Hanging your laundry on a clothesline

[sheeplady]

That's interesting, My Mother's entire family are all rather conservative. None of them were hippies back in the day---they never identified with that part of boomer culture, and recycling is not habitual for them, either. Where my Mother lives, in rural Montana, there is no way to recycle, even if she wanted to.

What has always been fascinating to me is that more rural areas in NY state have better recycling programs than the more urban ones. Here we can only do 1 and 2 plastic and we live in a large city (weekly curb pickup). My parents can do 1-6 (you have to take it a center, which is open once a month). The place we are moving which is just as rural as my parents (if not more so) recycles 1-7 plastics by curbside pickup. It just boggles my mind. But a lot of it has to do with if you have a buyer or not in your region, but I honestly can't believe that some of these rinky-dink places have buyers but the major cities don't.

 

[TraditionalFrog]

My mom used a clothesline when I was growing up except in the coldest of winter. Then she used drying racks and the top and sides of the steam radiators. My great aunt always hung her clothes on a line. She also had two lines strung at one end of a basement room for the winter. I remember once when staying with her a pop up summer thunderstorm broke out. She grabbed me and a basket and we flew out the door. We quickly took everything inside and strung it up on the basement lines.

Currently I live in a high rise apartment now, so no line. The dryers here heat so hot regardless of setting the cloth is scalding. You have to leave the door open for several minutes before you can get the clothes out. Starting this month, I'm investing in drying racks and using hangers across my shower curtain rod.

I've only had clothes taken out of a dryer once in a public laundry room, but they were placed on top, not just dumped in the floor. In my building I live in now there are laundry rooms on floors two through six. Each room has a series of four washers and one double loader, and a series of four dryers. So far no matter when I've done laundry I've been the only one in there the whole time except once. I usually use the double loader (same cost as the single top loaders) because the door locks when it is running, and I don't have to worry about sitting around in the room with it. I know exactly how long it runs, so I show up again a few minutes before the spin cycle ends.

 

[tonyb]

I lived for nearly 20 years in a little house with no laundry facilities. I grew adept at hand-washing the lighter-weight stuff -- shirts, mostly, and some of the underwear, as necessary -- in the kitchen sink. (A double sink, by the way, a feature I have come to view as a near necessity.)

I didn't hate going to the laundromat, but in the roughly 14 years since I departed that little house and haven't had need for one, I've gotten quite used to this state of affairs, and I'd much prefer never having to visit a laundromat again. I'd prefer spending what's left of this trip around the universe doing things other than waiting for laundry to wash and dry, even if those other things are nothing more exciting than other chores. At least I'm getting those other chores knocked out.

Staying on top of laundry, which is made all the easier by having facilities at one's exclusive and immediate disposal, has many positive spillover effects. There is never a pile of laundry awaiting attention in this place, which makes for a neater, fresher house. With the exception of whatever the dewy-eyed bride and I happen to be wearing at the moment, just about every piece of attire we own is clean and ready to wear most any time. I do something like a half-dozen loads of wash per week, so almost daily, so there is never more than a one-load backup.

This place features a HUGE (5 feet by six feet) roll-in shower, with floor-to-ceiling tile and four long stainless steel grab bars. The setup works great as an air-dryer, and it gets used as such frequently. All the delicate stuff gets hung up in there, and the synthetics, and most of the shirts and even some of the crunchier stuff (towels and blue jeans). I've found that the synthetics don't pill nearly so quickly as they would if they were subjected to the heat and friction of an electric tumble dryer. Usually the shirts and the heavier stuff goes into the dryer when it's mostly dry, to activate the "no iron" in the shirts, and to soften the towels and jeans.

I'd gladly use an outdoor line (no CC&R's here) if it were of more practical use to a person in my particular circumstances. It's unusually cloudy here in the maritime Pacific Northwest (moss grows on just about everything), and my backyard is on the north side of the structure and is all but surrounded by tall trees, which limit direct sunlight back there to but a few hours per day during the summer and none at all during the winter, when it's usually raining anyway.

The house "faces" south, but the main entry is on the west. The long railings alongside the ramp leading to the main door make for a dandy place to hang damp laundry on those rare sunny summer days.

 

[tuppence]

I use the two long sides of my daughters old cot, tied together at the top, as a drying rack. But most of the time hang everything on the line. I even use the old fashioned dolly pegs.

 

[esteban68]

we use a clothes whirlygig in the warmer dryer weather but have a kitchen maid Airer nearly all year around.... If you put clothes on around 4pm they are generally dry for the following lunchtime apart from jeans which take a bit longer, we havent had or used a tumble dryer for about 10 years ...they are far too expensive to run ....we prefer the eco and free way!

 

[wahine]

My mom used a clothesline when I was growing up except in the coldest of winter. Then she used drying racks and the top and sides of the steam radiators. ...

When I was a kid, my dad used to "freeze dry" the clothes on a rack. We didn't have a dryer at the time, so it was natural to dry everything outdoors - the balcony in our case. He also used the winter drying to demonstrate physics to me: "See, we hang it wet, it freezes, and afterwards it's dry!".
Nowadays I hang my clothes on a rack inside my appartement or in the cellar, since I unfortunately have no balcony. A dryer is out of the question, both for ecological an economical reasons.
On my travels to Egypt I always admired that people hang their clothes on racks outside their window sills. This is forbidden in most German houses. Every time I read it in my rental contract, I think: "oh, God forbid passers-by notice that there's life inside this house!" I think it's ridiculous to forbid this, air dryed clothes are the best imho.

 

[vintageTink]

Not to mention they smell great. I wish I could put mine outside, but like tonyb, putting them outside here in WA defeats the purpose!

 

[LizzieMaine]

When I was a kid, my dad used to "freeze dry" the clothes on a rack. We didn't have a dryer at the time, so it was natural to dry everything outdoors - the balcony in our case. He also used the winter drying to demonstrate physics to me: "See, we hang it wet, it freezes, and afterwards it's dry!".

People always doubt whether this is true or not, but it really does work. The colder the air the better -- single numbers or below zero Farenheit is the best. The washing will freeze almost instantly once you put it outside, but leave it out overnight and then bring it in in the morning and let it thaw and you'll find that most of the moisture has been sublimated out -- it'll be a little damp, but that's just what you need for ironing. Plus nothing smells better than sheets that have been deep-frozen.

 

[fortworthgal]

I just came indoors from hanging 2 loads out on our backyard clothesline. Won't be dry this evening, but likely by tomorrow lunchtime or late morning.

We do own a dryer, but I try to use the clothesline and indoor racks as much as possible, to save money on electricity. During the Texas summers, hanging the laundry outside is almost as fast as using the dryer. :laugh:

 

[missjo]

An electronic wash drying machine?
Do I look like a millionaire eccentric?!!
Next you'll ask me if I have my own Zeppelin and a robot to do the cleaning.

 

[vintageTink]

Next you'll ask me if I have my own Zeppelin and a robot to do the cleaning.

You mean some don't?!

 

[John in Covina]

An electronic wash drying machine? Do I look like a millionaire eccentric?!!
Next you'll ask me if I have my own Zeppelin and a robot to do the cleaning.

Mostly we have autogyros.

 

[John in Covina]

Sometimes in SoCal the summer can be fairly low humidity and the heat is raging when hanging up sheets the first one is nearly dry before the last one is hung up. i prefer the the spring clip wood ones for clothesline pins.