Does anyone still use a clothesline?

[lordkenmore]

In recent years, I've dried almost everything outside in summer, using a couple of clothes lines attached between the place I live and a shed. I've dried a fair amount in spring and fall, although spring and fall are less reliable. (It may only dry to "nearly dry", and need additional time hanging up inside.)

 

I like the outdoor scent like others here, and I even purposely use unscented detergent for at least some loads, such as sheets.

 

At one time, I dried year round, although in winter it was inside, using wood racks. At that time I'd dry outside simply by moving a wood rack outside. But air drying inside doesn't work well where I currently live.

 

 

 

[woollyaxolotl]

A subject I can give a view on at last!

Perfect as the subject of my first post. Hello everyone!

On this side of the pond, certainly in the warmer months, lines are still the norm as has been said elsewhere in the thread. I have one, even though I currently live in an apartment with only a small balcony. I seldom visit a friend’s home without seeing a line full of laundry flapping in the breeze. Particularly as most of us currently have children or babies.

I’d recommend one to anybody. My whites always shine from spring to autumn, stains I see discussed here in old posts (yellowing on sheets, nappies with bile stains) just melt away in very little sunlight. A hot day and a slower spin and nature does its best. Of course, I am aware of where I live and also have a dryer, but I much prefer drying outside. Even in winter, if it’s clear out, it goes on the line.

Our relationship with dryers is an odd one. I think they occupy a very different position in the British psyche. They tend to almost be viewed as a slight indulgence or a guilty pleasure by some I think. Whether this relates to the cost of running the appliance or what I don’t know. I use mine gladly when needed, but I do have a hanging airer in the hall as well, so I suppose even I view the dryer as a backup.

Coming here and learning how things differ elsewhere in the world has made me actually think about my own habits, which has been very interesting!

Thrilled to have got involved at last

 

[petek]

Yes.. we have a pulley style between the back deck just outside the laundyroom door stretching across the yard to a big Oak tree. Love it.

 

[arbilab]

Did, at every rent house that came with one.  Pop stuff in the dryer when it's 4/5ths dry, best of all worlds.  Soft, smells good, costs less.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I have the old conventional cast-iron clothes poles, with modern 'clothes rope' (thin plastic-covered steel wire) strung between them. I think this modern thin stuff is actually meant for re-stringing 'whirlies' (rotary airers).

I still have some of the old 'Hoselock Brand' (yes, they who made garden hoses snap-fit connectors!) storm clothes pegs, which do grip the thin clothesline well. However you cannot buy 'Hoselock' pegs anymore. Instead, there is a cheap Chinese copy - which sticks fast and breaks easily.

 

[gizmo]

Hi Woollyaxolotyl

welcome!

"a slight indulgence or a guilty pleasure" about sums up the Aussie attitude to dryers, too. I think it should be a crime to use a dryer on a sunny day.
It will be when I become benevolent dictator.

 

[polkanut]

When we bought our house in 1998 it had a cheap umbrella type clothesline in the yard.  It worked great until a really strong gust of wind caught it one day and snapped the pole off at ground level.  

 

<span style="text-align: left; color: #000000; text-transform: none; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent;">My late friend, Leroy, sold and installed cow stalls made by Freudenthal Mfg. and I asked him if he would pick up a clothesline for us sometime when he had to pick up parts from them.  He delivered it to us about 2 weeks later.  We've had it about 14 years now.  It is U-shaped, and can be easily moved around the yard.  Ours is 20 feet long with 7 lines.  They also come in[COLOR=#b00650; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] <span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #323c32; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.5px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">10ft - 12ft - 15ft versions.[/COLOR]</span></span>

 

<span style="text-align: left; color: #000000; text-transform: none; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent;">[COLOR=#b00650; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #323c32; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.5px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The attached photo was taken 11/27/15.[/COLOR]</span></span>

http://www.freudenthalmfg.com/misc/clotheslines.php

 

[woollyaxolotl]

On the subject of pegs...

Have you ever tried the pegs I’ve linked to, Rolls_rapide?

They are made in Italy on equipment which is now some 50 years old. Killer grip but not too bad for marks, never rust, fantastic. They are the only ones I’ve had that tolerate drying 3 floors up in an Atlantic wind! The vendor is lovely and she does so well out of them that she told me if the company ever ceased production, she’d buy out the equipment and bring it over. We’re about to move and will have a garden with a big rotary (not a Hills but maybe one day), so I’ll shortly be buying more.

Thanks for the welcome, gizmo. Sounds like British and Australian drying habits are very similar- but taken as a whole I expect Australians get a few more good drying days, although not necessarily where you are by the sound of it! I do find it often doesn’t rain as much as you think it does when you need it to be dry.

http://www.exquisitescotland.com/merchandise/k-pegs/

 

[ea56]

We have an umbrella type clothesline that we used to use whenever the weather was good. But I have very severe allergies and we have LOTS of pollen producing trees all around us. I found that my allergies were aggravated by hanging the laundry out and my Allergy doctor suggested that I stop hanging the laundry out. I did and my allergies got better, so no can do anymore.

But I do miss the smell of laundry hung outside. When I was a small child, before we got our first dryer in 1955 we had a large, unfinished basement and there were clothslines strung up that Mom used when the weather wasn’t good enough for hanging the laundry outside.

And I can still see my Mom throwing area rugs over the clothes line outside when she did Spring cleaning and beating the rugs with a broom and the dust flying from them. I wonder if anyone beats rugs anymore?

Eddie

 

[circlew]

I don't currently have one, but my last one was of the retractable type. The reel was mounted on the back of the house, and I had a hook on a tree in the backyard. I won't be able to do this in the future unless I install a pole, as the tree fell last year.

Several of my older neighbors still use theirs when weather permits.

 

[frigilux]

I had the classic 'T' bars with four lines strung between them back at the house. Used them quite often, especially with bedding. I'd often take a nap after putting line-dried sheets/pillowcases back on the bed. The wonderful scent couldn't be beaten by any fabric softener in the world.

 

[iowabear]

Like many in the Midwest, I grew up with one.  I don't have one now but I have thought about it.  I have mulberry and walnut trees and a steep hill so it's not an ideal yard for one.

 

[maytagbear]

I have not

had a truly suitable yard (garden) for one since we sold the house in 1996. Now that I live in a Senior's building-and do not have a terrace, deck, or balcony...…

We did have the umbrella type contraption though. I loved it, Ma was not much of a fan. She was willing to give up "clothesline fresh" for "push-button ease."
The Ohio Edison and East Ohio Gas bills had her name on them...…..

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[losangeles]

Clothlines

When I retired in 1998 from the USN and was looking for a house to buy, one of my must have items was a pole to pole clothes line. Our realtor delivered in spades. Got the clothesline and a in ground pool to cool off in after hanging a load of laundry. I have to agree with the above post, I love the line dried smell and the electric bill savings. I hang just about everything.

 

[abcomatic]

I still use a clothes line. I did a big wash in my ABC wringer the other day and hung it all out on the line. The sheets sure do smell good when hung outside.

 

[petek]

Yesterdays wash on my pulley line . Does anyone else do this: When the clothes are dry and as I pull the clothes towards me on the pulley I have a cothes hanger in my hand at the ready.. I slip the clothes hangar into the shirt, while with the other hand remove the pegs. I can then carry all the shirts into the house already on their hangers and straight into the closet..

 

[fan-of-fans]

We have one of the square ones in the backyard (probably to the chagrin of the neighbors) lol. It mostly gets used for rugs and things, but sometimes if the weather is nice clothes go on it. Personally, I don't like how the clothes smell when they're on the line. To me they don't smell fresh, they actually get an odor.

Otherwise clothes go in the dryer, or hung on the shelf above the washer and dryer to air dry.

That clothes line did come in handy after hurricane Irma last summer. Our power was out for almost two weeks, and we were running out of clean clothes. We plugged the washer into the generator and then hung them on the clothesline. Made use of that hot dry sweltering weather following the storm.

 

[angus]

I have always had a "pulley" line and use it all year. The only thing I use the dryer for are socks, underwear and towels. Anything else washable gets hung. All my friends mock me heedlessly for "acting like an Italian grandmother", but that's their problem, not mine. The only time I don't hang is for a few weeks from mid May to early June - the season of green dust, that nasty pollen that covers everything.

 

[rolls_rapide]

@woollyaxolotl:

No, I've never seen those metal pegs before - but thanks for posting. (They look like instruments of torture!).

I was trying to remember what they reminded me of, then I realised... At the bottom of the page in that link you posted, is a photo of a battery and these pegs acting as 'crocodile clips'.

 

[cuffs054]

Rolls, thanks for pointing that out! I must order some.