"...I've gone back to the dryer for a lot of stuff. Any cost associated is just not worth the amount of ironing time it takes for me to press everything."
If you're promptly taking your clothing out of the washing machine and "snap" it 4-5 times times before you hang it on the line, it dries nearly as soft and wrinkle free as clothes thrown in the dryer than ironed. You wouldn't take warm clothes out of the dryer, scrunch them up in a ball, and stuff them in the drawer any old way without expecting them to wrinkle. Most people automatically shake out and "finger iron" clothes as they fold and neatly put them away to avoid ironing. Why people expect a different result when they take laundry out of the washing machine and stick it on a clothesline any old way is beyond me.
In our area, the KWh amount to run the dryer is $1.80 cents per load, not $1. You can also get away with using absolutely NO fabric softener, less than half the amount of laundry detergent, and almost never have to use bleach (we use 2 tablespoons once a week on the socks and undies instead of the recommended 1 cup) when you line-dry because mother nature takes care of the freshening, softening, and UV-ray bleaching (we save around $4.50 per week on laundry chemicals). Lastly, your clothing lasts a lot longer, lycra and woolens don't shrink, elastic doesn't let go on your socks and undies, and you'll find you need to dust your home and change your air filters a lot less due to lint backing up into your home.
Don't forget the "environmental cost" savings ... you avoid putting 18.8 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere with each load of laundry you put out on your "solar dryer." Think of a pound of carbon as one of those big purple yoga/exercise balls ... that's nearly 19 of those huge balls of carbon your dryer is spewing out into the atmosphere every time you machine-dry a load of laundry! I find it helps to remind me of the cost and environmental savings whenever I'm out there (in 15 degree weather, 3 feet of snow in January) hanging out my laundry.
