clothes line dryers and helping the environment

My husband and I just purchased an "umbrella" style clothes line dryer. We've decided, living in the south with such warm, beautiful summers, that we should hang our clothes out to dry rather than using the dryer. Not using the dryer whenever possible saves on electricity costs and helps the environment in a small way. Imagine if everyone only used their dryer when hanging out clothes was impossible. How much energy would be saved? It also reduces wear and tear on the dryer so that it will last longer. In addition, drying clothes outside leaves them with that fresh, summer smell that can not be duplicated by a dryer sheet, no matter how hard the companies try. Sleeping on line dried sheets is a treat. I do recommend that, if you decide to line dry towels, bring them inside when just slightly damp and use the dryer for a few minutes. Otherwise, they will be stiff. Drying in the dryer for a few minutes will fluff them and still save on energy. You can purchase these stand-alone umbrella dryers from numerous places. We found ours at www.amazon.com. The only thing you have to do is dig a hole and use some concrete to stabilize the pole. The fast setting Quikcrete worked just fine for us. If you don't use the concrete, the weight of the clothes on the lines will cause the dryer to topple over so be sure to follow the directions for the depth of the hole, etc.