, I use one drying rack. I wonder if I use hangers on the rack if I can get more space/ air flow and let those AIOs dry quicker.
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