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The Secret of Line Drying Clothes in Winter (even in Maine!)

ByJessica Knowles Reading Time: 4 minutes

Discover line-drying clothes outdoors in the winter. The benefits include winter bleaching, saving money, and enjoying fresh laundry.

A striped sweater hung on a clothesline with snow in the background.

It may surprise you to learn that you can line dry your clothes all year round. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, there is an extra benefit that I like to call “snow bleaching for your whites.” So why is it that clothes can be dried on a line without using heat?

Line drying in the winter would have been a given for generations past. Doing so was quite normal. Actually, it was the only choice available other than using the fire to dry clothes, which would require a lot of racks and make a difficult obstacle course for a large family.

So why does the concept seem so foreign to so many modern homesteaders? Why do we think that drying requires heat? Perhaps as a result of our lack of knowledge on the subject of freeze-dried clothing.

What are freeze-dried clothes?

Freeze drying is just a simple phrase we use to describe the term sublimation. Sublimation is the process of going straight from a solid to a gas without going through a liquid phase. In other words, the moisture in your clothes turns into a gas and is just whisked away without needing to evaporate. How cool is that?

Winter Bleaches Your Whites

An added bonus for those of us cursed/blessed with snow: You know that great UV radiation that whitens our whites and reduces stains? They become even more powerful when reflected off the snow, bouncing off the material to reach every side of the clothing without requiring the items to be turned.

Save Money Line Drying

So why line dry in the winter? According to the Project Laundry List, line drying saves an average of $25 a month off your electricity bill. Why save $150 a year when you could save $300?

Now, I’m not going to lie, there are benefits to line drying indoors during the winter months.

Staying inside where it is warm and avoiding cold and wet fingers might be the biggest advantage. Increased moisture in the house is an additional advantage, which is beneficial because wintertime tends to make homes drier. So maybe consider line-drying just a few items outdoors. Perhaps just the bulky items that take up room in your kitchen, like your bedding.

Tips for Hanging Clothes in the Cold

When hanging clothes on a clothesline in winter, consider the following tips:

  • Choose a Sunny Day: Take advantage of sunny winter days to hang your clothes. The sunlight not only dries them but also helps disinfect and freshen them.
  • Time it Right: Hang your clothes early in the day to ensure they have ample time to dry before the sun sets and temperatures drop even more.
  • Shake Them Out: Before hanging, give your clothes a good shake to remove excess water. This aids in faster drying.
  • Space Items Out: Allow enough space between items to promote air circulation. This helps prevent freezing and ensures thorough drying.

These winter-specific tips will help make the most of line-drying during the colder months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some FAQs my readers have asked me about drying their clothes outdoors during the winter months.

While clothes may feel stiff due to freezing temperatures, they won’t freeze solid. The sublimation process removes moisture as a gas, preventing the formation of ice.

Line drying is effective in winter, especially on sunny days. The sunlight not only dries clothes but also provides natural disinfection and freshening benefits.

Properly dried clothes on a clothesline in winter won’t be damaged. To avoid stiffness, give clothes a good shake before hanging to remove excess water.

While sunny days are ideal, line drying is still effective on snowy or overcast days. The sublimation process continues, and clothes can still dry, albeit at a slightly slower pace.

Nifty Indoor Line Drying Options

If you aren’t sold on trudging through the snow to hang your clothes, here are some really neat ideas for hanging clothes indoors, especially when space is limited.

If you’ve found value in this blog post and enjoyed reading it, why not share it with your Pinterest community? Pin the image below and spread the love!

A Pinterest-friendly graphic for my post on drying your clothes outdoors in the winter.

In addition to reducing electricity costs, line drying during the winter provides a special chance to take advantage of the snowy weather and use sunlight as a natural and sustainable way to dry clothing. So whether you use indoor racks or line dry outside on sunny winter days, this age-old method is environmentally friendly and frugal at the same time. 

Have you tried line drying in the winter? Let me know about your experiences.

Owner, Writer at The 104 Homesteader

A gifted writer and long-time Maine homesteader, Jessica is here to share her knowledge and expertise. Jessica can help you homestead successfully on your piece of land. You can rely on her advice and tips since she has been engaged in small-scale farming and self-sufficiency for over a decade. In her downtime, Jessica loves to take her boys on hikes or spend time with her Coturnix quail coveys. She also loves caring for her goats and garden. Jessica will show you how it's done so you can thrive on your homestead.

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60 Comments

  1. It will be faster on a windy day.

    Reply

  2. I put my boots on and carried the wash out to the line today because the weather is so beautiful in Midcoast area. Now that I know I can put the wash outside in the winter I am going to be out there! The neighbors probably already think I’m looney standing in the snow today hanging sheets. 🙂 Without a washer or dryer going and with the heat kicking on very rarely (and being kept at 58F) our CMP bill was nearly $200 this month. I’m looking for any and all ways to reduce that. Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Jessica Lane says:

      Have you checked out Think Energy? They work in conjunction with CMP, but for much less money. CMP is currently charging $6.69 and Think Energy is charging $6.30. That 39 cents really adds up. Our bill went from $200+ to about $119.

      Reply

      1. I haven’t read all the comments but I think the biggest bonus is that the clothes smell fresher longer

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  3. We enjoy sword fighting with the frozen socks around here!

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    1. Jessica Lane says:

      Oh that’s a funny mental picture! Totally something we would do.

      Reply
    2. Suzan Atkinson-Haverty says:

      OH, boy did you make me laugh! My mother used to hang our clothes always on the lines out in the back yard all through the winter, even though we had a clothes dryer! LOL I used to go get my dungarees, which they were called back then, not jeans yet! lol and they could stand up themselves! lol OMG both my parents are gone now, and I think back to all of those things that were done to save money because of having four kids, and they were sending us to private schools. The best one was…..using powered milk, mixed with regular glass milk bottled from the farm down the road in MA,in 1970. My mother would always cut the milk half and half! I loved milk with a passion, and I hated it when she did this! So today,at 61, I still drink my perfect Hood Homogenized Milk pure and love it! No powder milk for me anymore! lol But I cam going to go back to hanging clothes outside. We live in a state, Massachusetts that lets these energy companies rape us. My bill is over 550.00 per month, and we live frugally! I am not lying! That is how insane it is down here. My parents lived for 32 years up in No.Turner and loved Maine! I love Maine and own land in Bethel. I still live down in MA though, but go to Maine a lot! I am sick and tired of these insane bills, and have been looking for ways to cut this damn bill down. So it will be outdoor drying for the sheets in winter. And I will pull out my old drying racks from the 1980’s I had when I was on my own single, and did not have a dryer. LOL I will dry the rest of the clothes and towels on the racks near the wood burning stove, or even in our large unused dining room. Also, I have just recently switched to doing much of my laundry with cold water! I remember my mother always did with her laundry detergent ALL! LOL Boy, 1st world country and we are all being forced to go back to the way our ancestors lived to save money! Who would have ever thought it would be this bad in 2017??? Your still young and able to do all that you do, but as you get older, life gets a little harder…I wish you all good luck in all that you do….I think it is great, that you are able to do all of these wonderful skills! Your ancestors would be so proud!

      Reply

  4. I’m a die-hard clothesline kind of gal so in the winter, I do watch the weather forecast for the optimum clothesline days. In the case of several days of not so friendly weather, I must confess I put my clothes in the dryer for about 10 minutes and then immediately hang them up overnight to finish the process. Works great and I’m still saving money!

    Reply
    1. Jessica Lane says:

      I do that as well 🙂

      Reply
  5. Michelle Drake says:

    I wear gloves when I hang them outside. 🙂 I also button things around the line, when available, to save the step of reaching for clothespins. 🙂

    Reply

  6. Just a slight pedantic problem with this post:
    The UV rays wouldn’t get stronger by bouncing off the snow, its more that the snow reflects more UV rays, so rays that might not hit the clothes directly could bounce off the ground and hit the clothes. It’s the quantity of UV rays not the intensity of the rays that increase.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous says:

      Stronger radiation means more particles (“rays”) in a given space per unit of time. The particles have the energy they have, they don’t get stronger or weaker. We say we receive stronger solar radiation in Summer for the same reason — not just because the days are longer, but also because the Sun’s radiation we receive in Summer is more intense (i.e. more concentrated in the space where we’re living). Basic Earth Science. So the snow reflecting more radiation onto your clothes is indeed more concentrated, intense, “stronger”. She is only loosely saying “stronger UV rays” when she obviously means “stronger UV radiation”.

      Reply

    2. So she could have said “stronger UV radiation” instead of “stronger UV rays”…yes, it’s an exceedingly small point.

      Reply

  7. Thanks for the info, I thought drying outdoors in winter would take forever.
    FYI The first link doesn’t work and the last says you have be to be invited to read the blog.

    Reply
    1. Jessica Lane says:

      Thank you so much for the heads up. I’ll look into getting those fixed.

      Reply

  8. I was ecstatic to get our clothes line up! We had two “T” pipes welded, and then got the line and eye hooks to put through the holes with secured washers. These T posts were cemented in post-holes, and the pipes spray painted forest green. Only thing, the wasps were building nests in the pipes! Even so, We tend to use the wood rack in the house by the stove, but it takes up a lot of room. I’m laughing; after so much winter we just loved the bright sun and breeze, so out I put our laundry! (March) The next day-Woke up to two fresh inches of snow and everything white- all over again. After two days though, my clothes were reasonably dry, I could bring them in- they smell great! It was good to hear about frozen clothes, the possible wind damage, and that people have been doing this for some time~ Thanks!

    Reply
  9. sue smith says:

    When I was first married I moved to an area where it was very cold and could snow 10 feet a night. The first time I hung laundry out to dry I was not prepared for the frozen boards I brought in 6 hours later. So here are a few things I learned -1) sheets or heavy things are hung out first 2) bring a few things in at a time to be able to fit everything on the inside dryer rack (this means you add less moisture at a time inside the house and 3)to prevent breakage of fibers don’t try to fold the clothes in the frozen state. The major difference back then was that the clothes lines had pulleys and you hung your clothes line from a porch area designed to hang clothes from. I will never forget those smells or the satisfaction from a job well done.

    Reply

    1. I tried line frying in the winter and they never got dry! It was about 10° out. How long do they have to hang?

      Reply
      1. Jessica Lane says:

        It really depends on how dry the air is, more than the temperature. It may have been to moist/humid.

        Reply

  10. I hang our clothes out to dry all year round! It’s pretty easy here since the winters are usually dry with not much snow, and the freezing temperatures don’t deter drying at all. I had never thought about UV rays whitening clothes, but now that you mention it fabric left in the sun does fade! Hmm I think I need to hang my old, dingy down comforter out for about a week!

    Reply

  11. I had never even thought about going out in the snow and line drying, but I may have to give it a try. I’m just now getting started on line drying in my home though, so maybe baby steps for me. Thanks for this post! I added it to my resources on a laundry post I just did.

    Reply
    1. Jessica Lane says:

      Thanks Jenna 🙂

      Reply

  12. I live in Downeast Maine. I am always studying what conditions make for the best line drying. So far, i have learned that the best drying, has to do with dewpoint and wind primarily, although a sunny day helps too. Basically, I check the dewpoint before doing laundry. If it is close to the temperature, I put off clothes washing for the day, as that means that the air is already too saturated with water, and cant hold much more before it starts to rain (or snow). I will be washing a long, heavy wool coat…I think tomorrow as it will be mostly sunny, west winds at 17 mph, a high of 23 degrees with a dewpoint of 10. Not bad!

    Reply

  13. I’ve used my outdoor clothesline all year long for probably 20 years. I pay attention to weather forecasts and on days it’s not raining or snowing, I’ll have a line full of clothes. The best days are when there’s a little breeze- that helps with wrinkles.

    Reply
  14. Mark Zeiger says:

    I haven’t seen anyone mention the major caveat of winter line drying: breakage.

    We took a photo of our laundry the first winter on our homestead, me holding a frozen shirt upright by the hem. My father saw it, and warned us about a problem he learned when living in Barrow, Alaska.

    When we dry clothes in the winter, we watch the wind. If frozen clothing gets blown around too much, it can break the cloth fibers. If our clothes are inflexibly frozen, we take them down when the wind picks up. If they’re partly dried at the time, and flexible, then we leave them, especially since, as many of you know, wind blown laundry is softer and fresher than calm-dried.

    It’s an extra thing to think about and guard against, but since we need our clothes to last as long as possible, we guard against wind breakage!

    This isn’t meant to discourage anyone from line drying in the winter. It can be done without damage to the clothes, and the savings are well worth the effort.

    Reply
    1. Jessica Lane says:

      I’ve never heard of that happening. Thank you for the warning!

      Reply

  15. When I lived in the Philippines I hand washed my clothes and dried them out in the sun. Thanks to the blazing heat of the sun my clorhes dry in a matter of minutes. This process made my clothes last for years and years looking brand new. I moved to a cold climate now and forced to use the washer and drier which only after one wash destroys my clothes eveb when placed on delicates. I’m trying to hand wash now but drying it has really been a problem

    Reply
    1. Jessica Lane says:

      Hand washing and line drying certainly keep your clothes in mint condition.

      Reply

  16. I do line dry clothes in the winter. We live in a small apartment, are on a tight budget, don’t always want to spend a full dollar for each dryer session.

    Thus we have a line on the balcony. That works fine on mild days, but we use the shower bar when it’s colder than 32 outside. Denver has a naturally dry climate and furnance use in winter dries the air out even more.

    My t-shirts and slacks can be hung on the shower bar (I use hangers and clip-hangers for this) just before bed and they’ll be dry by morning. Thicker fabrics take a bit longer, but it’s doable.

    Reply

  17. I love this Jess! I can’t wait until we get our clothesline put up 🙂

    Reply

  18. I have heard of “freeze drying” before but thought it was a joke! Thanks for the info!!! Now I am going to see if my husband can move the lines from the basement back outside, but closer to the house (sometimes it’s nice being 5ft tall haha!).

    Reply

    1. I’m 1″ taller than my husband, so I do all the tall work 😉

      Reply
  19. Kelli @ The Sustainable Couple says:

    Thanks for linking up and sharing on Mostly Homemade Mondays! We’re so glad you joined us, and look forward to seeing what you link up next week 🙂

    Kelli @ The Sustainable Couple
    http://www.thesustainablecouple.com

    Reply
  20. janetpesaturo says:

    This is great – reminds me of Ma freeze drying the clothes on the prairie in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, The Long Winter. Found this through Natural Living Monday.

    Reply

    1. I do feel very “Little House on the Prairie” when I’m out there 🙂

      Reply

  21. I love to line dry my clothes but with the hard winter we had in Michigan with close to 80 inches of snow and cold I’ll use my dryer. Can’t wait for Spring! Looks like we will get a little this week!

    Reply

    1. This has been a rough winter. I did throw in the towel when snowshoes were required to trudge to the line.

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    2. I’m counting on it. We still have 2′ of snow that NEEDS to go.

      Reply
  22. Anna @ NorthernHomestead says:

    Growing up we line dried everything, and always outside. I do remember taking in solid frozen clothes at the and of a laundry day. My mom would hang them all over the house to get the last bit of moisture out. They would warm up quickly and be mostly dry.
    Today I still line dry, but since I do not have a laundry day, where everything needs to be washed in one day, I do not have so much at the time to dry. There is plenty of room in my laundry room to dry one loud and it adds much needed moisture to the house.

    Reply

  23. I use my clothes line all the time but when the weather is bad we always use our clothes horse, it feels like it’s a permanent fixture in our house lol

    Reply
    1. Deb Newton says:

      Describe a clothes horse please

      Reply

      1. It’s just another name for a clothes rack.

        Reply

  24. I love line drying my clothes. My clothes smell fresh. Plus there is the added bonus of your clothes lasting longer. This winter was hard to hang outside because of the weather but I try every chance I get.

    Reply
  25. Honey Rowland says:

    We line dry year round. This was the first year we really didn’t though because it was soooo cold and had a lot of snow. By the time we finish with the animals we just needed to be in. Plus that warm moist air helped with the wood buring stove. 🙂

    ~Honey

    Reply
    1. Abid Farooq says:

      You have figured well. Impressive.

      Reply