After hanging clothes on the line everyday for a month...

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

Here is what I have concluded:

 

Hanging clothes is a wonderful way to get some peace and quiet to think.

 

I now understand why ironing used to be a regular household chore.

 

Dryers get rid of a lot of lint.

 

I have to get over wondering what my neighbors think of the state of my towels.

 

Monitor the child who likes to play with the garden hose.

 

Shake out your clothes and look them over quickly when you take them off the line, so you don't take any unwanted visitors into the house, or miss acknowledging presents left by friendly birds.

 

Do not leave a laundry basket of fresh-from-the-line folded clothes shut in the laundry room with your cat. The first time you will be flabbergasted that your sweet kitty that you've had for 13 years would dare to do such a thing.

The second time you will wonder where you left your brain.

 

Best of all, our electric bill was down $18 dollars this month from last!

[KellyGirl]

I found myself thinking the same thing just the other day. Sometimes my littles want to help me hang the clothes, but more often than not I can slip out of the house and be left alone for the 5 minuets it takes to hang a load of laundry. It is a peacful little moment in the middle of my day which offsets the fact that would be quicker to just toss the clothes in the dryer...

 

Dryers also get rid of lots of dog hair....;)

[Laura K (NC)]

So we've been putting our laundry on a makeshift line. My dad came to fix our dryer two days ago and we still haven't used it. :)

 

I am amazed how quickly clothes dry in the summer. My sheets were dry in 20 minutes. Everything else is dry in about an hour if we get it out when it's sunny and between 1-4pm. My dryer doesn't do any better than that.

 

The only thing I have a problem with (besides the lint!) is the wrinkles. It doesn't bother me on most things, but on dressier clothes I don't care to take the time to do ironing, because I hate ironing. Now that the dryer is fixed we can maybe work out a solution.

 

I hang our undies on the line in our laundry room. :)

[Anne/Ankara]

I just read an article that said since gas prices are up, they also notice clothes-hanging lines are selling out (and vegetable seeds). So you're doing something right!

 

Also, in Turkey they don't use clothes dryers, but each family uses a clothes drying rack which they put on the balcony of their apartments. Is that an option? You might get less unintended nature-gifts on your clothes like that... just an idea!

[Doran]

Here is what I have concluded:

 

Hanging clothes is a wonderful way to get some peace and quiet to think.

 

I now understand why ironing used to be a regular household chore.

 

Dryers get rid of a lot of lint.

 

I have to get over wondering what my neighbors think of the state of my towels.

 

Monitor the child who likes to play with the garden hose.

 

Shake out your clothes and look them over quickly when you take them off the line, so you don't take any unwanted visitors into the house, or miss acknowledging presents left by friendly birds.

 

Do not leave a laundry basket of fresh-from-the-line folded clothes shut in the laundry room with your cat. The first time you will be flabbergasted that your sweet kitty that you've had for 13 years would dare to do such a thing.

The second time you will wonder where you left your brain.

 

Best of all, our electric bill was down $18 dollars this month from last!

 

 

 

I have to get over wondering what my neighbors must think of the state of my undies! :blushing: (Sorry, tmi...I know)

 

Glad you're finding line drying a mostly good experience. I wouldn't trade it for a brand new dryer!

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I have to get over wondering what my neighbors must think of the state of my undies! :blushing: (Sorry, tmi...I know)

 

Glad you're finding line drying a mostly good experience. I wouldn't trade it for a brand new dryer!

 

 

Well, the undies are usually hiding behind the towels. :D

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I found myself thinking the same thing just the other day. Sometimes my littles want to help me hang the clothes, but more often than not I can slip out of the house and be left alone for the 5 minuets it takes to hang a load of laundry. It is a peacful little moment in the middle of my day which offsets the fact that would be quicker to just toss the clothes in the dryer...

 

Dryers also get rid of lots of dog hair....;)

 

Not just dog hair. After I gave my guys hair cuts, I thought I would be itching for weeks.

[Jane in NC]

 

Also, in Turkey they don't use clothes dryers, but each family uses a clothes drying rack which they put on the balcony of their apartments. Is that an option? You might get less unintended nature-gifts on your clothes like that... just an idea!

 

I have an ash drying rack that is based on a WWII era design. At that time, many people left rural communities to work at factories in cities where the multi-family units did not have space for clothes lines. The rack holds a load of laundry and then folds for storage. I can place the rack on my deck and then grab it quickly if we get a pop up summer shower as was once the case (before this drought).

 

Jane

[Margaret in GA]

That's funny that you find your clothes are more wrinkled, since I find mine are less. Of course, that may be because I tend to leave my clothes laying around in the dryer for days and days...and when they're on the line, you don't have that "luxury"!

 

I did read somewhere, though, that you can put them into the dryer for 10 minutes and then hang them out to dry and you'll find them less wrinkled. Sounds like a pain to me (and given my inclination to leave them in the dryer, a downright bad idea). ;)

 

Margaret

[Colleen in NS]

Hanging laundry outside is the only household chore I really love to do.

[Jumping In Puddles]

Just be careful in the spring with people in your household that might have pollen allergies. I speak from experience :( It can be miserable.

[NCW]

$18!!! I used to hang out clothes, but haven't in the past couple of years...I think I'm going to get back out there. Thanks for the impetus.

 

NCW

[Crissy]

I wish we had a long enough stretch of good weather that I could get back into the habit of hanging my laundry on the line.

 

[jmgconner]

After days of rain and threatening rain, I hung my clothes out again today. I love doing it in the summer. In the winter, I'm a wimp and use the dryer. :D

[Mamasteff]

We have a friend who is one of 11 children. Her favorite family chore was always hanging out the clothes, because she got time alone.

 

Your post really made me giggle. Thanks!

[brehon]

 

I did read somewhere, though, that you can put them into the dryer for 10 minutes and then hang them out to dry and you'll find them less wrinkled. Sounds like a pain to me (and given my inclination to leave them in the dryer, a downright bad idea). ;)

 

 

:lol: :lol: That is my problem as well. I used to leave clothes in both the washer and dryer. Now that I line dry, I tend to leave clothes in the washer and on the line. <sigh> I try to get my cloth nappies off the line when they're still a bit damp for 15 or 20 minutes in the dryer to fluff them a bit. Note that I said "try". And I've found that rain actually helps smooth out wrinkles on many of the clothes.:blush:

 

We just received our electric bill and noticed a savings of almost $50 v. where we would be if we used the dryer. Unfortunately, I live in an area which has already experienced 12 (!) 100+ degree days; so, not running the A/C is not an option.

 

And I completely agree about the solitude. My mom thinks I'm crazy for willingly hanging clothes to dry. I tried to explain that it's one of the few times where I don't have "Mama" ringing in my ears.

[Colleen]

I wish we had a long enough stretch of good weather that I could get back into the habit of hanging my laundry on the line.

 

It's cool to hear so many people are joining the clothesline gang! I grew up hanging clothes out, thanks to my German mother, so it's never occured to me to just rely on a dryer. Few Europeans I know even own dryers. When we first moved here, we didn't have one and I insisted I was never going to get one. When I couldn't hang clothes, I put them on drying racks by the wood stove. Eventually, it did prove to be way too much work and I now rely on my dryer most of the winter ~ except for the occasional dry, windy day.

 

Spring through fall I try to just hang clothes. My primary problem isn't the weather ~ I can work around that. It's the farm smell that some days is particularly unpleasant. Today, as a matter of fact, I hung two loads out in the a.m. and then went away for several hours. When I came home, the neighbor was spreading manure (on their fields) and the wind was blowing such that it *reeked* at our place. Luckily, one load is farm clothes anyway, so who cares if those smell?:tongue_smilie:

[*anj*]

We've been dryer free for about 18 months now. From May through about October I can hang my clothes out to dry. During the cold months I hang them on hangers in the basement. This winter I may go ahead and use the dryer, though, because it takes a lot longer for clothes to dry in the basement. Plus, I'm limited because I only have space to hang maybe three loads, max. On a nice hot day outside I can do so much more laundry in a day.

 

Oh, and I dry my unmentionables inside too. ;)

[Colleen]

We've been dryer free for about 18 months now. From May through about October I can hang my clothes out to dry. During the cold months I hang them on hangers in the basement.

 

Ya know, if I had a basement, that's what I'd do. Basements aren't too common out here, though, and if I did have one, it'd be in a foot of water more often than not.:D

[3lilreds in NC]

We live in a sub that doesn't allow clotheslines. I do have an umbrella clothesline that I brought when we moved here (10 years ago) that I thought dh could set up on the deck, and make it so I could bring it in at the end of the day and hopefully no one would complain, but we've never tried it. Now that we have lots of birds and squirrels and other critters, I think it would be kind of silly to put the clothes out there. I do miss the smell of laundry dried on the line!

 

I do have a really awesome drying rack, but it's so big it's really in the way when I have it set up. I may have to try to make it work though.

[Quiver0f10]

We started hanging 90% of our wash out too, but I dry the undies :D

[Tammy]

Wow....it wouldn't be worth $18 for me to hang clothes out on a line, LOL! How many loads do you wash each week?

[Colleen]

Wow....it wouldn't be worth $18 for me to hang clothes out on a line, LOL!

 

But the first thing she said was that hanging clothes out is a wonderful way to get some peace and quiet to think. So she enjoys it ~ as do I. I can't imagine just shoving clothes into a dryer. We don't mind in the least hanging them out, and I don't do it for financial reasons. I have no clue what the difference in my electric bill would be if I used the dryer more often. I do it because to me, it feels good and like the right thing to do.:)

[Sharon H in IL]

When my grandma was in her last years and living with my brother and SIL, she would doze the day away, unless you asked if she would hang clothes out on the line. Then she snapped awake and went to work with gusto! :001_smile:

 

I'm a lot like my grandma Lola. ;)

[HRAAB]

Here is what I have concluded:

 

Hanging clothes is a wonderful way to get some peace and quiet to think.

 

Yes, yes, yes. That's my time - unless the kids are fighting over the swingset. :001_huh:

 

Our backyard is private and completely fenced so neighbors can't see what I have hanging up. Today I had a clothesline full of all sorts of underwear - 6 females in this family.

 

Janet

[HRAAB]

This website has a little widget where you can calculate how much you spend using your dryer. It looks as though I save approx. $230. a year not using our dryer. We have cheaper electricity here than the U.S. average, but still I see all those smaller savings adding up to bigger savings. Plus, I enjoy hanging clothes.

 

Janet

[Mom to Aly]

OK, I am from NYC, now living in hicksville (or so it feels) but I have never understood a clothes line! First of all, there are pollutants, pollen, and icky stuff out there that I want to get off my clothes when I wash them! Second of all--yuck! Clothes hanging outside? Why? I really don't get it! Give me a good washer and dryer, and I am happy!

[*anj*]

And that, Ladies and Gents, is what we call a Thread Killer.

 

 

 

:D

[oakmom]

We put up a retractable clothesline in our upstairs hallway and I love it. Our washing machine is upstairs so it is handy to use.

 

We live in a sub that doesn't allow clotheslines.