Humidifying on the Cheap and Green

Where I live, winters tend to be cold and dry. I use an electric humidifier indoors to keep my nose and eyes and lungs and skin and hair happier.

But I also use a natural evaporative humidifier. Perhaps you've heard of it. It's called "Clean Wet Laundry."

I should add that when the temperature is below 50°F (10°C) laundry doesn't get fully dry if hung outdoors here and when colder than that, my fingers freeze before the laundry is all hung out.

If you buy a couple indoor laundry racks or are able to string a clothesline in your dwelling and not pull out the drywall, you can save several dollars (or more depending on your family size) per month on power. Your stretchy jeans won't shrink as much. Your clothes will actually last longer. I like to set my drying racks over the floor heat vents so the air passes around the clothes, drying them faster and spreading the humidity around.

Laundry racks are a bit of an investment up-front, but they pay for themselves over the course of a winter - and last for years.

If you're not a fan of all air-dried clothes, you can just hang some shirts or towels or all those things that should not be dried in the dryer in your bedroom to dry and add humidity to the air.

What's great about it:
1) Saving money
2) Using less energy
3) Humidified air for free
4) Drying laundry doesn't grow mold or bacteria like leaving water out to evaporate or a rarely-cleaned humidifier.
5) Put off for another day cleaning the hard water residue from the electric humidifier.
6) Burn calories, tone arms and keep your spine flexible hanging laundry. Did I go too far?

What's not so great:
1) Crunchy laundry (the crunch goes away upon use)
2) Extra labor (But see #6 above. Work is good for us. But sometimes time wins).
3) Space!!! This does take some space, but usually it's only temporary.
4) Cats. I don't have any - but might they be tempted to climb a tower of laundry?