Give Your Dryer a Break - 50cents a load

The average cost to run one load of laundry through an electric dryer is 50 cents; an expense, but what are the alternatives?
I don't mind hanging laundry on an outdoor clotheline, but it is a time consuming task, and I have to wonder whether or not my time would be better spent on a task that provides a better hourly wage.
I live in Michigan, where the sunny days are few and far between. My grandmother lived in the upper peninsula and hung out her laundry all year long. She taught me that they will still dry in the winter, no matter how cold, it just takes longer.
At 50 cents a load, I was not very motivated to hang laundry outside, but then the dryer quit working. The financial cost of having the dryer increased significantly. A service call (just to find out what is wrong, not to get anything repaired) is $70. So, then my question becomes, how inconvenient is it to hang up laundry for a savings of $70?
We decided to try it before calling a repairman. So, for about four weeks we have been without a working dryer. Our washing machine still works fine. We have found that with our family of eight, we can wash two loads a day and keep up including towels, bedding, and diapers.
We have not yet hung anything outside, instead we are using a rack in the laundry room, the bathtub, towel rods, banister, stair rail, over the bathroom door, etc. Anywhere that we can think of to hang items, we are using in an effort to keep up without having to take it outside. (There have been some negative 15 temperature days here, it's more than a little cold).
We are able to wash and get dry two loads per day. Assuming that the actual amount of dirty duds we produce has not changed, we were washing and drying an average of two loads per day with the working dryer also. That is a cost of $1 per day to run the dryer. So, over the past month, the broken dryer has saved us $30 in electrical costs. I don't have the actual electrical bills to prove this, it is only an estimated guess.
An added benefit is that the air is normally very dry here in the winter, but the hanging clothes allow moisture to evaporate, increasing the humidity in the air. So, if you used a humidifier, you could turn that off too, saving even more.
As an added note, we will likely get the dryer repaired at some point, however, I think not having it for awhile has helped to change our perspective on its importance. We will be on the road traveling for our ministry for much of the summer and there has been a lot of discussion about our laundering options in the motor home. Living without the dryer has been a reminder that while we have lived with one and taken it for granted most of our lives, it is not necessity, and no matter where we are on the road, we can make due without one.

The author of this blog: Corinne Johnson is a Christian homeschooling mother of six, help meet to her husband Don, and author of the series Vacation Education Books; travel guides for families who love to learn; unit studies for families who love to travel. To find out more, visit www.vacationeducationbooks.net