Cereal Box Clothes Dryer (CBCD)

One of the most economical means of drying clothes uses no appliance. A clothesline is inexpensive and easy to use. Using the heat of the sun and drying power of wind; clotheslines are making a come back in many backyards. But what if you don't have a yard? This Instructable details how to build a simple cereal box clothes dryer that can be hung over a door and used to dry clothes both indoors and outdoors.

This cereal box clothes dryer is made up of readily available materials; namely a cereal box and some clothes hangers. Other boxes can be used; but the dimensions of a large size cereal box produces a clothes dryer that is stable when applied to a door and has room to dry six to twelve shirts. It takes about 5-6 minutes to build a cereal box clothes dryer using simple tools or even kitchen utensils. When your cereal box clothes dryer wears out you can recycle it.

Step 1 Clothes Hangers

For the clothes hangers; your choice of either using metal hangers like those from the cleaners or plastic hangers should be based on the efficiency of your washer in removing moisture from clothes at the end of the wash cycle. If you have a washer that spins clothes relatively dry you can use metal hangers with little fear of any rust marks on your clothes. However if your washer leaves the clothes damp you should seek out and use plastic hangers.

In either case both metal and plastic hangers are also generally recyclable. I recommend taking worn metal hangers back to the cleaners. You should investigate with your local garbage folks whether your plastic hangers can be thrown in with your plastic recyclables if they break.

Comments

[red9987]

i usually hang all my things on the curtain rod for my shower..  if you dont have a curtain rod, you can always go buy one and hang it over the shower so it stays out of the way. at my sisters apartment, one of her roommates has 2 additional rods in her shower specifically for this purpose. (after a little hint thrown her way by yours truly lol). if you are somewhere where you cant modify the walls or anything, you can always get a tension mounted curtain rod. *hint your laundry room is probably shaped in a way that would allow you to do the same.

[pwilson01]

I used to dry clothes on the doorknob all the time when I lived in the tropics. As I have moved south this has been less successful. It is wonderful having the kid's clothes waiting on the door every morning. It cuts out so many steps in the washing cycle. Hanging is putting away. Good work.

[kathynv]

Until I saw your dryer in action, I had no idea how a cereal box could be used over a door. Now that I've seen your ingenious design, I'll have to see about making one or more to add to our hang-up space. We have wooden racks that we use to dry almost all of our clothing; only towels and bedding end up in the dryer. Having more space to hang up shirts is a wonderful thing. Thanks so much for posting this instructable.

[FeedTheGrid]

Nifty! Well done! FTG