A person in a blue blanket

Very few Paraguayan households are equipped with clothes dryers. Not only are dryers too expensive for most Paraguayan families, but, given the country´s sunny, subtropical-tropical climate, they are rarely necessary. Most of the time the sun is strong enough to dry clothing on a line within a couple of hours. During the cold and rainy winter days drying clothes requires more effort and strategic planning. It may not be as convenient as just throwing clothes in the dryer but you can at least take comfort in the fact that line drying is more ecologically friendly and cuts down on your electric bill. Here are a few tips to help you dry your clothes, be it in summer or winter.

Pay Attention to the Forecast

Do not make the mistake of doing laundry before a string of rainy days! That is a sure way to end up with a pile of damp, dank smelling clothing. Keep an eye on the weather forecast and be sure to get a jump on laundry while the weather is sunny.

A chair in a room

Chase the sun

If you don´t have access to a large sunny area for your laundry line your best bet is to purchase a drying rack. This way you can move your clothing to wherever there happens to be sun during the day and put it inside at night.

washing machine

Spin, spin, spin!

If you will be doing lots of laundry (say, for multiple people) consider purchasing an electric centrifuge known as a “centrifuge.” It will allow you to spin out as much extra water as possible before hanging your clothes. After about 5 minutes in the “centrifugal” synthetics come out almost dry to the touch. Heavier clothes, such as jeans and sweatshirts will benefit the most from a quick spin and will dry much faster. If you’ve ever had to wear damp jeans in July you’ll appreciate the power of the centrifuge.

I would like to include reader tips in part two of this post. Share your advice for drying clothes in Paraguay here or on the Discovering Paraguay facebook page .