16. Use drying racks
A drying rack may seem to be an outdated and unnecessary item. But it can save you a lot of money while only costing you no more than $20 to $40. The folks at thespruce.com have noted that, “In the U.S., it costs approximately $0.45 to dry a load of laundry in an electric dryer, based on a 5,600-watt dryer, 40-minute run-time, and a 12-cent-per-kilowatt-hour rate.” If you do about six loads per week, that’s 312 per year, costing about $140. The recent national average kilowatt-hour rate was 13.30 cents, though, with people in many states paying more than $0.15 or $0.20. If your rate is $0.16, then you may be spending $0.60 per load, for a total of nearly $190 per year. Dry those clothes on a drying rack or on a clothesline strung outside and you can save a lot of energy and money over the years.