Colorado Springs Real Estate Facts & Fun

Spring always seems to be extra-windy on the Front Range.  There are ways to take this less-than desirable weather condition and use it to our advantage. Aside from the obvious wind-power, there is another way we can use the wind and save on our electric bill. Believe it or not, about 50 years ago people didn’t have clothes dryers. They hung the clothes outside to dry. Colorado is infamously dry, so it doesn’t take very long for clothes to dry at all. With this wind, it is about the same amount of drying time as your clothes dryer, without the electricity bill. Did you know your clothes will last longer air dried? It’s true!

Are you grumbling that clotheslines are ugly? Are you intrigued with the idea, but don’t want the eye sore? Read on for some great design ideas and tips!

1. The retractable clothes line. Mounted to the side of your house, this small and discrete box holds five lines. Make it as long or short as you want, and at the other end, one post in the ground, or a convenient tree! Don’t have a conveniently, placed tree? Plant one!

2. The umbrella rack. These racks do not take much room, and with the angle, it isn’t a problem to mow under it without getting, ahem, clotheslined. To make these pop with personality, paint them lively colors, match the house color, or grow viney flowers around the base. Instead of hiding the fact that you like fresh smelling sheets, embrace it and make it an artistic focal point in your flower garden. The shape of it does look reminiscent of a flower head, so find a way to incorporate it with your other flowering beauties.

3. If the last one had you thinking lightning, and the Ben Franklin experiment, here is another smaller version of number one. This could be mounted inside your garage or in your laundry room if it is long enough. Great for year-round use, and easy to install, you could move it around between inside and outside. Mother Nature won’t get in the way of your dry clothes with this one!

4.  Now you see it, now you don’t! With this unique design you can mount the arms up to 16.5 feet apart from each other, and have a six-line dryer. When you don’t need the lines, or want to see it, take the arms out of the brackets and roll up! Perfect for apartments, condos, lofts or other small living spaces. Living big in small spaces!

5.  If you want to keep the clothes inside, but want to save on electricity by line drying, there are indoor options! This model is called a ceiling dryer. Some are mounted to your ceiling, others to the top of a side wall, but both have the clothes hanging from the ceiling. It’s a great option for smaller laundry areas, keeps the clothes up away from kids and pets, and doesn’t have you tripping over it like the floor models.

If you are interested in finding additional styles of clotheslines to fit your living style, check outwww.clotheslineshop.com. This site is where the photos came from to illustrate the various options available today. April celebrates Earth Day. What are you going to do to help the environment? This is a very easy, cost-effective way, and a very small step to becoming more green.