I remember clotheslines but had no idea there were rules. :shock: :shock:

Do you remember clotheslines?



You have to be a certain age to appreciate this. I can still hear my mother now ...





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!

I didn't know there were rules that I was following when I had a clothes line. Well atleast 1 thru 7 that is.

what was the length of wood with a notch used to raise and tighten the line----our first line went from our house eves to a branch on our red river gum tree--40 years ago that branch is now 2 meters higher than the house

I remember having to follow #7 & #8. We didn't get to use the dryer if it was nice outside.

Yes...I remember well. I love to sleep in a bed with fresh sheets dried outside on the line.

Wish I still had a clothesline. I miss the smell of clean sheets!

I have a clothesline now and have that same stick. My line goes from a tree to the light pole and it sags in the middle when loaded. So I got a cedar 1X2, notched it on one end and prop up the line when needed. I'm sure there is a specific name for it but I can't remember it either. Clothesline poles are what usually hold the lines.

I grew up with those rules. I remember Grandma bringing in Grandpas work pants in the winter and they were frozen solid.

Yup, I remember those rules well!

I use a whirly "clothesline." Only one of those rules applies to reality: hang clothes by the tail. Goes for pants, too.

We hang unmentionables indoors as did my grandmother. They're indoors because the sun eats them not because of any false modesty.

Weirdness: the sun eats jeans quickly but cotton t-shirts last forever.

The most important clothesline rule: Pay attention to the weather.

One thing you forgot, was that the clothes pins also had to be bleached, because if they were moldy, they would leave spots on the clean clothes, and tired women were not happy about that.

Like the old saying went, if Mamma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!

I still have a clothesline, I only use it in the Summer months. Texas summer temps are 95-100+, so the clothes dry quickly. Only towels get done in the dryer. My house didn't have wiring for a dryer or a/c until 15 yrs ago, when my DH put it in. Its lovely to have my own personal electrician.

Do you remember the metal stretchers that were inserted into the legs of Daddy's khaki work pants so they wouldn't have to be ironed? I hated those things with a passion...

I remember my mom with her first washing machine, an old wringer type.She would wash the clothes, hang them on the clothes line to dry...take them in (sometimes frozen), sprinkle them with water, roll them in bath towels, put them in the refrig for a day or so, then take them out and iron them !!! CRAZY ??? I never understand it.

I am so glad to have a dryer! Although I like the smell of sheets dried on the line, I have learned to love the smell of convenience!!! ha ha ha :lol: :-D

Here, here! :thumbup:

Too many rules. I still have a clothesline; however, since having bilateral total knee surgeries July 09, I rely on my dryer so I won't fall outside. As a teen, my Mom worked so my brother & I got to do the washing & drying most Sat's out in the garage on the wringer machine. Sometimes it was so cold the clothes would freeze before we got them hung on the line. If I spent the night with my Grandparents & Aunt, she'd have to have me home by 7am to help do laundry.

I grew up with a ringer washer - it was my job to do laundry on Thursdays - and I'd get soaking wet doing all the rinsing in the double tubs. We didn't even have a dryer (and I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the 60's-70's - can you believe it!), so I'd have to hang it all on the line. In the basement if it was winter.

I have a question - do the clothes really freeze dry in the winter? Not that I could get my wet hands to work out there that time of year, but it sounds interesting...

I am still using clotheslines...we have two paralell lines and a drying area on the back wall of our house. Still follow most of the "rules" but I put shirts and t's on plastic hangers...it cuts down on ironing. We do have a dryer, but it is only used in the depths of winter. Power prices keep rising here and dryers are really expensive to run.

We had a traditional line when I was a kid...we called the poles props.

Naturalmama, the clothes sure do freeze if it's below freezing temps outside. It's like wrestling a frozen piece of cardboard to hang up shirts & towels. I do remember metal stretchers for men's/women's pants. We weren't allowed to wear pants to school back in 50s & 60s (girls & women here in the South were under different rules then than now). My Dad even went to the Principal, but no luck.

number 5. is one I never did !! My unmentionables were always died in the house. When I was younger my older sister was visiting from Michigan. Mom told her to bring in her personal items. She didn't the next day her bras were gone and the crotches of her undies were missing.

:shock: :shock:

We called ours the clothes prop. It was an extending one, i.e. in two pieces that overlapped, and one could be pushed up to make it longer so that it lifted up the line to keep the washing off the ground.

What about putting those pant stretchers on the blue jeans?
Washed diapers everyday when my olders daughter was a baby
in the wringer washer with all those rince tubs. That was
46 years ago.Thank the Lord everything is better today.

My grandmother used to do this with my moms /aunts and uncles I was just thinking of this today how funny. I never asked her why I will tomorrow and post it!!! She was military 1pm all chores done starched and put away. Ugh I could not do that today!!!

We called that wooden stick that propped up the line the "clothes pole".

Well blow me down! :D So "that" is where my Mom got her rules! :D :D :D A trip down memory lane for sure. I'm so very thankful we have clothes dryers now. :wink: I do have a clothesline that I use ever now & again. I remember having to go gather ny baby brotheres diapers off of the line in the dead of Winter. :shock: Yep sometimes they were frozen to the line & stiff as a board. :roll: Geez.

I grew up with rules like this. And I had to follow them all because my mom would checked.
Don't follow them since I left home. The dryer is so much easier. :)

I still use a clothesline. I do have a dryer, but only use it in the really cold monthes, or a long rainy spell!
Sometimes its a pain, but it saves money! LOL, I only follow a few rules, undies are hidden in the middle, but I live way out, no one will see, and I wash my line to, in case of bird poop!

Mom used those things - and then they ended up tangled in a corner of the room she did laundry in. And we didn't call it a laundry room then. Who had rooms dedicated to doing wash back in the day? LOL!

living on the sunshine coast of oz, we use cloths lines all year round, only have a few days a year that you cannot hang the washing on the line. and yes i follow most of the rule here too.

Yup, those were the rules i was taught, and also, the heaviest items were put on first, next to the poles to keep them from stretching the line in the middle.
i still adhere to these rules, and my daughter who isn't THAT old, still hangs clothes all summer long...winter time...not so much (and i did literally break a pair of pants one time that were (freeze dried) ...tried to fold them in half, broke them in half instead :) boy was my mom mad!

yes yes yes --the cloths prop--now i can go to sleep---do only aussies have 'the hills hoist'? seen all over the world at the sydney olympics

What a fun thread. Thank you all for wonderful recollections and stories. My mother also hung clothes on the line prior to getting a dried and then continued to hang out in warmer weather even after getting one. I still have clotheslines and use them whenever weather permits. I didn't know there were rules but we followed most of ones listed. My dad made the clothes poles from skinny tree (probably poplar) with a branch crotch near the top holding the line. I don't recall worrying about hiding the undies but then we didn't have neighbors close by (and I still don't). A funny story: a friend had a old Polish woman who lived next to her who thought my friend was just awful because she hung her undies on the line right next to her husbands. Shame on her, what would others think!

I have only a clothesline, the rules were not taught to me, but being a bit OCD I have to hang like things together.
Mine is a single line so tall things go at the ends as they might hit the ground in the middle.

It's always a nice day when I do the wash, and as i hang the things out in the sunshine, and listen to the birds singing, I think,,,I would miss all this if I had a dryer. Plus my electric bills would be sky-high!

Well, I still use it every week. I just did two blankets and dark clothes and hung them out this morning.

I remember these rules clearly too and the pant stretches. My grand mother raised me. She even taught me to iron everything thing included socks and undies besides the all the other things. so I'm saying everything washed everything ironed.

Not today I don't do those things now.

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


mine stay outside year around...too lazy to bring them in LOL

I have to bring mine in, they do get yucky and leave marks

Yup, I remember them. And the pants stretchers, too. I do so love the smell of sheets dried on the line.

In the winter my mom would hang the wash in our upstairs bedroom on lines stretched from corner to corner and through the middle. It didn't dry very fast and I remember trying to find my way to my bed through a maze of wet sheets and towels.

Oh, those rules that my Mother made me follow. We lived in the city and our clothes lines went from our kitchen windows to a tall utility pole in the back yard. There were 3 apartments in the buildings on my block and you can imagine what the back yards looked line on Mondays. Believe me neighbors did check out your laundy, was it out on time, where the whites bright, do Mrs. So and So get a new blouse, no laundry out for Mrs. So an So was she sleeping all day again?

When I married and had my own apartment I broke most of those rules. I washed and hung my clothes out whenever I had the time, sometimes late a night. Had 2 kids in diapers so diapers went on the line no matter how cold it was. First they froze, then the main part dried so I brought them indoors to finish drying on the steam radiator. They were a little stiff but there were no pampers in those days.

I've had an indoor and outdoor dryer since I moved to Jersey 50 years ago. Over the years as the family got smaller I've used the outside one less and less. Mostly for jeans and knits, usually hung inside out so they didn't fade as I tended to leave them out there for a day or so. Haven't used the outdoor one at all the past year as I have a knee problem. Can't leave everything in the indoor dryer for a day or so, although undies and towels can hang out in there until I have time to fold them. May in Jersey