Clothesline Rules!

[butch-innj]

I have a dryer but still hang most of my clothes outside on the
lines. For me, nothing smells better than sheets that have
been hung outside to dry.
One thing I read about somewhere years ago is that when you
hang clothes outside to dry, after you get them all hung up,
take the garden hose and soak them till the water is dripping
off of them. For some reason this helps to soften them with
out the use of fabric softener (which I'm allergic to) and
it makes them dry faster.
Of course, you can't do this in the winter.
Shirts & T-shirts get hung upside down so you don't get those
shoulder nipples.

 

[launderess]

Hanging Shirts

Actually there are two schools of thought:

Some say by the shoulders only, others via the shirt tails (clothes pins at the two side seams).

Several of my vintage laundry and housekeeping manuals favour the later, though give the former as well.

The idea behind hanging shirts via their tails is because it is easier to smooth them out, thus the wind will help remove many wrinkles. Also with the double fabric parts (cuffs, collars, and yoke), hanging in the breeze, they will dry faster.

Personally find hanging shirts by their tails a better option for reasons listed above, and because any marks from the clothesline will be towards the bottom of the shirt, not across the yoke. Depending on if the shirt is to be ironed or not, and how much work one wishes to make of that project, it can make a difference. For instance many modern steam irons do not put out enough moisture to properly deal with clothesline marks and or laundry "creases". So unless one is going to sprinkle or otherwise dampen one's ironing, the results may not be as good.

L.

 

[frigilux]

Love the list of rules!

I learned the hard way that you have to run a damp rag over the clotheslines before hanging your first load. It's amazing how grimy they can get. If I do laundry two consecutive days, I don't clean them the second day unless there's been a lot of dust blowing around.

I always do my laundry on Saturday and/or Sunday. I have a partially fenced-in back yard, so I hang my briefs. I do, however, follow Launderess's advice and hang towels on the line in front of the one I use for my undergarments. It gives them a little privacy, LOL.

I'm keeping track of how many loads I dry on the line this summer. My first load went up at the end of April. My dryer has been spared 21 loads, already this season! I love the way bed sheets smell when they come off the line.

I also have a set of summer bath linens. They come off the line very soft and fluffy. My winter towel set comes off the line very stiff and rough. They go to the back of the linen closet for the line-drying season.

 

[toggleswitch2]

...and at a savings of 2.5 kwh per average load, one can easily calculate the savings...........

 

[autowasherfreak]

I would love to have a clothesline again. But I live next door to a concrete company, and with all the heavy cement trucks driving in and out all the time, the clothes would be dirty before they were dried.

But I when I lived with my mom, we hung clothes out all the time during the summer. I loved the smell clothes that were line dried. I hung shirts by the tails, and always overlapped items to save on clothes pins. Those were great times.

 

[mielabor]

I think I break almost every rule.

I always hang shirts by the collar!

 

[animasinsulinpu]

Clotheslines

I should do that. This is no joke. My Levis will dry in 10 minutes in Az summers, like 118 degrees. I'm gonna do that for 1 month and compair electric bills.....Bill in Az....

 

[rpm]

Jeans dried on a clothesline? You will have to have a hammer to fold them.

 

[animasinsulinpu]

Jeans

You are right! They are like roof shingles!!!!!

 

[joeinfl]

While growing up, everything went on the line to dry. As a few have stated there is nothing like the smell of line dried sheets on the bed especially in the summer when it was hot. I remember taking a shower before bed and climbing into the clean sheets, I swear they kept you cooler. We got a dryer at some point but it was only used when it was too cold or raining outside to hang things out. When I got older and did my own laundry I always used the dryer and have since then. I went into the Air Force and by the time I got out and was back home for college, my parents had moved and there were no clothes lines allowed at the new house. I went from apartments and townhouses that didn't allow them or didn't have a space for them to my own house in Florida and the HOA does not allow clothes lines. I think about that sometimes now wondering how much lower my electric bill would be if I had a clothes line, but then I remember all the crap in the air and the "love bugs" and am glad I have the dryer! (sorry this got to be so long winded, I tend to ramble, comes from living alone!)

 

[sudsmaster]

Screw the Rules

Life is enough of a chore without stupid rules about how to hang laundry.

I mean, really!

 

[butch-innj]

Line drying dosent make clothes stiff (like jeans)
Its the amount of detergent left in them that makes
them stiff.
Someone isn't rinsing enough to get out all the detergent.
If your allergic to fabric softener (like I am) you can
pour 2 cups of white vinegar into the last rinse water and
the vinegar will cut the detergent thats left and help soften
the clothes.
The odor from the vinegar does dissipate and I promise you
won't smell like a walking salad.

 

[toggleswitch2]

But vinegar eats porelain...so best done only if your tubs and drums are stainless-steel and/or plastic.

 

[cycla-fabric]

One More Rule

Don't hang out any clean laundry to dry until after the trees stop putting out their pollen. Who wants tree pollen on your clean laundry. You can see how it coats everything outside at this time of the year, and you don't want it on your clothes.

Doug

 

[laundrynut]

Creative display of color

Was once driving through Province Town. Saw a clothesline with only colored items, hung in progressive order, forming an obvious rainbow. Perhaps there was a parade planned for later that day.

 

[bajaespuma]

No one has mentioned clothespins or types of rope for the line.
Are there favorites? I use the standard wooden spring clips but I'm getting annoyed with the rust and having to bleach them to get rid of the mold. Also, have always used natural rope but am also getting tired of the mildew/mold. I'm always tempted to buy the colorful plastic pins I see in Asian markets. Do any of you use the old fashioned non-spring wooden pins?

 

[sudsmaster]

I use plastic coated steel braided cable (available at HD or Lowe's) for the clothesline.

And plastic spring pins I get at Kmart or Walmart.

For the pulleys, Wright Alum Co. cast aluminum pulleys. Far better made and safer than the stamped steel things.

 

[rayjay]

Use the wooden and plastice. I bring them in the house when I am done. This prevents from rusting. Now for the pulleys is is EVERLAST, a high impact lastice with cast aluminum. The pulley on the pole lasted over 20 years.

 

[polkanut]

My Mom, sister, and I always bring our clothespins in after taking down the laundry. My Mom has most of the pins that she first bought when they were married in 1967. And, my sister has quite a few of our Grandma's clothespins as well, some of which are just as old or older than Mom's. My Grandma had several aluminum pins as well which are actually quite nice.

 

[charbee]

I've noticed that most of y'all relating fond memories about hanging out laundry are "up north" or, at least, not in deep south. Growing up in south Texas near the coast, half of our back yard was usually a vegetable garden every year, and within 10 or 20 miles were several chemical plants which pumped out all sorts of nasty smells. I remember that whenever my mom would hang the clothes out, they always had an unpleasant "dirt" smell to them when she'd bring them in, so she usually used the dryer as a result. This was in the late 60s-early 70s, at a time when those nasty *shiny* polyester shirts with loud prints for kids were "in"...those shirts always smelled like the dirt in our garden after hanging out to dry. Between the dirt smell, the smell from the nearby chemical plants, and the 99% humidity, the dryer was IT!