Core77

In the dead of winter, it seems absurd to be paying for electricity to run a refrigerator and icebox when it's well freezing outside. Similarly, running a dryer in a heatwave seems nuts, particularly when the utility bill shows up. Energy costs are on the rise.

Just a reminder that as temperatures soar and you reach for the A/C button, you can offset your increased carbon footprint, however slightly, through the simplest of product designs: a hanging rack. We picked up the IKEA fold-flat model above for US $17 and are putting the heat to work for us by hang-drying everything. (Our previous summertime energy-saver, a clothesline, was cheaper and folded just as flat, but it wasn't as purty.) Now if we could only figure out how to store meat outside in the winter....