I Love My Laundry Rack

I love my laundry rack! Lightweight and portable, it is easily located and relocated wherever I need it. When I am finished with laundry, I can fold it up and tuck it away. It does not require clothes pins.

My laundry rack was also affordable and has lasted many years with almost constant use. For the past year I have used it pretty much daily. It is easy and convenient for me to use and over the years it has saved me lots of money.

Have you considered using a laundry rack to dry your clothes? The electric dryer is one of the biggest energy hogs in any home. Once you start air-drying your clothing your electric bill will become quite a bit smaller. You will be amazed at the amount of money you have been spending just to dry your clothes!

Here are my tips for using a drying rack efficiently, and my review of various styles of laundry racks you can buy to use in your home.

After hand washing my clothes, I wring them out well by hand and then hang them on my laundry rack in my kitchen. I have located this in front of a sunny window. On nice days I open the window and the breeze helps dry everything faster.

The rack is also over a heating vent, so if the furnace or air conditioning is on, that also helps the clothes dry more quickly. One more help is that the laundry rack is located near the ceiling fan, so there is plenty of ventilation and air circulation.

When the items are dry, I fold them as I remove them from the rack, stack them on the table and then put them away. This has become a very efficient sytem of processing laundry, which works well for my small, two-person household.

This laundry rack is similar to the one I use. Did I mention I love mine?

Quite a lot of laundry can fit on a drying rack. I use the bottom rungs for children's underwear and socks, upper rungs for larger items. If I only have a few things I spread items out as much as I can, because the more the air circulates, the faster everything dries. I usually hook bras or children's panties to the corners. Socks go over the side rails on the top.

If I have a lot of items, I will fold things in half and then turn them over after some time has passed. As items dry, I remove them and rearrange the remaining garments for better air flow.

Generally speaking, the clothes hanging on the top, front rung will dry the fastest. Small items dangling from the corners also tend to dry quickly. The garments in the lower rungs, in the back near the wall usually take the longest, so I try to avoid hanging anything heavy like jeans back there. If things take too long to dry they can develop a musty odor.

Honey-Can-Do DRY-01610 Heavy Duty Gullwing Drying Rack, White

As my old laundry rack is getting a bit wobbly after almost 9 years, I think I may buy this one next. It looks like a good investment. It has over 135 five-star reviews on Amazon. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Update: I did buy this laundry rack about a year ago. It has been holding up very well, and holds a lot of clothes. I use it both inside and outdoors.

I had hoped to use it in my bathtub, but it is too big for that. If you want to keep your drying rack in the tub, you will need to get a smaller one.

I think it would fit on most apartment balconies.

Another indoor location that works well for a laundry rack is the bathroom. The laundry rack fits inside a standard bathtub or shower. An advantage of this is that any drips go right down the drain. A disadvantage is that bathrooms tend not to have the best air circulation, especially inside a shower stall. Help this by opening any available window and turning on the exhaust fan. You could also hook up a small electric fan or space heater to boost ventilation and speed drying time.

On a pretty day, I move my laundry rack outdoors. If there is rain in the forecast, I might set the laundry rack up on the carport. Even if the day is humid, the air circulating through the wet garments dries them quickly.

If the day is sunny, then you might find my laundry rack set up on the patio. On a sunny, breezy day, most items will be dry in about an hour, about the same amount of time it takes to dry them in a machine, but without the costs!

For those short on space, the D-Rack may be the solution to having a place to air dry. This vertical drying rack can be used indoors or moved outdoors on a sunny day. I have not tried it but it looks like an ingenious solution to many laundry problems. Check it out!

This gentleman has designed another solution with about $30 worth of chain from the hardware store. This looks like it will last forever.

If you have a space to put up a system like this, it could be a very workable indoor alternative to a clothes dryer.

My grandmother had a similar system in her kitchen when I was a child, but hers used rope which she stored on a nail in her pantry. When she was ready to use it, the two rope ends attached to hooks on the opposite side of the room.

What has been your experience with using a laundry rack? Or a clothesline in general? Do you air dry your clothes? Tell us about it!