Groanin' under the Weight

[curly_kate]

We have an old & horribly inefficient dryer, so I LOVE when I can hang clothes outside. On a warm day, it's sooo much quicker! I have one of those "umbrella" type dryers, and we can get a ton of stuff onto it. We don't have neighbors who can see what's hanging up, but I still put all the 'delicates' on the inside lines so that they're covered by t-shirts and other big stuff.

 

[digitS']

If they are too stiff (& wrinkled) 10 minutes in the dryer will change that. Of course, it is the washer that wrinkles them. I hang all shirts upside down. Either that or leave the clothespins as epaulets on the shoulders to wear thru the day .

In some cases, you can use "air only" with the dryer and leave the heat off.

A stiff pair of Levis helps keep me upright in the morning . . . . .

Steve
Hey, an old clothespin spring turned up in the garden yesterday! It was about twice the size of a "modern" clothespin spring.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have been hanging clothes out since 1998. I don't hang them outside in the winter. I probably look odd to the neighbors. There is an older man that lives next to us that does hang out sheets or bedding sometimes. I don't have an electric dishwasher either. I don't have a furnace either, but a lot of the neighbors burn wood. I have to be careful to hide my DD's clothes when I hang them up so that they cannot be seen, so a lot of the times she hangs up the clothes for me and now I have DS helping with the clothes. I think the line is 50 feet away. I think it is about 25 ft long and 2 lines. DH is thinking of shortening and making 4 lines.

 

[so lucky]

I hadn't heard that about dew and then sun bleaching out stains & such. Good to know. My neighbor across the street must have some badly stained sheets, cause she has been known to leave them out for a week at a time!

 

[lesa]

Oh, how I wish I could have a clothesline! I envy you... there is absolutely nothing better than the smell of line dried sheets! Love the line about the stiff jeans keeping you upright, Steve!

 

[897tgigvib]

Completely off grid here. I take my laundry to town to wash them, and then only a few minutes in the dryer. When I get home I hang them all around the house for overnight. By next morning most everything is dry. Pants or blankets might take the next day to finish drying.

I suppose I could make a line outside. Maybe one day.

 

[digitS']

I used to have a line on 2 pulleys at the last house, Marshall.

The line/pulley was attached right beside the backdoor. The other end was high on the garage across a small backyard. I could stand just outside the door and hang one thing after another and pull it across the yard . The clothes were mostly high enuf that I could walk under them when I was on the lawn.

I always liked that in the pictures of old city neighborhoods. And, above some of the narrow streets in Europe with the families' clotheslines stretched all the way across the street from one 2nd floor window to the opposite wall of a different building. I know. There would be other things to like about city life but there was something that just seemed to say "community" with everyone's laundry out on a sunny day.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

My DH outdid himself at clothesline construction. I love clothes hung outside. I believe I have the best clothesline on either side of the Mississippi with 9 lines that are 20 feet long. That's a lot of hanging space now that it is just the two of us here.

Picture a goal post at each end that is trellised for growing my honeysuckle at one end. This year I am planting peas or beans on the other 'goal post' until I find another honeysuckle I like.

I often will hang clothes outside in the winter - especially on cold but sunny days. Things ALWAYS smell better hung in the fresh air, IMHO. The lines are between the deck and the garden -- and since I get a shoveled path to the coop -- it's easy to get to despite the snow.