Do you have a clothesline for drying your wash?

It's more of a house thing I think -- there are no clotheslines in apartment buildings, altho I do occasionally put a few things something out on my balcony little drying rack that was handwashed.
 

I had a clothes line years ago but it's been so long, I don't remember when. I just use my dryer now except for 100% cotton items because they shrink so bad in the dryer. Those I hang to dry in my laundry room.
 
When I was 12,my parents went to Spain for a month,so my sister and I stayed with an aunt and uncle several hours away from us. They lived in a rural setting,their house sat at the edge of a huge canyon. They had a pulley type clothesline and it was our job to hang the laundry every day. It was one of my best memories of staying there-running that laundry out over the canon every day was so cool!
 

Mrs. Robinson said:
When I was 12,my parents went to Spain for a month,so my sister and I stayed with an aunt and uncle several hours away from us. They lived in a rural setting,their house sat at the edge of a huge canyon. They had a pulley type clothesline and it was our job to hang the laundry every day. It was one of my best memories of staying there-running that laundry out over the canon every day was so cool!
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That sounds like it was fun Mrs. Robinson. You probably imagined yourself out there on the line hanging over the canyon and if you're afraid of heights it would be even more exciting. :)
 
When I was growing up, I don't think dryers had been invented yet:D, at least not for ordinary people. We hung our clothes on a line in good weather, meaning June, July and August and maybe a day or two in May (if the sNOw was gone yet) and in September (if the sNOw hadn't started yet. Long, long lines so they had to be propped up with clothes poles. The rest of the year, the clothes were hung wherever in the house there was room.

During my high school years, crinolines were a real big deal for wearing under full skirts, and the very stiffest crinolines weren't starched, but rinsed in sugar water instead. Mmhmm. You guessed it. Crinolines rinsed in sugar water and hung outside? A buffet for ants! What a mess! When the crinoline was dry, we shook as many ants off as we could and picked the rest off one at a time. After a time or two or three of spending hours picking ants off the crinoline, most of us with sense, opted for starch instead.

There's another one...starch...starch that could just be mixed with water wasn't around yet. We cooked the starch and even had a special pan just for that purpose. Spray starch in a can was, in my opinion, the greatest invention EVAH! When Whatsisname, The Father of My Children, was still in college and working, he had to have a white shirt every day. A starched white shirt. And we were hardly in a position in those days to send them to the laundry so spray starch was my salvation.

And then along came permanent press, but not until after he was out of school. After his first few months of working, I started sending those cursed white shirts to the laundry, permanent press and spray starch notwithstanding. After all, he had a job and we could afford it!


ETA: Those shirts cost $.85 each to launder, starch and press. Yup eighty-five cents. Times five. That's more than $4 a week that we p*ssed away on luxury.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
When I was growing up, I don't think dryers had been invented yet:D, at least not for ordinary people. We hung our clothes on a line in good weather, meaning June, July and August and maybe a day or two in May (if the sNOw was gone yet) and in September (if the sNOw hadn't started yet. Long, long lines so they had to be propped up with clothes poles. The rest of the year, the clothes were hung wherever in the house there was room.

During my high school years, crinolines were a real big deal for wearing under full skirts, and the very stiffest crinolines weren't starched, but rinsed in sugar water instead. Mmhmm. You guessed it. Crinolines rinsed in sugar water and hung outside? A buffet for ants! What a mess! When the crinoline was dry, we shook as many ants off as we could and picked the rest off one at a time. After a time or two or three of spending hours picking ants off the crinoline, most of us with sense, opted for starch instead.

There's another one...starch...starch that could just be mixed with water wasn't around yet. We cooked the starch and even had a special pan just for that purpose. Spray starch in a can was, in my opinion, the greatest invention EVAH! When Whatsisname, The Father of My Children, was still in college and working, he had to have a white shirt every day. A starched white shirt. And we were hardly in a position in those days to send them to the laundry so spray starch was my salvation.

And then along came permanent press, but not until after he was out of school. After his first few months of working, I started sending those cursed white shirts to the laundry, permanent press and spray starch notwithstanding. After all, he had a job and we could afford it!


ETA: Those shirts cost $.85 each to launder, starch and press. Yup eighty-five cents. Times five. That's more than $4 a week that we p*ssed away on luxury.
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I DO remember those crinolines and the sugar water. What a mess, and besides that they were sticky, even though you wore a straight slip under them. Horrible, but we all wore them.

I didn't do many white shirts, but a whale of a lot of army fatigues and khakis to be washed, starched and perfectly ironed with creases where they were required to be. The minute we could afford it, off those went to the laundry. I have since given up ironing forever. If it needs ironing, I don't need it!
 
When I was a kid not only did we have a washing line in the garden we also had a ceiling clothes pulley in the kitchen, so when it rained..and it rains a lot in Scotland, we'd have to hang all the wet clothing to dry on a pulley exactly the same as this... ...

ceiling-clothes-airer.jpg
 
Yes we have one and I've started using it more since retirement. My husband loves our sheets dried on the line. My clothespin bag fell apart. They aren't that popular. Decided to make my own. I went to Joanne Fabric's (a fabric store out here in Seattle) and asked a young gal if they had clothespin bags, she just looked at me like I was talking to her in a different language and then finally asked me what they were and that she'd never heard of one. I then decided I'd buy some oil cloth and make my own. Went to ask where the oil cloth was located and it was the same gal, again, didn't have a clue what I was talking about. These young 'whippersnappers' today, I tell ya. šŸ˜‰
 
I know what you mean about clothspin bags and oil cloth. We have 3 picnic tables and we would love to have some of those pretty oil cloths. I remember you go to the store and they have it on a roll and measure it out. A few years ago I was all happy because I thought I found it on rolls in Orchard Supply, but it turned out to be some cheap plastic. It was pretty though but I didn't buy any.

It's 12:25 A.M. now and I'm going outside in a minute to hang up some sheets. Why? Because I can. :) And there is a full moon out there.

 
Oh you can still get those oil cloths in Spain and Italy. All the little Todo shops and the ferreterias' and bricolage stores sell it, on rolls in every colour and pattern you can think of, just as you describe Linda . We get it to cover our patio and verandah tables and it's so cheap to buy you can replace it every season if the you need to...but usually it lasts a long time.
 
Dame Warrigal, The Hills Hoist is the de facto standard here as it's the one that will stand up to the wind. (We hold the British record for highest wind speed at sea level of 142 mph). I have the older style with a galvanised post and cast aluminium gearbox.

Hollydolly, my wife asked for a clothes Pulley in the utility room, so we got a reproduction Edwardian one from 'Pulleymaid'.
We leave the front & back windows open and the through draught dries things pretty well. We have a tumble drier, but it is hardly ever used.
 
I live in an apartment and dry my clothes on my upstairs patio in the summer. The railing is solid so no one can see my folding laundry dryers. I have two. I've lived here 5 years and no one knows that I put my clothes out. Never a complaint.

Even if places don't allow lines, there are ways to use laundry lines such as portable and folding ones. A permanent line is more visible and obvious. But I doubt people are looking into others backyards constantly (though you never know)

I don't want to use my dryer when it's hot. I do put my work clothes in the dryer but that's it.
 
We have a clothesline and we use it all the time..
Actually we DON'T have a dryer.. The only way we dry our clothes and laundry is outside.. We live in the remote country and the smell of the clothes from the pine trees is simply priceless..
 
Nothing can compare to the smell of sun and air dried clothes and linens. To slip between sheets dried on a line and rest your head on pillow cases that have been starched and ironed...even if it is only spray starch. Euphoria ! ! !
 
Without a clothesline, how do you get your sheets out of a dryer that are un-crinkled? I know I've tried a couple of times during prolonged wet weather, and the result has been less than satisfactory.
 
My wife loves to dry clothes outside.

I built this for her...One end a table, the other end had two swings for the grandkids. (now grown).
P_20150430_094226.jpg
 
My Mom always hung out the wash, unless it rained. I used to help her with hanging it out or taking it down. Taking it down was the worse of the two jobs because she made me fold it before putting it in the basket. My Sister got away with doing nothing because she was her "Daddy's Little Princess." Boy, how things changed after we got older.
 
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