Time saver: 
I realize everybody took down their clotheslines and bought dryers about 300 years ago, but we did a little math and determined that not paying to dry your clothes is cheaper than paying to dry your clothes, and that solar-dried clothes were better for the environment than electric-dried ones. So, first the cost breakdown and some basic instructions, then the energy and money savings and finally some preliminary findings.
Cost
2 8-foot, 4x4 wooden posts (I bought treated wood) $18
2 8-foot, 2x4 wooden posts $8
2 bags of cement mix $5
2 1/4-inch nails $1
clothesline (I bought plastic) $4
eyelet screws $3
Total: $39
How to make a clothesline
1. Find a good sunlit location for the clothesline. A north-to-south clotheline will get more sun. Stay away from fences, trees, and other places where birds hang out.
2. Cut one 2x4 in half and nail to the 4x4 posts to form the crossbars, about 6 inches from the top.
3. Cut the other 2x4 into four 2-foot sections, with 45-degree angle cuts to form supports for the crossbars. Nail these to the post and crossbar as shown.
4. Dig a two-foot deep hole for each post. Mix your cement, place your posts and level them, and fill in with cement. Leave a little space at the top to fill in with dirt if you don’t want the concrete exposed.
5. Install the eyelet screws and run the line between them.
Our dryer runs at 5400 watts, so if each load is 45 minutes, that’s 5400/1000*.75=4.05 kilowatt hours per load. In a normal summer month, we use about 800 kwH (according to my power bill), so if we hang dry 30 loads of laundry during the summer months (about 8 per week), that will cut our electricity consumption by 15 percent. If we use the clothesline 6 months out of the year, that’s cutting our annual electricity usage by 7.5 percent. Not a bad start.
Cost savings
Rocky Mountain Power charges me about 10.5 cents per kwH (at the higher rate tier), so 4.05 kwH, each load of laundry costs about 43 cents. If we hang-dry 8 loads a week instead of using the dryer, that’s saving $3.44 a week. Optimistically, let’s say we use the clothesline 26 weeks out of the year. That’s saving $89.44 the first year. And it pays for itself after 90 loads.
Findings
Michelle says that the first week, she’s actually really enjoying being outside, letting the kids run around, and “playing ‘Little House on the Prairie.’” I think that will wear off, but there will still be satisfaction in knowing we’re saving money and using less electricity.
Turns out, however, that there’s a reason everyone switched to dryers a few years back: they’re more convenient and reliable, and they leave clothes wrinkle-free and soft. After the first line-drying, the towels were a bit crunchy, but using them once took care of that. We’re going to keep using the dryer for underwear and my work shirts, but we don’t have any complaints at this point—although it was such a wet spring, I feel like I live in Seattle, not Utah.
