Saving energy... by skipping the clothes dryer?

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of green sites advising people to line-dry clothes to save on energy because your average clothes dryer is a major energy waster.

From Tip The Planet:

Air drying your washing instead of putting it in the dryer is a great way to save energy. It uses no electricity or fuel, and requires little if any equipment.

But is this really feasible in the average household? I live outside of Chicago, where today's high temperature was only 54° F. I can't imagine myself hanging clothing outside to dry in winter.

Turns out that I don't need to go to those extremes just yet. Like with any lifestyle change, it's best to start out with baby steps. For me, the first step was to start line-drying cleaning rags instead of tossing them in the dryer. It was easier than I thought. I just folded them in half and hung them up on a towel bar, with one or two extras folded neatly on top of washer because I ran out of room. Even on a cold day without heat, they dried overnight.

I still can't imagine line-drying all my clothes, but I also don't see the point on wasting electricity to dry rags. The next step is seeing if I can rig a clothesline in my bathroom, because I don't see the point of throwing socks and undies in the dryer either.