How to dry laundry without a dryer... and how not to

 It's a lovely spring day here in Corvallis, and we had laundry to do!  I stopped line-drying our clothes sometime in late October, I think, and this has really been my first chance to use the line since.  I was pretty excited...

You can see our laundry happily waving in the sun and the breeze!

The clothesline is my favorite way of drying clothes.  One lesson I learned this year, though, is that you really should bring in your clothespins during the winter even if they are under cover.  Mine mildewed this past winter.  No great harm done, but it took some time to clean them with vinegar water and an old toothbrush...



Unfortunately, we have only so much room on our balcony for the clothesline, so I also use a drying rack.

Drying racks are a great idea.  I've used mine inside and out.  It is compact, and it gets the job done.  However, I bought this drying rack about four years ago, and I'm kicking myself for buying a plastic one.  Please don't make my mistake!!!  Mine actually broke the first day I used it, but it was in a way that I could keep using it.  Today one of the plastic pins snapped when I bumped it gently (after I had put all the clothes on it, of course!), and, as you can maybe see in the picture, it is now precariously leaning to one side and being propped up by a chair.  In short, it just needs to be replaced.

I looked online for drying racks, and I found a wooden one that seems to be sturdily built.  I'll try to remember to update when we've received it and used it!