Bring back the clotheslines!

[Paisley]

I must ask, what are you guys doing to these towels to get this "sandpaper" like consistencey? lol I don't think I've ever experienced that. You know, there's a new invention out called, fabric softner, give it a try sometimes guys. And, my things have never been hit by a belly aching bird though, I think of it everytime I put my clothes out. :eusa_doh:

Could be too much soap. I use a little less than what the box recommends. My line-dried jeans and towels are a little stiff, yes, but not like cardboard or sandpaper.

Line drying is good for extending the life of anything with elastic in it.

 

[Irena]

Line drying is good for extending the life of anything with elastic in it.

My swimsuits last up to five times longer when air-dried. I work at an indoor pool (year round) and swim on a team, so I really notice a difference. Especially during the summer, when I wear up to four suits a day (two at a time).

When I move out (our house is in tall trees) I'm going use a clothesline and drying rack. Here it's just too shady and damp.

 

[Michaelson]

Quick story.....I worked a short stint at our local Lowes hardware store in the hardware section. I had a little old lady walk up to me and ask if I had any clothesline for sale.

I said 'yes mam'. My next question was regarding length, as we sold them in 3 different line lengths.

I said, and I quote 'How long do you want it?'

She said, 'Oh, at least 5 or 10 years at best!':eusa_doh:

True story!

Regards! Michaelson

 

[MoxieGrl]

I didn't know the clothesline had ever went away either.[huh] We've always had one, be it in the back-yard like it is now, or on the roof or strung around the kitchen when we lived in more city areas.
Now, I am not so romantic about the old way of doing clothes, but for a while as a kid, we didn't have a washer or dryer. Now thats a pain. We did the laundry in the bath-tub and it was an all day affair. The really heavy stuff we'd (my mom and I) would get in and stomp a-la I love Lucy winemaking style. And this was growing up in the 80s-90s. Anyway, we probably had a dryer for a year(or at least a summer) before we got a washer, just because it seemed more practical. Sometimes I really wonder what we had against laundrymats back then...
-Stormi

 

[Nora Charles]

My mom still uses a clothesline today too! We didn't have a dryer for most of my childhood. And then, it was only to be used for special occasions!

There is nothing like having the country air on your bedsheets. The only problem was untangling them when they got wrapped around the line!
I used a clothesline too, up until we moved to Phoenix, now I just don't have room.

 

[RetroMom]

This thread has inspired me!

I remember as a kid running under the sheets that were hanging on the line, and pretending I was in a long tunnel! It's these simple things imaginative things that kids don't do anymore.

I would love for my own kids to do that, so this weekend I'm sending my husband to the hardware store for a clothesline! Technically we aren't supposed to have one in our yard, and it will probably shock all my "McMansion" high and mighty neighbors!!

It's a shame there are people who think this is "tacky" because whenever I see clothes on a line it always brings a smile to my face and reminds me of the simple things in life.....

 

[Etienne]

We were a familiy of 8 and we didn't get a dryer until the youngest kids in the house were in high school. Since there was a 17 year age span between the oldest and youngest kids, we were hanging out cloth diapers FOREVER!!! I have vivid memories of double-hanging those diapers and pulling the clips from the bag that hung from the line. Miles and miles of diapers..... ! But a pleasant and sweet memory at that!

 

[Haversack]

Plenty of people here in San Francisco still use the clothesline to dry their clothes. Because the lots here are usually 25' x 100', most people, (including myself), use the pulley and cable type. That way, you can just step out of the back porch to hang up your laundry. They also work best on hilsides. (My great aunt had one that went from her front porch to eighty feet up a fir tree and the line was level. But that was in the Sierras) I also grew up with the rows of sheets hanging from eight parallel lines and running between them. A very clear scent-memory that. I also remember my mom telling us not to play 3 Musketeers admidst them.

If you look at house and landscaping plans for houses built between 1910 and 1940, you will invariably find a section of the back yard set aside for clotheslines. It will almost always be over an area of grassy lawn as that helps provide that "April Fresh" scent. Sometimes it would be fenced off in the same way that a vegetable garden would be. But then, houses were more street-oriented than they became after the War. The backyard was for utility while the front yard was for display.

One way you can reduce the stiffness of line-dried towels is to give them a flip before rolling or folding them.

Haversack (for whom line-dried linen sheets and pillow cases are a secret summer vice.)

 

[AtomicBlonde]

Woo... line dried clothes!! The best ever! I used to get my little bottom paddled though if I messed with my moms freshly hung sheets and towels and things... so, we'd wait till she wasnt looking and run through em. I dont recall ever having issues with birds or dust or anything, but our dog Buster once decided to relieve himself on moms sheets. Boy, was she mad!! lol

 

[Caledonia]

I'm another one who's never had a dryer. I've got a drying green with about 5 lines on it, and so has just about everybody else in the village. On a sunny breezy day the whole place is just full of fluttering colour. Know what you mean about the birds though. Our trees are a wee bitty close to the lines and you do occasionally have that "Yuck!" moment, and it's back in the washer. The other thing I watch out for is wasps in the summer. Not the first time I've changed the bed sheets and leapt out of there fast come bed time. But there's nothing to beat 5 minutes wandering around the garden and into the field picking up a whole load of washing that's just blown off the line. The sheep look well-dressed though!

 

[TomS]

We use a clothesline in my household. The sun gets rid of stains, and other imperfections in clothing. It also leaves everything smelling fresh.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

1/2 cup vinegar in the rinse water will get rid of any line dried stiffness.

 

[TomS]

1/2 cup vinegar in the rinse water will get rid of any line dried stiffness.

I didnt know that. Very interesting.

 

[vitanola]

I didnt know that. Very interesting.

A tablespoon or two of Muriatic Acid will do the same thing, at a much lower cost, though the Muriatic acid is more difficult to handle. I generally dilute it into a stock solution so that I may pour a capful out of an old detergent bottle into the rinse. This solution my even be put in to the fabric softener cup of a modern washing machine, and there will do it's stuff without further care.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I didnt know that. Very interesting.

I learned it from our own Lizzie Maine!

 

[ButteMT61]

Been using them for the whole summer. This 100º+ heat is good for something! lol

 

[DamianM]

Been using them for the whole summer. This 100º+ heat is good for something! lol

I agree.Been doing this too. This saves energy and the clothes dry so much faster.

 

[Miss Stella]

I was hanging out the laundry just this morning and was lazy, it was already 85.....and I hung the old workshirts of The Mister by the collar!
All I heard in my head was, "that's SO going to have the neighbors talking!".

My nearest neighbor is 1/4 of a mile away and hidden by the hillside

 

[ButteMT61]

I agree.Been doing this too. This saves energy and the clothes dry so much faster.

And...I like crispy things. Esp cotton.

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

I live in the cold winter midwest. I dry outside in the summer, my Mom always dried outside in the summer and inside lines for the winter. My Grandmothers dried outside all year round. I am glad not to hang up outside in the freezing cold but would like inside lines like my mom. I working out some rooms for one of these. http://www.clotheslinesource.com/clotheslines/umbrella-clotheslines/whitneydesigns6lineportableindooroutdoorumbrellaclothesline.cfm