I remember them, we lived in an apartment when I was growing up and all the women had a wash day so they could use all the clotheslines that were strung behind the building. lol

I had a clothesline until a few years ago, when the back was landscaped the clothes line had to go. :( I used to hang all my fabric for quilting out to dry, now it gets hung over the gazebo rails... lol

Yep -- I remember clothes lines!! (Particularly taking off the frozen diapers and hoping they would "thaw" and finish drying before you needed them!)

Still have a clothes line in my yard. However, we also have LOTS of birds so I don't think anything would be safe...

I have 1 line, cut to length that I put on rings and a hook on the garage and the house. I don't use it often, but DH's work clothes dry pretty fast when I do. Absolutely love the sheets dried that way!

I also use a drying rack since we heat our house with a free-standing fireplace. So those things dry really quickly.

I call it my 'solar dryer'! LOL

I use mine sporadically now, used to all the time. i plan on using them more this year with the money so tight. We have several in our small town that is all they use. My husb likes his sheets stinky clean, we didn't know what else to call the smell of sheets dried on the line.

As soon as I can I use the line outside. Have had one at every house we are in. I use a clothes rack for the skivvies so no one sees them. Have to keep an eye out though, the wind likes to blow the rack over. When I run out of room on the line I throw the towels over the deck railing.

I prefer my bedsheets smelling fresh this way and don't mind the roughness of the towels, even if they crunch as you fold them. It's fun folding jeans, making the boards crack and fold. Kids are not crazy about it, but I like to hang clothes on the line. I also like doing laundry, it was my job as a kid on Sat. and Sun.- I would do 8 or 9 loads before the towels and sheets, there are 9 kids so we had 4 lines.

I hate using the dryer and cringe when the kids throw theirs in it. I also use cold water for my laundry. I try to save $.

Oh- I hang my shirts on plastic hangers outside (be sure to secure the hanger with a clothespin- the wind loves to send them flying). No pinch marks on the bottom of them.

Fl has passed a law stating no HOA can fine a homeowne for a cloths line. I am sure other states will join in.
That is why I will NEVER live in a neighborhood with a HOA. Its MY property and I can do what I want.

All of my houses have had lines and they were used. personal items always dryed using the wooden one inside makes your bras last longer. Now I dont have a line and I miss it so much I love the crispness of towels and the smell of sheets and quilts.
As for ironing uuuuggg I HATE it. I only do fabric now. I LOVE that LOL go figure.

If I didn't have so many birds, I would still hangout :shock: :shock: My brother is 18 years older than I and we have a picture somewhere of him and all his buddies hanging diapers on the line!! It was a requirement before he could go to play basketball with the guys, they helped so he could go sooner!!! ( He ended up with 5 kids of his own, so the practice went to good use!!) We hung clothes in the basement in the winter, I remember when my oldest sister (even older than my brother!!) bought my mom a dryer, about 1970!!!...sheets and jeans still hung because mom didn't want to overwork the dryer and we still had the wringer washer!!

I was carted in and out of the house and up and down the stairs in the laundry basket on top of clothes, my kids were too! And now the grandbaby..what great memories :D :D :D

It was my job to hang the laundy when I was growing up. We would go down to my grandma's house and use her wringer washer in the basement.It was my job to pull the clothes through the wringer making sure I didn't catchmy fingers in the wringer-that hurt!
Then we took the wet clothes home and hung them out. Shirts together socks together in one place etc. Always use one clothespin to hold where two pieces connected!

But my fondest memories of the clothesline are when we made a tent out of a blanket over the clotheslines! We weighted the edges down with bricks or the wind would whip the blankets off the line! We had a great time in those tents!

In the years after I have used the clothesline to clip a dog leash to to give the dog a controlled place to play. The leash will slide along the clothesline giveing the dog a larger area to move in but he or she is still safe!

One Mother's day when I was about 10 my lab Pudder treed a coon up the clothesline pole! What a racket!! My dad went out an shot it because it was probably rabid and he didn't want to take a chance on it.

My youngest BIL Doug(10 at the time) had a shepherd that was devoted to him. His older brother Dale(16 at the time)was picking on him so he turned and said "Sic em Queenie!" and she did right up the clothesline pole!!! She wasn't going to let him down anytime soon!! She sat there snarling (she would not have bit him!) but Dale didn't want to take any chances! So he sat up there for an hour yelling for Doug to call off the dog!! Which he eventually did!
The family got a big laugh out of this because Dale is a big joker and always picking on someone!

I use my clothesline all the time! In fact, hanging clothes on the line is my favourite household "chore". I just love having my 100 foot line filled with clothes, as I sit reading in a lawnchair with a glass of wine. I can smell, see, and hear the clothes dry, and I can think to myself "I sure did get a lot of work done today!" And I don't hide my undies - the 80 + man next door gets his little thrill, or so he says. When I see him working in his garden, I always think that I should hang out all of my most naughty items, to fill the line and see if he says anything. We have had some good laughs, and he and his wife have gotten used to me hanging clothes out any day of the week. I work on Mondays!
I use it almost year-round. I really love hanging out the quilts and blankets on cold, sunny winter days to air them out. They sure smell nice, like snow, when we settle in.
My mom always wanted a nice long clothesline, but my dad always thought they looked "tacky", so he installed one of those whirly ones that spins in the wind. Well, one windy day, ideal for laundry, my mom got hit in the head by one of its bars when it spun in the wind. I will never forget her tearing that thing out of the ground, and bending it into a ball. She was in a blind rage, which I almost never saw. She even muttered swear words! She said to me "Wait until your father gets home." It was shortly after that that she got a proper clothesline.
I can't imagine not having a line.

k - i don't hide my undies either. that proves to my neighbors that i wear 'em.

upnorth - yes, brighter is better. when i use the dryer in the winter, the sheets get yellow-ish. normally, the sun bleaches that out.

when we bought our last house, there was a pump room/laundry room in back of the kitchen and in the attic there hooks for clothesline to hang on a bad day. we later learned that once a week a laundress came and did the laundry and a live-in 'country girl' hung everything up outside. when the weather was bad, the girl had to climb three flights of stairs to hang clothes in the attic from clotheslines.

those girls came to town to put money away for marriage and to meet a town boy.

i'll keep my own life, thanks. wouldn't you?

I would love to see the "HOAgoons" faces if that ever passes, I would put one up out of spite. I know there is a federal law to protect homeowners flying American flags because some HOA's tried to ban them, so let's hope. They walk the neighborhood together with their clipboards every month. The letters arrive the next week. I kind of feel bad for them, how sad their lives must be that this is how they choose to spend their free time.

Until I bought here I didn't know how bad HOAs could be. I will never do it again, but this isn't the time to sell.

I was beginning to think everyone used dryers, i love my clothes line. I confess in the winter I use the dryer, or plastic hanger on the shower rod. I have a load to hang now, if you leave them overnight they seem to soften. I take socks and underwear to the dryer, we like that soft :wink:

My Mom still uses a clothes line - she lives in Germany and she has broken the "Monday" rule because it's more about the weather these days than the day. But I believe that the other rules are still followed. (I'm actually glad about the undies in the middle. Those might scare young children.)

I have tried using the line a few years ago - being in CA and all, but the dust in the country is awful, the birds have no manners, and by the time I got the clothes off, I they were as dry as a board. NO thanks, I take Bounce sheets and my dryer any day.

I remember the HOAs goosestepping around the neighborhood, clipboards in hand. When we moved from CA to our Midwest we swore never again!!!!! My home, my yard, my mortgage.

Oh Chele, the way you hang unmentionables is to hang them about 3 to 4 by their straddle,for a better word. :mrgreen: :shock: :lol: I was taught that by my Mom. :lol: :lol: Being Cotton or nylon on a hot sunny Florida day it didn't take long for them to dry. Now The Males Boxers were hung up by their elastic waist bands. :lol: I haven't had a closeline in a lot of years. Where I lived in South Florida they used to burn SugarCane and the ashes drifted down on your clean clothes, Really makes you say bad stuff. Sometimes if you were lucky you beat the burning and could get them out and back in before they burned the cane.
The close cleaning companies and the softener companies could never compete with good old sunshine and air for a wonderful smell.
BillsBonBon

[quote=Mplsgirl
I remember the HOAs goosestepping around the neighborhood, clipboards in hand. When we moved from CA to our Midwest we swore never again!!!!! My home, my yard, my mortgage. [/quote]

One reason why I won't buy a house with an HOA. Iit's MY house to pain pink with purple polka dots if I want to! In fact, there is a house down the road here that was painted like that. The people sold it and painted it back white. :( I kept saying I was going to take a pic of it because it was pretty, but never did. :(

[quote=tlrnhi] We have a house in our little neighborhood that is painted to look like a cow. People call it the Cow House. They painted big black spots all over three sides and the side you pull up to is painted with a mural showing a cow and her calf in the barn. It is really something!

I don't know what a HOA is but we do have some city rules that are annoying. Some of the town council go around and check out people with things in their yards they think should be removed or fixed. Sometimes it is a good thing and sometimes it seems like they are trying to cause trouble for someone they don't like!

[quote=Rhonda]HOA is Home Owners Association. You pay a lot of money every month so they can harrase you and tell you how to live your life. Run, run for your life if you get involved in a community that has this.

We've always used clothes lines, and still do. I live in a flat, so don't have one, but I take my bed sheets round to my Mom and Dad's house to wash, so I can hang them on their line.

We all still laugh about my girlfriend, she hung her undies on the clothes line and someone stole them!!! It was really hard to keep a straight face when she called the police and the young officer who answered the call was trying to be so professional when asking her for descriptions of the items missing. LOL

:lol: I wonder if it was someone weird or someone just took a shine to her undies? I guess they were never recovered?! And if so, would you want to wear them again? Yeauuchh!

K x

I love to iron clothes that have been air dried on a clothesline.People knew when my aunt did her washing,she would hang her unmentionables out on the front porch on the little clothesline she had. :roll: :) She lived out in the country,but still had traffic going by her house.

Judy

When I was a teen there was a rash of underweat thefts from clothes lines. There was a boy who lived close to the mountaion with his family, when they moved, his mother left a large box that was full of nite gowns and panties, just the silky kind...we all laughted and it was the end of the underwear theft...no one reported it lol

hahahah i used a clothes line when i lived in Arizona since by the time I finsihed hanging 10 mintues later they were dry. hehehehe Oh but I hung my shirts on a hanger because of this problem.

I have worn out several clothesline! The coated wire broke down I guess from heavy loads!! And all the rules that were mentioned, I follow them. I guess I learned them from my mother and she was taught by her mother. My son-in-law would love to hang their laundry out but does not have clotheslines. He uses the wooden drying racks. If it's ugly, he sets them in their spare room and opens the windows a bit. I'll email him on particularly good wash days and tell him what he is missing!! (My daughter-in-law married a good guy! He likes to cook too!!!) I also remember the sprinkler bottles and wringers - how many times I ran my hands thru them!! My sisters and I started to iron because we liked to do the sprinkling. Started with Dad's hankies and moved on up. We were having fun at the time.

Oh yes I remember it well......

and the frozen nappies that took days to dry.

Here in Spain I can hang the clothes out and they are dry in 1/2 hour in the summer.

Elle

Well like sooooooooooooooo many others on the forum I love your clothesline story. I love the smell of the clothes when they have been hung outside. It is funny that this story just came out. Two weeks ago my husband came in from an auction.........we love to go to auctions......anyway he had a 'bottle with the sprinkler in it", and an umbrella clothesline........well........I immediately found a spot for it, and even though we have had lots of rain I have managed to hang out my clothes almost every time. Now here is MY CHALLENGE for all who are intersted in using their clothesline.........Let's come up with clothespin bag ideas and share.........i can't wait. I have a plain old one that i use, but it would be cute to have a new one. I am looking forward. Now i did not read all of the notes, so if some one has already come up with this idea, I apologize, but I will be looking. Let's do it.

I've got one I made from fabric and a kiddy clothes hanger - it's not pretty but it's serviceable - here it is!

K x

I have one very similar to that, Colin had it when I came here and it gets used all the time.

Elle

K I have one I made nearly the same, wouldn't be without it OR my mini twirler which holds about 2 dozen 'smalls' I hook em all on indoors then hang in on the line, saves pegs and takes up no room on the line either :D

I have seen one made by the mennonites here that looks like a little girls dress. Where the apron begins is where you put the pins in so it looks like the pins are in her apron.
Next time I go down to the Dutchman's store Iwill take a picture so you can see it. They are really cute!

I have had a clothesline for years. Wouldn't be without one. Only use
my dryer when I have too.

I use my clothes line all the time! I did three loads today with towels waiting for tomorrow!

In the winter we use a dryer rack in front of our coal stove. I fact I just got a new one! It will hold about twice the size load my old one held. Yes, I'm about the only one in the neighbor hood with a clothes line, it was the first thing we put up when we moved here :-)

Vicky

I was noticing today as I drove home from work just how many people had cloths hanging out on their lines today, There were a lot! I was driving out in the country and it seemed almost every other house had clothslines and cloths hanging out.It is good to see!

k - i had one very similar to that for so long it actually rotted from not being brought in.


izy - hook them all to each other in one long chain, hang them outside and drive your neighbors nuts trying to figure out what you look like nekkid. ROFLMAO!

I've got one of those too - i use it for socks. Socks drive me mad and I'll be glad when we start wearing sandals - with 4 of us, that's 56 socks per week! :(

K x

Mine hangs on the twirly thing, under an overhang of the barn roof so stays dry, but I bring it in in winter!

:lol: :lol: :lol: Chain knickers - is that like chain letters!

K x

SOCKS?? EWW!!! I'm going to hate it when I have to start wearing shoes!!!