Rules for Clotheslines -- You'll love this......


You have to be a certain age to appreciate this. I can hear my mother now.
My mother would have loved this! Do you remember?


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


1. You had to wash the clothesline 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".(I so remember this)


7. Always gather the clothespins 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 clothespins, but shared one of the clothespins with the next washed item.


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


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

My mother still line dries her clothes...follows most of these rules

i love this.. ty for sharing

I do remember.... and still occassionally hang out my clothes.

I remember these rules well, broke them all as soon as I moved out on my own.

Yes, indeed I do remember. Love to hang bed clothes on the line. Can't hang clothes in this neighborhood unless you have a privacy fence. Next on the list of home improvement.

Perfect and I do!

Still following most of the rules. I remember my mother's fingers turning blue in the winter!!!

I hang my 'laundry' on the line still.. whether its in the laundry/mud room or outside.. Ill use the dryer to 'heat' the area in the winter.. but i still 'fluff' my laundry in the dryer for 10-15 min just off the line to remove possible lil critters hitching a ride..

i do remeber very well thanks for sharing

I love to hang my clothes on the line. Wish I had 1 again. It also saves a lot of money on the electric bill.

That's crazy... yay dryers!

Yes I remember ALL of these rules. Monday was washing, Tuesday was ironing, Wednesday was house cleaning, Thursday was weeding in the garden, Friday was canning and Saturday was baking bread. Sunday was a day of rest because it is the Sabbath day.

I can remember my great aunt coming to visit when I was little, probably 7 or 8 and her and I hung the laundry out on the line and she was horrified that I didn't hang it in a certain order. She pulled it all down and helped me hang it so it looked nice while drying and shared a clothes pin with it's neighboring piece. Oh and yes, all unmentionables in the middle line, hung out of sight of the neighbors! We lived in the country so no one was going to see how the laundry was hung anyway!! She was a wonderful, wonderful women and I learned a lot from her, including how to quilt!! And I was named after her too!!

Brings back memories --- those were the rules when I was a kid!!!! Ohhhhh I feel sooooo old!!!! And the "good old days" HAH! Give me washers/dryers and microwaves/dishwashers!

♫ thanks for the mem-o-ries ♫

Bring the pin bag inside so they don't dark spots

I hang the laundry out as much as possible. My OCD gets the better of me sometimes- I match the clips for each load (1 gets white, 1 gets light blue, 1 gets dark blue). I have a rack for the socks and undies- I hang them by "owner" so when I put them in the basket they are presorted.

Shirts I hang on plastic hangers- I just clip the hanger to the line so they don't move around. No pinchy marks and I just take them and hang them in the closet- less work.

Love the smell of sheets from the line. I don't even mind the towels being like boards. :)

That's funny. My Mom must have been a rebel... she didn't follow very many of those "rules"!! But she loved the smell and feel of clothes dried out on the line!

I had forgotten about washing off the line, but we did have to do that. I still hang clothes out, once it gets warm enough. None of that winter and blue fingers stuff for me. Love the smell, and I do throw towels into dryer for a few minutes to soften. Good memories.

My mom lived in a subdivision with rows and rows of houses - back to back - and she HAD to be the first one with clothes on the line on Monday mornings! Anybody remember the pole that you put under the clothesline to raise the clothes up?

I use the clothesline in the summer months. The only thing that goes in the dryer is towels. Since I live in Texas it doesn't take long for the laundry to dry this time of year. Using the clothesline sure cuts down on the electric bill.
I don't live within the city limits, so no rules saying I can't hang my clothes on the line.
My house didn't come equipped with wiring for a dryer, until my electrician(dh) installed it.

I hang out laundry most of the year and I live in Canada as I love the smell of clean clothes. I still follow most of your laundry line rules as I guess I learned them from my mother and a lot of them do make sense. I have a Hills clothesline (the best!)and sheets or towels don't fit well on the shorter inside lines. As a result, undies and socks have to be hung first and colours are grouped together as that's how I washed them. This line is so big that it will hold five or six loads and the only time I don't use it is if the snow is too deep and towels are dragging in the snow bank.

Amen!

My parents owned a 18 unit motel. We did all of our own linens and bedding. Summers were the worst! Never got to go anywhere until all the rooms were cleaned and the last load of sheets were hung on the line. During the winter, dad had a clothesline hung up in the garage.

A few weeks ago I was at the laundromat and pulled out a fitted sheet from the dryer and had it folded in about 30 seconds. A lady standing next to me asked "how did you do that?" Practice, practice and practice. I went home and shared that story with my mom.

whites in the sun. colors in the shade.

I don't remember any of these rules but someone must have impressed them on me because I recognize doing many of those things when I was assigned this chore as a kid.

Yep...I never had an automatic washer and didn't have a dryer either until 1989. I washed with a wringer washer and hung outside, unless it was raining, and then hung clothes in the "mud room".

That was only 21 years ago! I'd still be hanging outside if we owned our own home...

No wonder my hubby fusses when I hang out the clothes on Sunday. He is older than me. lol.I do stick to most of the rules but dont take them after the frost comes and kills the spiders in the pail. Lol

I remember grandmother living with us -- she had to have the clothes out by 6am on Monday morning. She also starched my dad's boxers, but that is another story (LOL). If grandmother did not get up in time, mom would put the clothes in the dryer and then the fur would fly.

For what it is worth I have a clothes line in my back yard, not used that much but every once in awhile on a nice light breezt day I will hang out the laundry. Something about clothes that are dried from the sun that I like.

I remember all of that! Thanks for taking me down memory lane. I remember running between the sheets and holding my arms out to touch the sheets on both sides. I can even remember the smell of them. Boy those were the days.

I do remember the rules !! We live in the country and I still use the clothesline for sheets and my husbands work shirts.
I like the dryer for whites now they make them softer.

Yep still do most!

I do remember.....

I remember my Mom hanging her clothes this way. She had a dryer but seldom ever used it. Her clothes and linens always smelled so good!

Yes..I remember it like it was yesterday..Grandma was wicked about that Monday laundry being just right..good memories !!

My Mom's clothes line made for some dramatic pictures when I lived out there. Now I'm in town and have a clothes line here too, love it for those bigger items! Thanks for the list of how to do it right!

That's so funny because my mom followed the same rules except # 7 LOL. And yes, I remember the pole too :D
I still hang my clothes on the line but only in summer and don't follow any of those rules.

memories, but do not miss hanging clothes, the dryer is so much easier, no bird do on the clothes especially after they had been eating berries.