Works for Me Wednesday

This week I want to share with you a little trick we have implemented to cut down our electric bill each month. This is a simple thing that many of you may already do, but it has been a proven tactic for us to bring down another bill in our budget. So I had to share it.

We have started using our clothes line on a daily basis! And, in order for our clothes to get that fluffy smell and feel, we do put them into the dryer for about 10 minutes with a dryer sheet. We have noticed a $40 drop in our electric bill from this change in our routine.

Now, I can justify why we have mostly relied on our dryer to do most of the drying over the years. But we are trying to make conscious decisions to reduce out monthly cash outlay. And this was an area that we could tweak our system.

With a family of 8, we do between 2 to 4 loads per day. On bedding day, we can do as many as 7 loads. So we do a significant amount of laundry. When you switch from using your dryer for 50 minutes to dry a load to 10 minutes, you can see that we are saving quite a bit on our energy use.

Of course, we use the dryer as needed on rainy days. But, fortunately, we have had a lot of warm, sunny days.

What are you doing to save money these days?

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About Tami

Tami Fox is a homeschool mom of 6, who in age from 26 to 11. She and her husband have homeschooled for 17 years and have graduated three of their children from their homeschool. They are currently homeschooling 3 boys who are in grades 11, 9, and 6. They use hands-on learning and unit studies to ignite the fire of learning in their children. Tami is a homeschool author and conference speaker. You can contact her by email at Tami@TamiFox.com. Buy her book, Giving Your Children Wings at https://tamifox.net/giving-your-children-wings/.

Comments

Works for Me Wednesday — 3 Comments

  1. I am so impressed, especially with a family that size. I wonder how many clothes lines it takes? Something to think about. I have to admit, I don’t do this. I don’t even have a place for a clothesline. But, maybe I could figure out a location. Thanks.

  2. WOW, that is awesome! My family is much smaller of course, so I only do 5-6 loads a week, but I an see where line drying still makes a difference.

    I have a little fold-up dryer that I use for delicates like sweaters that are supposed to dry flat, “unmentionables” and the like. I stand it up and set it up on top of the dryer. I figure heat rises and it helps dry the things faster. Anything that absolutely *must* stay flat I lay on the dryer itself or on the very top of the wooden dryer, as that has 4 bars and I can finnagle things across it fairly flat. I got the dryer at Target for about $10 years and years ago and have gotten a great deal of use out of it – I’ve heard Ikea sells larger ones, and even wall-mounted ones for tighter spaces.

    I’ve heard that where we’re moving a lot of people line dry; I’m not sure how well it works as I’ve also heard it’s usually about 80% humidity? But I’m definitely going to give it a shot!!!

    One of the best places I’ve heard of hanging a line indoors (for those who don’t have yards or who have inclement weather a lot) is across the kitchen and the bathroom, as those are places that stay warmer most of the time anyway. But be sure to crack a window if you use the bathroom, so you don’t have mildew issues from all the combined moisture. :-)

  3. Hello Tami,

    I noticed you have labels on some of your blogs for “reading” and “books.” The links didn’t work, but I was wondering if you are interested in reviewing books for publishing houses–specifically children’s books since you are a homeschool mom. If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

    Blessings,
    Christy Wong
    Tyndale House Publishers
    christywong@tyndale.com

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