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I recently have begun hanging cloth diapers to dry instead of using my dryer on the covers. This is something that I just never considered doing when I first started cloth diapering. After prepping (first time wash) my diapers for the first time, I threw them in the dryer (on low heat) to get them dry quickly. Anxious to start cloth diapering was my motivation for doing it that way. At that time, I figured that the dryer was the best and quickest method and hanging them to dry just seemed like too much work.
 

 
Since then, I have heard time and time again about other cloth diapering mamas who hang their diapers to dry them and love it. After hearing so many people rave about the idea, I started to consider it. However, several obstacles stood in my way. First, I barely had enough diapers to last two days so I thought that could not afford to wait and let diapers air dry. Second, I thought that I had no place to hang the actual diapers while they dried.
 

 
So what changed my mind? While visiting my parents (and of course, washing my cloth diapers), my diapers were hung on a clothesline for the first time. Here’s how it happened; I was doing diapers late one night and wanted to go to bed. I knew that I absolutely needed my diapers to be clean and dry in the morning, but the diapers were still in the wash. My generous mom volunteered to finish the cycle. I quickly instructed her that the covers COULD NOT be dried on high heat and headed to bed.
 

 
When I awoke the next morning, I found my inserts dry in the drier, and the pocket diaper covers hanging on my mom’s inside clothesline. (you can view several here) Genius! All the elements of my diapers were clean, dry, and ready for use. Needless to say, for the rest of the time while I was visiting my parents I employed this drying method.
 

 
After I returned home, I began to consider how I could do this at my own house. I knew two things. First, I needed to find a suitable place to hang my 20+ diapers to dry. And second, I did not want to spend money on the project because we are on a very tight budget. I quickly realized that the rod we already had in the laundry room would be perfect to use to hang diapers. Then, I remembered that we had some hangers lying around with clips attached (these are the kind of hangers that are used to hold skirts, pants, etc.). Putting these two things together, I now have a simple, free, way to hang dry my diapers.
 

 
Hanging cloth diapers to dry is how I’ve been doing it for several weeks now. I have learned that it does not take all that long for the covers to dry. The dryer is still where I prefer to dry my inserts, primarily to save time. I also discovered that as my daughter has gotten older, my diaper stash is lasting long enough to wait on air-dried diaper covers because she uses fewer diapers per day. There’s a hidden benefit of hanging my diapers to dry, I never have to switch the drier from high heat to low heat (which I often forgot), so I never get stuck with a load getting dried on low heat which really should have been dried on high. Now, I am so pleased with my hang dry method for the covers and would not switch back. It is a method that I would suggest to anyone.

How do you dry your diapers? Have you ever tried Hanging Cloth Diapers To Dry?