To help lessen the need for ironing,  try hanging out your laundry in the evening hours and retrieving it while the dew is still on the ground in the morning.  It will be much softer than laundry dried in the heat of the day.  Also, if you bring in line dried laundry and put it in the dryer on no heat or very low heat for 4 or 5 minutes, it will soften up very well, too.  I do that with hubby's jeans and flannel shirts since he doesn't like them so stiff.  I do dry knits in the dryer because they never seem to look nice after hanging in our hot KY sun in summer.  I don't hang out undies either because I don't like the thought of everyone in the neighborhood commenting on them.  Of course, the upshot of that is that now they probably think I don't wear underwear at all since they never see it hanging on the line. lol! 

My favorite things to line dry and admire in the breeze----my colorful quilts!

 

ImTheGram

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Even apartment dwellers can minimize the use of dryers.  Once the spin cycle of the washer is over with, the clothes are only damp.  Regularly, I hang all lingerie & all "street clothes," (ie, dresses, skirts, tops, pants, as well as nightgowns, robe, & slippers) on hangers (plastic, not wire which can rust) along the shower bar.  That leaves only socks, undies, towels & bedding.  When the dryers in my building don't work, which I must admit has happened only once, I used my dryer rack in teh tub to dry the towels & bedding, carefully moving hte fabric around so that eventually each side was on top & hence could dry.  I hung the socks & undies along the shower bar, too, in that case.

I am not that old and I remember helping my mom do laundry on our old wringer machine. Then running them thru to the rinse tub, and back again, once they were rinsed well we hung them on the  clothesline. I remember my mom being very picky about how things hung on the line. Underclothes went on the inside lines, then washcloths and towels, bedding etc. Then pants and shirts. I was in high school in the eighties and that is when we were doing this. We lived on a farm and the old time machine got my dads grimey clothes cleaner than the new machines. My husband and I just recently purchased a new GE washer/dryer pair less than a year ago. The repairman has been here three times already. Never had that problem with the old wringer machine.

 

I have a single line outside, so I like to dry my undergarments indoors (I live in a neighborhood and don't want to display my undies!)  I use a rack all the time for these things as well as sweaters.   I think that keeping items with elastic out of the dryer makes them last much longer.  I line dry and fluff items that become stiff like jeans and towels. 

 Well you are familiar with out hanging out plans Pat. We are half way there, we disposed of the dryer shortly after gettng into our new home.  We put up a beautiful PVC clothes line that can move with us.  So far it has 5 lines with 2 more going in this next week.  For supports(in the middle of the lines to hold the weight)we are using beautiful plant hangers and they are working great.   And this is next to our new and expanding garden so we are placing hanging planter on these and drawing as many bees as we can.  We have not made plastic bag clotheslines yet, although we did bring the one we made ni England home with us and used it temporarily in our hotel room.  For rainy days we have dumpster dived 2 new clothes racks and found a beautiful Amish hand made one at a thrift store for $10.  We use homemade laundry soap and only wash in cold water.  When we can get those clothes to the lines we are pleased as punch!  : )

Hubby's Gram has a brand new wringer washer in her basement from her little country store, it is tagged with our name anytime we want to pick it up.  As it is a bit of a drive we will plan to do that when we take a vacation.  : )   She also uses a wringer washer every day and is 89 years young this fall.  : )