Cheap

A significant reason for hanging washing out to dry - especially in the current economic climate - is the cost to dry clothes. Clothes driers are heavy consumers of energy and consequently are costly devices to run.

Of course, there are times where they are necessary. If you have young children and it has been raining for a week you definitely need a drier. However, in fine weather you are much better off hanging the clothes out to dry in the sun - so far, sunshine is still free!

Clean

Sunshine has ultraviolet radiation and this acts to kill germs. Hanging your washing in the sun allows the sunlight to effectively disinfect your clothing. This can be a great help if you are going through a period of illness, such as colds and flus.

Freshens Clothes

The action of the sun and wind on your clothes makes them smell clean. Too often, clothes that have been dried in a clothes drier smell a little stale or musty. While you can buy fresheners to put in your drier, that suffers from 3 disadvantages: (1) it is another thing to buy and thus another expense; (2) it does not remove the offending odour but merely adds another one to mask it; and (3) the used freshener eventually must be disposed of - hence adding to landfill waste.

Whitens Clothes

Sunlight is a natural bleach. Hanging light coloured clothes in the sun helps them to stay bright without having to resort to harsh chemical bleaches.

Reduces Ironing

Using a tumble drier often results in clothes being tangled and crumpled (yes, I've used them, and no, I don't believe the ads). If the clothes are hung out properly, you can actually reduce the amount of ironing you need to do. For example, shirts can be hung of clothes hangers and them hung on the line so they dry without lots of wrinkles. Tablecloths can be hung without folding them over the line so that you may be able to get away without having to iron it. you don't have to iron out line marks.

Saves Time

Initially, you might be inclined to think that it is quicker to throw a basket of clothes in the drier than hang them out - and you would be right. But that is not the only time required.

If you can reduce the amount of ironing (see previous point) you are saving time.

You can save the time required to sort the clothing and find sox by hanging clothes in lots or groups. For instance, you can hang socks together so when you bring the washing in you can put them together. It doesn't mean you have to find all the socks before you hang out the washing. When you hang out one sock, leave a sock sized space beside it on the line. When you find its mate, just hang it in the space.

If you have children you could allocate part of the line space to one child's clothes, part to another child's clothes etc. Having all of the garments belonging to one child in the one area means they will all be together when you collect the washing thus saving you time sorting them out later.