Let It All Hang Out

I bought my first laundry drying rack, pulled from the dusty depths of the local hardware store, to stop my husband from draping damp laundry over furniture, brooms and ski poles—turning our small apartment into a sea of clothes. He was determined not to use a clothes dryer, which uses more electricity than any other household appliance except the refrigerator, but to find a way to make everything dry without consuming fossil fuel. The folding wooden rack was an improvement: I could squeeze one load onto it, and the ski poles stayed in the closet.

Soon after, my mother-in-law bought me an even bigger rack. Now I hang two entire loads without bunching. The clothes dry in a day. I admit it's hard to find the bed for the laundry hanging in our bedroom. But the upsides are plenty: moist air in the dry winter season, longer-lasting clothes and, by hanging four loads of laundry each week, I save $300 a year in quarters and $85 a year in electricity.

A variety of small-to-large wood drying racks are available from www.gaiam.com ($40-$59) and www.abundantearth.com ($22.95-$65). Both companies' wood dryers are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program, which is rated "somewhat" meaningful by www.ecolabels.org. Abundant Earth says they use only salvaged or second-growth, not old-growth, wood.