THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES: (if you don't know
what clotheslines are, better skip this)


1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes
-walk the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth around the
lines.


2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and
always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.


3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by
the tail!. What would the neighbors think?


4. Wash day on a Monday! . .. . Never hang clothes on the
weekend, or Sunday, for Heaven's sake!


5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you
could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts &
busybodies, y'know!)


6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather . ....
Clothes would "freeze-dry.."


7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry
clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"


8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that
each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the
clothes pins with the next washed item..


9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly
folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.


10. IRONED?! Well, that's a whole other subject!




A POEM


A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by,
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.




It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.




For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths"
With intricate designs.




The line announced a baby's birth
From folks who lived inside -
As brand new infant clothes were hung,
So carefully with pride!




The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
You'd know how much they'd grown!




It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.




It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare!


New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way .


But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess!


I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line

I just love this little story. Oh, how well I remember the clothesline!! :D
I can still smell the freshness of the clothes, when taking them off the line. Great memories!! :D

i must confess that when the sun shines, i still use one. i made my dh put one back up a few years back and i still love he way clothes smell.

I just recently went back to a clothesline.
Florida decided that no matter what a homeowner association said anyone could hang out the wash!
Good for the environment.

I've always heard such wonderful talk about clotheslines. The smell, the crispness, etc. Not to mention saving energy. Maybe we should do a couple of loads this way. And hide the 'unmentionables" of course! LOL! Thanks for sharing. Now I know how to do it!

I have such "fond" memories of bringing in the boards in the winter! :? :lol: :lol: :lol:

i remember bringing in the frozen diapers. you could hit someone over the head with them and give them a concussion!

(yes, children...diapers were made to be washed and reused. not thrown away)

I used to love helping my grandma and great aunt with hanging the clothes on the clothesline. :) Such a fond memory.

Heck I did one through three this week!!!!

I use my clotheslines that Roy put up for me several several years ago. Even my Respite worker uses them. She's always trying to save me a little money, that really helps in all sorts of ways.

I remember my fingers freezing with the push clothespins instead of the clip type we have now. Mom hung those clothes in the wash house when it was raining or freezing after Daddy built it. Was much easier on the hands.

Remember the wringer washers?

The RV Park in Florida where we winter allows clothes lines. A lot of us use them.

They are the pole variety.

I still take my fabric to the laundromat to dry it, though.

during WWII we had a clothesline out the second floor window that we used through a window (in NYC). it attached to a tall pole. if the wind blew something off it was long gone. LOL. i helped my grandma by handing her the push clothespins. and then taking them back. that was in a brownstone apartment.

years later my mom had a wringer washer that emptied into a sink. it had tall legs. by then my dad was home and mom and i weren't living with the grands anymore. all i remember is diapers, diapers, and more diapers. first my dbro's and then my dsis's.

it was such a chore then, but so nice now. it's like alone time. your mind is free to wander. you don't have to think about what you're doing. you're on automatic pilot. no noise. no interruptions. just you and sun.

I wish that I had a clothesline now, :D I remember jeans that would stand up on their own they were so stiff :lol: :lol: :lol: I used to take a couple of loads of dried clothes to the laundramat just to soften them in the dryer for a few minutes :roll: :roll: I just could not put those stiff rough diapers on the babies or wrap them up in the rough towels :wink:

I remember clotheslines. I still like to hang out my sheets when I can. They smell so good. Love the poem.

when i posted this, i never realized what a bunch old fogies there were here. i only knew about me. LOL! :mrgreen:

when we first moved out here in Az,we weren't allowed to use the dryer,only in emergencies or extended rain.we always hung our clothes out to dry,after all we have about 300 days of sunshine.I am thinking about putting one up in the backyard.

I still use a clothesline for most things, but I live in the Sunshine state.

I just used mine this week for the first time this spring...I couldn't wait until the weather was decent enough to use it again.
I only have 1 line now, and I had to argue with husband to keep it...He doesn't like it. Oh, but to go to bed with bedding fresh off the line...........

What wonderful memories! I have been thinking about getting one again. I loved the smell.

One thing I was SOOOOOOO excited by when I moved to Spain was being able to dry my washing outside so easily. On the first day we moved over to Spain, I had the workmen hammer two scaffolding poles into the bare earth and strung a line up, and I had to ring my Mum in the UK to tell her the washing dried in an hour!! I do use my dryer during wet spells and this winter it has been used more than ever, but much prefer to dry my washing outsides. I loved nothing better than seeing a whole row of white nappies blowing in the wind AND I used to iron them too!! I was one of the last to use Terri Nappies my sons are 25 and 22 :D

We always had a clothesline where we lived, that is IF it were feasible. I love hanging clothes out! I think drying them in the sun made them just smell better for some reason.
Grew up with a clothesline and sometimes Mom would put the clothes out and she would see a "streaker" going thru the yard after something that was needed on the line. Good thing we lived out in the middle of the country! lol Yes, it was usually me running out there. lol
I loved the wringer washer we had too....we had the good one, could either go electric or by hand. That's what Mom wanted, so that's what she got. That way, if power went off, she could still finish the clothes.

I told hubby that when we get our house, I want a clothesline. He laughed and said sure...then I KNOW the clothes will be folded once they are dry. lol (I don't like folding clothes, but you HAVE to fold when they come off the line!) :) :)

Terri, what a picture that would have made if you could have caught the streaker on camera...great blackmail to be had lol!!

BW ...looky what you made me do on a Sunday!! What will the neightbours say?? Just as well I ain't got any too close then isn't it :wink:

lol Izy
Every once in a while a car or truck would catch someone streaking across the yard. Not too often tho. Had to learn how to RUN FAST and if you heard a vehicle coming, had to find a something to duck down behind, which was a hard job to do, especially if Dad wasn't home because he parked his truck near the line and you could hide behind that.

I use a clothesline as much as I can.
Judy in Ohio

Terri, what an image I've got in my brain now!

I still use a clothesline (I don't have a dryer!) but I don't hide my 'smalls' behind the sheets - loud and proud, that's me!

K x

Ah, BW I am such an old foggie! I remember all of those. Hanging my baby sisters diapers on the line and they would freeze before you could get a clothes pin in them. Doing the whites first, then the other things.

Starching what needed to be starched, then wetting them down and rolling them up and ironing everything! Some fond memories , but wouldn't want to do it that way all the time now! I was so short, that I had to stand on a wooden coke box to iron and mom would take the poles down, so I could reach the clothes line to hang.

I guess I am defiantly an old Foggie!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:



Ninnie

Oh, remember the bottle with the holes in the cap to sprinkle the water on the clothes? Then if you didn't get the ironing done, you put the clothes in the freezer, well, at least we did until ironing day again.

My son just put my cloths line back up for me. Problem is it has been raining almost every day! I want my sheets dried outside!!!! I also remember the frozen towels and diapers! The sun and frost helped to whiten those diapers too!

Oh yea, I remember, we had a coke bottle that a cork sprinkler top fit into and would put the clothes in a pillow case all rolled up and place in the refrigerator! Those were not the good ole days. Mom,(my grandmother) ironed everything , hankies, Dad's boxers , sheets and pillow cases.Even the dish towels. :lol: :lol: Now I only iron when deeded, mostly material!


Ninnie

Everything got ironed back then!
I still like ironing. I think it's relaxing!

Well, I still have a clothesline in my backyard...its used to strangle the yard guy when he mows under it :roll: I've asked DH to pull it up, but it will take the tractor as the poles are set in concrete!

Actually, I remember Mom using one of those umbrella type clothes lines...you know, square with about 4 separate lines going around it and it folded up like an umbrella. We moved so much that I don't think Dad could have kept up with the putting up and taking down of all the clothes lines. I guess I'm just a "whoose" now...I prefer using the dryer..and I only iron my fabrics... :wink:

I remember helping Mom hangs clothes on our lines. I was the one who would wipe the bird dodo off :roll: the lines before we could hang. LOL

Thanks for the fun memories of laundry days spent helping mom. I hated it than but looking back it was quality time we had together.

And yes she did have a wringer washer and I would play in the rinse tubs.

I still use a clothes line but would never hang underwear....who has the time LOL

Our HOA doesn't allow clotheslines, my neighbors said they even received a warning from the HOA for leaving pool towels to dry on the deck overnight. (But I read somewhere there is a national "green" movement to outlaw any limitations on clotheslines, hope that passes.) I would love one, they sound so healthy and fresh. My family didn't have one when I was a child. When we moved to Virginia in the late 60s my mom got her first clothes dryer (she said she has had a washer her whole life), she was so happy, she used to talk about what a chore line drying was.

I used the clothes line on a Sunday just last year and my neighbor told me his mother would be most displeased. I informed him, so would mine and we had a good chuckle and a discussion on philosophy and religion.

Speaking of HOAs, an HOA in Orange County CA can fine you for leaving your garage door open for longer than an hour. This is in a subdivision where every home is the same color, etc.

Remember them heck..............I still use them!!!!!!!Also mimisharon, I remeber the wringer washer and am very thankful for the automatic wash machine being invented :-)

I also remember trying to out run a storm and get the dryl clothes off the line before the rain got here. We were always laughing as we did it. That is a good memory. but I am thankful for my washer and dryer and use them almost every day.
In the summer we did laundry on the back porch and in the winter brought it into the kitchen to wash. Then rolled it back outside.

We also made home made bread every Saturday morning, enough for the whole week and large cinnamon buns that would melt in your mouth with home made butter. Now I would love to have one of those buns again! :D :D None of us were fat, yet we ate whatever we wanted and always had home made desert at dinner. Now if I even look at a piece of pastery, the pounds fly on.

Ahh , the good ole days! :lol: :lol:


Ninnie

I used clotheslines for years. So did my mom and MIL. But we had lines in the basement for the winter cold weather. I have a line in this basement that I use for rugs and heavy stuff. I sstill have my clothespins in my homemade bag. I made it from Ticking fabric over 25 years ago.
Darlene

I remember them! Bring back memories. It was my job to take the clothes in and fold them. I still remember once I brought in the sheets and started folding them, and one of those nasty cicada bugs was in one of the sheets. I screemed, my dad came and grabbed it by the wings and started chasing me with it. YUCK!!

I still use a drying rack, if it's nice and sunny out, I'll put the rack outside.