Yes. Last night as the power went out just as I was putting a load of towels and a load of clothes into the dryers.

I scrambled around hanging my things on any hook I could find in the dark. Everything dried fine, except the jeans, which came out hard and wrinkly and the towels, which are also stiff.

Some of the towels are still a little damp, nearly 24 hours later. I plan on throwing them in the dryer for 20 minutes or so.

We have no dryer now but at least we have a washer- our old place had neither. We have to hang everything. For some things, it's fine, but hanging lots of socks and underwear gets old quick. Plus everything is covered in lint which is really annoying on dark clothes. When we get a dryer I'll probably still hang my clothes since it's better for them, but underwear, sock, towels and sheets will definitely get dried!

I lived in London for a number of years without a dryer. Often - especially in winter - the house would feel like a laundry with every available radiator space covered in drying washing. Clothes is one thing, but sheets and towels are quite another!

Consider a ventless condensation dryer, and a front-loading washer with a very high-speed spin/drain cycle. If you washer can remove a lot more water from the clothes, it takes far less time to dry them. Add a more efficient dryer on top and boy is it a difference.

Some dryers even have a 5-minute freshen cycle for clothes that've been lightly worn and you feel fine wearing again.

Now both of these do require more maintenance, and they're not cheap, but the difference in the electric bill was STAGGERING - $20/mo! The old washer/dryer was probably half of my monthly electric bill. Plus there's no vent, so mine just live in a small closet.

I lived without both until the fall of 2001 and hated it. I own a condo now that has a washer and dryer, which has been great. But when I buy a house, I plan on hanging clothes out to dry in warm, sunny weather. But not having a dryer in a condo in the winter in Boston? That's one big No Thanks!

We have a dryer but choose not to really use it. In the summer all of our items are dried on the clothesline and in the winter everything is hung on an indoor clothes rack. Sheets are the only things that go in the dryer during our cold Canadian winter because we have no place to hang them.

We find our clothes definitely last longer and smell better. Plus our electric bill is down by 10% a month, which is pretty substantial considering it's just my husband and I that live here and we typically only do 2-3 loads of laundry a week. We've been living like this for almost a year now and we're really proud of all the energy we've saved.

I lived without a dryer when I moved from the US to Ireland. It took some getting used to, but clothing I previously would have thrown into the dryer now lasts longer. I only use a dryer now for towels, socks and sheets since they all tend to become quite stiff and scratchy.

I lived without a drier for 6 years and got used to it. Now that I have one again I don't use it that much but it's nice to have the option of drying something in 30 minutes or fluffing the towels.

I always wonder, how much energy do you really save by not drying if you then have to iron most of your clothes? It's got to make a bit of a difference.

And since I despise ironing, well, let's just say you're not getting my dryer anytime soon.

i'm gonna say it depends on where you live. i grew up in the more desert-like area of Los Angeles and we line dried clothes in the backyard all the time. I'm now in my 5th year in Santa Monica very close to the ocean. I have a hard time getting my bath towels to dry overnight during the colder months, i don't even hang them in the bathroom, I can't imagine how long it would take laundry to dry.

Last year I made an emergency post-hurricane move into a house with no dryer and bad wiring and decided to try air drying. For seven months I embraced the romanticism of clothes on the line and afternoons of breezy sheets in my backyard, but my knits were ruined by lint and my colors were ruined by the sun. Crunchy sheets are quickly worn in, but over time I lost most of my clothes and that's just not worth it to me.

love it, i like the added bonus of not having to worry about the item losing its shape, color, or quality.
like others said, towels and sheets need the dryer. i imagine the dryer heat helps kill some bacteria that makes them stinky, too.

I have gone without using my dryer for over a year now. Currently I have a stacked laundry station in my kitchen, but when I finally remodel my kitchen the plan is to now get rid of the stack and go with just an under counter front load washer - no dryer!

I found the key to going dryer-less was setting up a defined area as my dryer station - photos here - http://www.bostongals.com/2008/09/my-new-drying-station.html

Yes towels can be a bit stiff - but you get used to it and if you buy ribbed towels they air dry better than flat terry weave. Everything else drys great on the line or rack and my clothes seem to be thanking me - as is my wallet given how much running the dryer can cost - http://www.bostongals.com/2007/11/how-much-does-it-cost-to-dry-clothes-in.html

for 2 years, and with a baby. It was hard, but some things are better line dried. Now that I have a dryer I semi dry a lot of things and then hang. Enough to get the lint and wrinkles out.
Our house in Europe doesn't have a dryer, but my MIL irons everything for us :)

At my flat in England, I didn't have a dryer and it was frequently so damp that hanging clothes outside was rarely an option. I didn't enjoy the stiff towels or socks either. When I moved to Amsterdam, I had a ventless condenser dryer. It was great! I highly recommend them.

Actually, if you toss your line-dried jeans and towels in the dryer for 5 minutes it will soften them up considerably. Not exactly going without a dryer, but cutting way down on energy use. This is also necessary for those of us with a bit of pet hair to remove from clothes.

My husband and I choose not to own a dryer and we love it. The clothes come inside with a nice fresh smell, if you use fabric softener "crunchiness" is a non-issue, it's actually quite relaxing to slow down and hang your clothes, the sun disinfects the clothes better than hot water, etc. Most of all, it's free!

Of course, it does help that we live in Tucson. During the summer, especially, the clothes are dry faster than they would be in a dryer.

It is important to note, many people do not even have the freedom to choose how to dry their clothing. Check out http://www.laundrylist.org/

We have moved to dryerless Spain from dryer-happy Canada and I don't mind it so much except for the sheets. We're still working on the logistics of that one. Many houses here have an unheated room dedicated to hanging laundry in the winter, with long lines for sheets and towels. Seems like a great idea to me but I don't know if I'll ever get used to the washing machine being in the kitchen as it is in most apartments. :o)

Yes. Our current apartment doesn't have one, so we go to the laundromat. While it would certainly be NICE to have a washer/dryer, it's not a necessity.

We've put an indoor pull-out clothesline above the washing machine - it's on the wall where our heater flue goes up, so it's really warm there in winter. We also have a towel rail above the bath, for handwashing that will drip, and an outside mini clothes line in our courtyard. And a clothes horse for extra emergency drying, which can go in front of the heater in winter.

We haven't had a dryer in years - they're an environmental disaster, and they're so unnecessary. Convenience isn't really an excuse for using all that energy and releasing all that carbon.

And jeans soften up as soon as you put them on!

I am without a dryer right now. It needs serviced or replaced. I have been toting things to the laundromat a whole 5 blocks away. Good things about that is doing all wash at once. Bad-I hate toting things and finding the time, even though it takes less time. Good things again-my electric bill and water bills are both lower-by more than the cost of trips to the laundromat. I could get used to the laundromat because of the savings-it is just the idea. I will get over that soon!

I haven't used a dryer in about 4 years.

I used to live in an apartment complex and I would wash my clothes in the laundry room and bring them home to dry on racks. Not a problem AT ALL in San Diego.

Now I live in Oakland and I have a fantastic front-loading washer in my apartment. I hang my clothes to dry and have no problem getting them dry. My washer has a pretty high spin-cycle, so things like running shorts or workout tanks are basically dry as soon as they come out of the washer. I use drying racks that I can move around the house or outside, depending on the season, sun, and whether or not a heater is on.

@Candice--I've rarely needed to iron after hanging my clothes to dry. I put them up promptly when the washer ends and I give them a quick, firm flip (does that make sense? i mean i grab one end of the garment and whack it through the air to flatten it out) before hanging.

Tips from someone who's been drying clothes on the line for all her life:

1) Use a rack on wheels tall enough so that you can hang all the larger pieces of clothing on hangers.

Benefits:

1) Saves space
2) Saves time - Some of your clothes will be ready to wear without ironing...
3) If it starts to rain, you just pull the rack in to continue drying under shelter

2) Use a round drying rack with attached pegs for the smaller items ..like this one:

http://www.choiceful.com/choiceful-id-261-Round-Socks-Dryer-With-13-Pegs.html

I lived without a dryer while I was overseas, and it works out ok...but clothes come out really stiff and sometimes scratchy. And I disagree that line drying doesn't stretch clothing, some of my clothes came out with fold mark down the middle. If you dry in the sun, be careful about fading. And definitely plan ahead, because even living in the desert of the Middle East, some of my jeans took days to dry. And keep in mind you'll probably end up with dew on stuff that remains outside overnight. I just never thought it was worth it...

Rob Gomes [above] suggest that one "consider a ventless condensation dryer, and a front-loading washer with a very high-speed spin/drain cycle" and he's right. We just purchased a condo and I discovered after moving in that the washer and dryer were not the enormous boxes I was used to. Instead the washer/dryer and dryer (apparently I have the possibility of drying in both) were totally ventless. After 3 or 4 loads it is easy (and necessary) to empty the accumulated water, but other than that - and a longer cycle time - the results have been impressive. There is a learning curve if one is used to more standard equipment, but given that the alternative would have been no washer or dryer, and given the future utility bill savings, I think I'm going to like these units. The units are manufactured by Thor and from what I've learned they're priced rather steeply, but the real complaint (to the manufacturer) would be that the instruction booklets were either not edited or written and edited by someone truly clueless about the laundry process. These machines are computerized to a point where they're not intuitively mastered and you just have to knuckle down and try to decipher some meaning from the gibberish.

When we're in the country, drying sheets outside on the line is one of the pleasure and blessings of being in a rural area with lots of space and abundant clean air. Sun-dried sheets really are a delight.

funny, i'd say i most love air-drying my towels and sheets. they smell wonderful and feel great. as far as the dryer killing bacteria, sunlight is a natural bleach and it does a wonderful job of disinfecting everything. besides which, what kind of bacteria live in your bedding and towels? could it be a bit of paranoia?
now that we live in pacific western canada, there's little hope of air drying much. i miss my outdoor line a lot.
what drives me mad is the ban on outdoor drying in many neighbourhoods. apparently laundry lines aren't classy. tell that to the europeans who somehow manage to retain class while doing something good for the environment.

I've lived for four years without a dryer here in Spain, and man do I miss a fluffy towel right out of the dryer. I also miss the newly-tight-again jeans feeling. My jeans all get 'saggy butt syndrome' really quickly when they've been line dried. In the blazing summer, things dry here in 20 minutes flat in the sun, then you have to snatch them inside before the sun bakes the color out of them. But in the winter, you have to plan to have something hanging on the rack for 2-3 days unless you can gerry-rig it onto the radiator. You really can't beat the speed of a dryer. But hey, first world problem, eh?

If money isn't an issue, the practicability of no drier depends on where you live. I've lived places where things dry sans drier, and it's great, you get nice crisp sheets and things. However, now that I live in the ultra humid middle-south US, no drier is not an option if you want to be able to wear your clothes the next day, so when mine went kaput last weekend, I reluctantly shelled out.

I use my dryer for storage.

We tried the air-drying only thing for a while last year. I would have kept it up if I were allowed to hang things outside in the sun. Inside, it was great for the humidity, but I was often a little cold, and the towels were hard and stiff.

What really ended the experiment was my husband's idea that the drying rack was a visible clothes line. He'd get up, pick up a pair of socks and some clean underwear, and be good to go. He thought he'd won the awesome-man-cave lottery. Meanwhile, I'd be going nuts since he just wouldn't fold anything and the kitties were in love with my nice wool socks.

In the end, the drying rack got folded away and we returned to using a dryer at the laundromat. I get fluffy towels, and he admits a tidy bedroom really IS more relaxing.

Sorry, I would never give up my dryer. I flat dry sweaters and undies, but that's it.

I agree with a couple other posters; it really depends on where you're living. In New York, I'm lucky enough to have a laundry room right in my building, but I lived in Italy briefly, where dryers just do not exist. Wooden drying racks only. But I have to say, after that experience, there are some articles I still prefer to rack-dry rather than put in a dryer.

The only things I really prefer to dry are linens. Bath and kitchen towels, sheets, and blankets are so large for drying indoors (I live in an apartment), and are much softer (and more absorbent) after being tumbled dry.

Nearly all of my clothes are hung to dry. It saves wear and tear, and that way I don't run the risk of anything shrinking (my mom shrank so many of my shirts when I was a kid).

I've been living w/o a dryer for 17yrs. Except for the few occasions I had to make use of the local laudry mat when my washer needed repair, or replacing, I've done without. Living in Phoenix Az. where a cool and rainy day is a rare occurance, laundry dries very quickly.

I have a Haier portable washer, which is an amazing little machine. I do very small loads and usually only one every few days, so I can hang dry my clothes discreetly in a corner instead of flaunting them all over my apartment. Stiffness wears off quickly enough and there's less static in my clothes (which means less in my hair -- double score). AT should do an article on ways to loosen and soften air-dried laundry.

What a timely post! My dryer stopped working a couple months ago and I haven't had time to call someone to fix it yet. So at the moment I'm dryerless; I hang small stuff like socks and underwear on a drying rack and regular clothes on hangers on the shower rod. Sheets and towels I hang over the doors. Only problem so far is towel stiffness.

I grew up in an old farmhouse with a dryer that didn't work very well. The air was so dry in the winter that we hung the wet clothes up on a massive drying rack and they would dry in a few hours (and add humidity to the air so that our skin wouldn't fall off). In the summer everything was hung out on the line. I never thought anything of it as being unusual then, but with my city-living, hectic work-scheduling life as an adult, have never been able to do without a dryer since

My grandmothers both taught me the usefullness of line drying your clothing...and folds and wrinkles in them are usually a signal that they haven't been hung correctly! Use the wider plastic hangers for your shirts, hang socks in pairs and jeans/pants upside down from clippie skirt hangers (match the seams of each leg and clip). Our pants even come out with a nice crease down the front without ironing! My husband thought I was nuts when I insisted on installing a washer without a dryer in our new condo, especially living in foggy San Francisco! But he's come around since then and admits it's much nicer than schellping to the garage laundry. Even in winter, clothes are dry within a day; though we do help by placing our drying rack over the baseboard heater!

Also, that crunchiness associtated with line drying? We only get it when someone adds too much detergent to the load!

I lived in Turkey for seven months without a dryer. We used a hanging rack for our clothes & stuck it on the porch. In the Turkish heat, they dried really quick. Come winter however... you'd have to wait a few days for clothes to dry. I didn't really mind it, besides the crunchy jeans (& the fact that I ate too much doner kebap... that didn't help the fit either :P). It was just another cultural difference to adjust to. Now I'm happy to use a dryer, but it's not essential.

I live in Costa Rica...Sun almost all the time! We have a dryer but for emergencies ONLY!!! Why not be greener and hang out clothes...

I recently bought a high-efficiency washer, but didn't buy a dryer to go with it because I got a hand-me-down from my aunt. Even if I hadn't gotten a free dryer, I might not have bought one. I live alone and I've always rack dried about 80 percent of my clothes. In college, I drove my roommate crazy because I would air dry most of my stuff around our tiny dorm room. I find my stuff lasts longer that way, never shrinks and doesn't fade as quickly. The only stuff I put in the dryer are sheets, towels, socks, underwear and sweats.

It's been two years since I gave up my dryer, and now I have more space for my shoes.

I live in singapore,

we stay in apartment flats with holes on the exterior walls for us to "poke" bamboo poles in them, whereby we hang our clothes. Sounds ridiculous? haha this is the way most people dry their clothes if they want them to dry outdoors.

if not we also have hangers to support the poles for drying indoors!

of course you can get a dryer here but the sun gives our clothes a fresh "sunny" smell!!

After three kids we decided to get a tumble dryer... but I hated the noise and constant grinding away... Now with a whole lot more kids we don't ever use one it is just too expensive to use electricity for something that with patience is essentially free.

I live in Israel, and we don't own a dryer (like most homes)-- in our cold wet winters, this means that we dry most things on dryer racks indoors, so pretty much anyone can go dryer-free, clotheslines or not!

I used to have to use a laundrette (with dryer) in my old flat but now I have a house and a clothesline (clothes horse for winter) I've really noticed how much better my sheets in particular smell being air-dried. I realised that my dryer-dried sheets actually smelled burnt. Yes, it's harder to dry them indoors than outdoors, I have a rack that I position near a radiator if I have to dry indoors. But it's worth it both for the money I save and for the environment (plus the nice smell)

I need a better spot to put the drying racks than the dining room, however....maybe I will clear space in the guestroom this winter.

"it is just too expensive to use electricity for something that with patience is essentially free"

Very well put se7en

I answered 'no' but I wanted to answer "no, but I'd like to use it less." We purposely chose to live in a neighborhood with no HOA so things like laundry lines would not be banned. I can't see hanging everything, but I'm open to summertime drying in the yard.

I lived in Europe without a dryer until my second chld came along. That's when I discovered that line-drying clothes for a family of four in an 800 foot apartment was causing mold that could only be remedied by an enormous, energy-sucking dehumidifier. In the spring and summer I still happily hang my clothes out but fall and winter my dryer is essential.

not loving it for my sheets or towels....but love it for clothing...

I have access to a washer and dryer in my apartment building but I only use the washer. I bought one of those IKEA drying racks and hang everything on there after a good spin. In the warmer months it sits on the balcony and I get the fresh scent of the outdoors. In the winter I put it out in the living room and the wet clothes act like a humidifier and make it just a little easier to breathe. My clothes last a lot longer this way as well.

My clothes last longer without the use of a dryer. I love the physical activity of hanging my clothes up. Also, in the winter, drying clothes on indoor drying racks helps to increase humidity in the home as the air in most areas becomes incredibly dry durring the winter months.

The washer's spin cycle is key! If you have a setting for it, always go as high as your clothes will allow. After the high spin, my towels and jeans are not stiff. I always make sure to "fluff" then by holding the end and throwing them away from my hands (I am sure there is a better term for this). That seems to de-wrinkle and perhaps it also de-stiffs.

I have a dryer but never use it. I think it's a wasteful consumption of electricity when line drying is so easy. Like others have said before me...during the summer, there's nice outdoors smell and during the winter, the added humidity is very necessary. Clothes last longer, I never iron (you just have to hang the clothes right) and the "crunchiness" just isn't a problem after a few minutes. I've never understood the need to have everything you want *right away*, patience is something sorely missing in today's world.

amen, jen8984. it's the spoiled little rich brat syndrome of the first world!

It definitely depends where you live. We live near the ocean in Maine and we do hang everything out whenever possible. However, days are short here in the winter, and we do not have a woodstove, so things take an incredibly long time to dry outside in the cold, wet, winters, or inside. We use a rack for some things, but most items end up in the dryer in the winter months. Also, this past summer was so cold and wet, that we had to use the dryer because nothing dried otherwise. It's during those sorts of situations that I'm very grateful for our dryer. We love our umbrella clothes tree outside, however, and those crunchy towels and crisp sheets, sun and sea breeze dried are the absolute best.

Oh, and yes, I have lived without both a washer and dryer--we washed all our clothes in the clawfoot tub and hung everything in the house, where clothes dripped for days and days and took forever to dry. We were poor and it was the only way to have clean clothes.

I line dry most of my clothing, and I find that if hung properly, many items don't require ironing.

On the other hand, I'm not going to line dry my down comforter in the middle of winter.

I've lived in a small apartment building with a large washing room that has washers,dryers, and clotheslines since 2004. The dryers are expensive and don't work well, and I have always used the common clotheslines as well as a small wooden drying rack that is easy to fold up and keep in my apartment.

I lived in Bulgaria for a year and also did not have a dryer or access to a dryer there and so we used a rigged up clothesline on the balcony. It has never once been a problem.

In Miami Beach it is nearly impossible to air dry, since it's so humid. Even towels don't dry when hung up after use. Everything takes 3 days to dry and is musty-smelling by then, so I definitely use the dryer.

My grandmother never had a dryer - so when she washed clothes, she would hang them on the clothesline in the yard to dry or in the winter she brought out the drying rack and hung her items inside the house. I lived with her for a short while when I was 18-19 - at the time I found it odd, inconvenient and "old fashioned" dealing with hanging sheets, clothing and towels outdoors.

While I eventually got accustomed to it and can certainly see certain benefits I have to admit that I prefer the convenience of a dryer particularly since I live alone and work for a living, have no yard and everything that goes outdoors for any length of time here in the City is soon covered in a fine layer of grime.

My building has a washers/dryers in the basement. But at 1.75 in quarters a pop, I heavily ration my use of the dryer. I used to do more hand wash when there wasn't a washer in my building, but that's a serious pain in the neck.

I use my drying rack for all the little stuff, and hang all my shirts and pants on plastic hangers off the bistro table on my deck. It's much easier on my clothes than the dryer. About every third week I wash the sheets and ALL the towels and do one big dryer load. If I had a clothes line instead of a drying rack I'd hang them too.

Haven't read most of the comments, but I lived for the last two years without a dryer. I not only loved it, I now prefer it even though my new house came with one. The only thing that makes me irate about my new neighborhood are the laws against hanging laundry outside. They believe it makes the community "look poor," or so an official of the townhomes was stated. I never thought drying clothes outside could spark such debate within myself and my neighbors, but I've caused quite a stir that I sincerely believe in.

Worth mentioning that locating your laundry line in the shade would protect your stuff from sun-bleaching. As long as there's capacity for a breeze, things will dry just fine. Quickly too.

We've used our dryer less than 10 times since we bought it 5 years ago. I do somewhat regret buying it. It's mainly just a large, non-rent-paying tenant.

Ok. It's true that every climate is different. I'm in Eastern Ontario, and it's never mangrove-swamp humid, here.

I'm torn on this one. I have a dryer, but try not to use it except for sheets and towels. I have no outdoor space, so hanging these things in my apartment isn't really an option. My boyfriend has problems with his hang-dried jeans smelling mildewy. Again, outdoor space would eliminate this problem most of the year. Most of the time though, my clothes get hung on hangers in the bathroom, and all my underwear hang on my easel!! Just have to remember to pick up before people come over...

No, but I air dry most of my shirts-just on a drying rack inside. It's not the end of the world, but I still don't think I'd want to live without a dryer. Jeans and heavy bedding and towels would take forever. My mom used to dry a lot of stuff on a line outside (she liked the smell), but it's easier when you have a fenced in yard vs. an apartment.

I survived 25 years without a dryer (lived in Finland, where everyone dries their clothing and sheets and such on racks inside or on the yard). Then moved to San Francisco, where, even though would want to, nothing dries outdoors, and indoors...takes a long long time and makes the place feel damp(er).

I just got a rack to hang my clothes on to dry instead of using the dryer. Yes, they will be wrinkled, but I iron my clothes anyway. I will probably always have a dryer though, because you never know when you may need something dried quickly.

I live in a cold, wet climate and use only a drying rack in my bedroom, and hang shirts on hangers to dry on the shower rod. It works great! I prefer the feel of jeans and towels air dried and they seem to stay 'fresher' longer versus dryered with fabric softener. I swear the towels are more absorbent when they're air dried too.

You get into a rhythm of doing it and after the first couple of times, it doesn't seem like more work or an imposition. In the winter, the drying clothes in the bedroom works like a natural humidifier too.

Haier portable washer Ikea drying rack. Works great for me. A little vinegar (with some lavendar oil for good measure) in the rinse cycle helps with softness.

My boyfriend and I lived in Europe for a while and we lived without a dryer there. Our apartments generally only came with washers. We came back to the US and bought a drying rack right away.
It was partly to save money and partly because we know it is an unnecessary luxury. As long as you do your laundry often enough (not good if you are down to you last pair of underwear) and your apartment isn't a damp basement unit, a drying rack is the way to go!

There was a time I loved laundry mats. Where else can you do 13 loads of clothes in a couple hours? It takes about that long for one load if you have one washer and one dryer.

Haier portable washer Ikea Frost drying rack. Been doing it this way for about a year now, and it sure does beat the laundromat.

Hated it beacuse of our long and freezing winters here in Quebec. Only reason, though.

Totally agree with bepsf... again.

I'v been rationing my use of the coin-op dryer in my condo basement since summer when I installed a retractable clothesline in my bedroom. I just zigzag it across the room when it's time to dry. The ceiling fan helps to dry. In the summer, it seems to cool the place down a bit, and in the winter is adds moisture to the dry air. The crunchy towels are OK for me, but I'd dry them for company.

To prevent fading, just turn your clothes inside out when you hang them to dry...and as someone else suggested, don't put them in direct sunlight...

I grew up without a dryer and hated it. My parents didn't have the money to buy a dryer and have one installed, but we did have a washing machine, an indoor clothes line, and a large outdoor one TWO FLOORS UP.

I especially hated having to lug big baskets of heavy, wet laundry up two flights of stairs to the window with the clothes line, and clip and crank it out there in the freezing New England winters. The excruciating pain from the bitter wet and cold would turn my hands into stiff, numb stumps.

Also just as aggravating was having to wait a few days to wear a favorite item of clothing, especially jeans. With three children in the family, certain articles were washed on certain days and times; when it got around to be "darks" day it was another day or two before they were fully dry and ready to wear.

I now have a dryer and it's been one of the greatest conveniences of my life. Plus, my allergist advises against line-drying the clothes; it picks up too many allergens outdoors.

I once again have no dryer (3rd time). Sheets are the hardest to dry, due to their size. Towels are crunchy, but you can get used to that. Our biggest issue is our laundry freezes if outside during winter, and when your wet clothes freeze they literally will break (done it!). So we have to hang dry all in our little house. It's doable, but hard if you like to have company over.

Your clothes will last much longer without a dryer, but they will need ironing, and feel harder. Laundry without a dryer is much more of a process- no more load in wash, load in dryer, repeat until you are caught up. Unless you have a basement that you can put laundry lines in, it will be hard to get things to dry in the winter, and drying laundry on a rack does not improve the look of your home. (Well, maybe the one day you wash your hand knit socks, but certainly not the day you wash underpants.)

Without a dryer, there is no emergency oh-my-gosh-I-need-a-white-shirt-right-away laundry. You have it, and it is clean, or you don't, and there is nothing you can do about it. Planning becomes essential, and you will find that you need enough of everything to get through a week, so you may buy more clothes. You will also need to iron anything that is worn in a professional setting, so set aside time for that, as well.

I have a dryer, I air dry about half of what I wash, and I would not live without a dryer again for all the tea in China. Just my thoughts.

I would hate not having a dryer only because I like to get the laundry done and out of the way. That said, I would go without (especially in the summer), if I had more room to air dry things. I grew up on a farm, where we had a big clothesline, and I kind of miss it. I now am a city-slicker without much free space. We also had a wood-burning stove in the basement, and hanging things to dry downstairs in the winter was a fast process, too. *sigh*

i have lived without a dryer for 22 years. i often hand wash shirts and delicate items hanging them to dry in the bathroom.
the remaining laundry such as sheets and towels are dropped off at the wash and fold around the corner.

Dryers were considered an unnecessary luxury in my country until recently, and I never owned one. I felt (and feel) that a dryer just for one person is a bit over the top, so I always ended up with laundry hanging all over my place.
That's probably one of the reasons I hate doing laundry so much these days that I just take it to the laundrette, and pick it up (nicely folded) the next day. It's one of the few luxuries I indulge in, and I loooove it...
So I guess, in a way, I finally have a dryer! :-)

I have to say, after having read the comments, that I'm surprised at how many people apparently don't know how to hang their laundry properly. If you need to iron a lot, you're not doing it right!
And if it takes forever to dry, try not overloading the laundry line. The clothes need air. And don't let them hang outside overnight, it gets humid. Unless you're in a hot climate perhaps, but even when I was living in Australia I took the laundry in before night fall.
If I had the space and were not a single household, I would probably hang my laundry outside instead of taking it to the laundrette. The problems people are reporting here, really can be avoided.

"Without a dryer, there is no emergency oh-my-gosh-I-need-a-white-shirt-right-away laundry."

That's not actually an emergency. An emergency is when your house burns down in a bushfire, becoming all too frequent here in Australia thanks to climate change. An emergency is when food goes up 300% and you have to feed your children dirt, like in Haiti. An emergency is when someone is sick, and needs to go to a hospital.

Wanting a white shirt right away, and using a dryer for it, is just you putting your wardrobe choices ahead of the world's environment. Well done for blowing your own convenience out of all proportion - this attitude is why we're in deep trouble.

Our dryer didn't fit into our new laundry when we moved in 10 years ago- so haven't had a dryer since. You just have to plan ahead.

We live in Oaxaca and hang dry everything, and also hand wash a lot of things. Like many Mexican houses, ours has an inner courtyard dedicated to open-air washing and drying. I use less detergent than recommended, select a detergent that has fabric softener in it, add white vinegar to the water, and give wet clothes a strong snap before hanging them. No crisp jeans and no ironing. I place my toddler's shirts on the parts of the line that get the most sunlight, and the stains disappear.

Here in an NYC walkup I've gone from the loud expensive crowded laundromat to a Haier plug in mini washer and a drying rack in the tub. Its great, and my clothes smell line- fresh. I wouldn't have a drier even if I could, I want to have the smallest carbon footprint possible.

I live in the Seattle-area. It's not swampy here, but it definitely is not dry most of the year. Not the most conducive to hang-drying, but we do it for most items. Towels, sheets, etc, go in the dryer. My husband dries most of his things. I hang mine. You have to plan ahead, for sure.
We live in a condo: HOA forbids clotheslines; nasty neighbors in next complex over don't like to look at my drying racks on my patio... Despite these things, I use a drying most of the year. In the summer, when it is dry enough and sunny enough I put my clothes on the patio (neighbors be damned!!) I've been a proponent of hang-drying since I was a kid. I NEVER put jeans in the dryer, and I haven't because my mom suggested I do my own laundry, since I made "special requests". That's when I was about 10 or 11, I think.
I love the smell of dried-outdoors laundry. My mom used a clothesline for everything when I was a kid (I specifically remember sheets). I remember running through the laundry on the lines :)
I second the use of vinegar for the wash cycle. It's just a good idea for all sorts of reasons.

If I could put them outside in the sunshine, then sure - no dryer needed. However, my dryer recently kicked the bucket, and I've been trying to find spaces to hang my laundry... it's horrible! Everything comes out stiff and scratchy (even though I use fabric softener) and it takes forever to dry.

The Maytag man comes tomorrow!

I've never owned a dryer, always using the washer and dryer in my building or at a laundromat. I normally hang all my clothes to dry. The dryer takes too long, and I figure this way my clothes will last longer and I save money.