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Everyone likes clean clothes!

Our Save Energy for Free involves the construction of clotheslines to minimize the use of clothes dryers during the fair weather months and tracking the amount of energy conserved. It results from a discussion of energy initiatives that involve something that is important to everyone, such as food, clothing, or shelter. Everyone likes clean clothes, and clean clothes need to dry. Dryers require considerable amounts of energy over the course of a summer, but Mother Nature offers a free alternative – the power of sun and wind. So we put up clotheslines up for free (in the Upper Valley of Vermont)!

We offer two types of clotheslines and vary the clotheslines to fit different sites. Free-standing clotheslines have four lines between two sturdy posts. Building-supported clotheslines string between two buildings, trees, or a building and a tree, etc.

The clotheslines are accompanied by a simple format journal in which people can keep a record of clothesline usage. Each time a person uses the clothesline instead of the clothes dryer, they can make a note of it in this journal. At the end of the season, we can total each owner’s total saving of energy hours.

If you do not live in the Upper Valley area of Vermont where we can construct a clothesline for you, please feel free to use the construction plan below. Share our idea with youth or adult groups in your area, and perhaps one will help with a clothesline for you.

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How to construct a Change the World Kids’ Free-Standing Clothesline

Our free-standing clothesline has two posts shaped like upper case “T”s. The post that goes into the ground is a 4×4″ or 4×6″ post that is 8′ tall. The cross-piece is 4′ long. You may or may not want to use pressure-treated wood.

We notch out each long post and its crosspiece at the top (cut halfway through both – 1.5 x 3.5″ cut on a 4″ x 4″. The top post notch is an “L,” and the crosspiece notch is a horseshoe) so they fit together, then screw them securely. We put two braces (45 degree angle cuts) to stabilize the cross-piece. The outside length of the brace measures 18″. We put six eyelet screws into each cross-piece (three on each side on the center post) through which we string the clothesline, but drilled holes also work. We put the posts about 10-12 feet apart into holes approximately two feet deep, using a level to insure the posts stand straight.

When we fill the holes, we put in a little dirt, and then pound it with a sledgehammer. We repeat this until the hole is filled. If the soil is light, or if the posts sit on ledge and it is impossible to dig deeply, we sometimes dig the hole, pour in some cement, and set the posts in the cement. After the cement dries we fill the remainder of the hole with dirt, making sure to tamp it down after every 4-5 shovelfuls of dirt.

Finally we string the clothesline by starting at an outer hole on one crosspiece, through the hole across from the first, along the crosspiece to the next hole, through that and across, etc. Do not cut the clothesline until it has been strung through all of the holes. Cut it, and knot it where it enters and exits the crosspieces.

Enjoy knowing that you are being kind to the earth and are helping future generations by saving energy every time you hang your laundry!