By Rachel Elmkies | Updated Sep 16, 2020 7:18 PM

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Genius! The Indoor Clothesline You Didn't Know You Needed - Bob Vila

Homeowners know that even energy-efficient washers and dryers drive up electric bills, and renters are even worse off, stuck with hauling heavy bags to the nearest laundromat and emptying a pocketful of quarters for every load. Colleen, a resourceful renter on a budget—and the brains behind the lifestyle blog, No Trash Project—shared the same pricey problem. Her solution? Turning to and modernizing a generations-old technique of line-drying.

For most of the year, the clothesline outside her building was a convenient way to dry her laundry on a dime. But winter, along with its snowstorms and freezing rain, posed a whole new problem: It exposed her wardrobe to water damage and mold. For the first few weeks of the season, Colleen hung her wet clothes on every doorknob and drawer pull in her apartment. Still, the fix was far from perfect, as her damp laundry hung too close to the floor and didn’t get the proper air circulation. Coupled with longer drying time and limited space, it was impossible to do all of her laundry at once.

So with a length of rope in her junk drawer and a simple fix in mind, Colleen made her own indoor clothesline that stretched across her living room. She twisted a heavy-duty screw hook into each of the space’s two door frames (located at opposite sides of the room) and strung rope taut between the pair. Hovering about 75″ above the floor, the new clothesline exposed wet clothes to moving air from the radiator and windows, cutting down on drying time and preserving the fabric.

Beyond simply cutting out the need for extra quarters, the DIY clothesline is easy to take down, wrap up, and store for the next wash—a serious space-saver in a tiny apartment. Reusable and environmentally friendly, this fresh spin on a classic makes laundry day a cinch.

FOR MORE: No Trash Project

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