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Line Drying Clothes A couple weeks ago, Carey wrote to me and asked:
Hanging my laundry outside to dry is something I really enjoy doing! It's such a great "excuse" for me to take the children outside for some fresh air, even when the weather is chilly. Sometimes when I am busy with all the work in the house, I think, "Oh, I should just throw the laundry in the dryer; I don't have time to take the children out and hang it up." Frugality almost always wins, and I find myself out at the clothesline, breathing fresh air and hearing Yehoshua (2) laugh and play. Somehow, being outside, peacefully hanging up clothes, helps me forget about all the work that waits back in the house. And quite often Yehoshua and I stay out there playing, even after the clothes is all hung. ;)  How I got started line-drying our laundry When I was small, my father added an extra line to my mom's outdoor clothesline: one that was a child's height, and could be used for hanging up smaller/shorter things. So since before I can remember, I was helping my mom by hanging socks! During all of my years at home, my mom never owned a clothes dryer, so there was always plenty of laundry to hang. (There were 8 in my family.) When Joshua and I got married, there was a small clothesline at our apartment. It only held about half a load of laundry, so we added another line that tripled my hanging space. I learned how to squeeze lots of clothes on it in such a way that they would still dry quickly. I did own a clothes dryer, but given the climate (we lived in southern Missouri) and my diligence at watching the weather and hanging laundry outside, I only used the dryer a handful of times each winter. Now, we live at a house that has a nice little backyard and a perfectly lovely clothesline! My clothesline has 3 lines and can hold two large loads of laundry, or 3 medium-sized loads, quite comfortably. Why I like line-drying my laundry 1. It's financially beneficial. I don't know exactly how much it costs in electricity or gas to dry clothes in a dryer, but hanging them outside is free! 2. The clothes has fewer wrinkles than dryer-dried clothing. This, of course, does depend on one's hanging techniques. But my line-dried clothes is virtually wrinkle-free, and my denim and khaki skirts don't get those annoying rolled hems like they do in the dryer. 3. I get fresh air and the children love to play or help hand me pieces of clothes to hang. It's therapeutic to me. Okay, maybe I'm crazy! There's just something soothing about hanging up all our shirts in a nice neat row and watching them flap in the breeze! 4. In the winter, I hang laundry indoors on a wooden clothes rack. We have natural gas heating in our house, and the air indoors can get quite dry in the winter. Hanging laundry to dry indoors boosts the humidity noticeably, and is cheaper than running a humidifier. Also keep in mind that in the winter, your clothes dryer is taking warm air from your house to dry your clothes and then venting it outside. So not only do you pay to run your dryer, you're paying for more indoor heating!  My personal method for hanging laundry This is my personal preferred way of hanging up laundry. I feel as though it gives good results and/or satisfies my perfectionist tendencies. ;) Shirts: I hang shirts from the bottom. If hanging a dress shirt, I use a clothespin on each side and one in the middle where the shirt buttons, which holds the shirt neatly together. T-shirts just get one clothespin on each side. Baby "onesies" are hung upside down, folded slightly over the line, with a clothespin on each side.
Socks: I hang socks from the toes, and I try not to fold the sock over the clothesline at all (so it will dry more quickly). Underwear: Undergarments can be hung from one clothespin if short on clothesline space; I hang with two clothespins, one on each side, so they dry quickly, unless I'm out of room. By the way, if you're worried about people seeing your undergarments out on your clothesline, they can be hung on a line that is between other full lines of clothes. Personally, I never worry about it. :) Bed sheets: I fold sheets in half over the clothesline and secure with 2-3 clothespins. If I need more space, I fold the sheet in half and then drape over the line (4 layers total) and secure with 2 clothespins. Towels, washcloths, dishrags, pillowcases, etc.: I hang all of these with one clothespin on each side. Small items can be hung from just one corner if needed. Rugs: I hang rugs horizontally so that they dry more quickly, securing with as many pins as needed. Rugs can be hung vertically, but take longer to dry that way. "Stuff" I use 1. My clothesline, of course. You can make a clothesline by buying some line (it's inexpensive) and stringing it between posts, poles, trees, etc. 2. Clothespins. I like the wooden spring clothespins that have a few grooves at the top so my fingers don't slip on them. 3. A clothespin bag. Mine is a cloth homemade bag that has a hanger that slips in the top. That way I can hang it on the clothesline while I hang laundry, and clothespins are within easy reach. I never leave my clothespins on the line indefinitely, or leave my clothespin bag outside permanantly. Rain and weather will make your clothespins dark and moldy and just plain gross! I've been using my clothespins for years and they still look like new because I store them indoors.
How long does it take to hang out laundry? This depends on several things. First, it depends on how large your clothing items are. Small items, of which there could be 50+ in one load, will make it take longer for you to hang one load. However, a load of 10-12 large items (like jeans or large t-shirts) will only take a few minutes to hang the entire load. A load of bed sheets could take as little as 5 minutes to hang outside on the line. Time spent hanging also depends on how quickly you work (and how much practice you've had at it). If I am hurrying, and not having to chase after disobedient children, I can hang a load in a short amount of time. If I am leisurely hanging laundry, and stopping to play or care for children, it will take a lot longer. :) How long does it take for your laundry to dry outside? How quickly laundry dries outside is dependent on the temperature, sunshine, and wind. On a hot summer day, with lot of sun, and a little breeze, laundry could be dry in just a couple hours (or less!). On a warm but breezy day, laundry will dry just as quickly. On a cooler, cloudy day, laundry could take 8 or more hours to dry. I have had thin items (like sheets) dry in as little as 20-30 minutes on the clothesline. My usual procedure is to just start the laundry early in the day so it has plenty of time to dry and I can take it down at my convenience. (Although too much sun can fade clothing.)  Do you hang laundry outside in the winter, too? Winter line-drying depends on the climate and weather where you live. My main "rule of thumb" is that on sunny to partly-sunny days, I will hang laundry outside if the temperature (high for that day) is 40 degrees or above. For cloudy/overcast days, I will hang laundry out if the temperature (high for that day) is 50 degrees or above. However, even if I can't hang laundry outside all winter, I can still line dry our laundry using a wooden indoor clothes rack. My rack holds about one load of clothes. How long does it take clothes to dry on an indoor clothesrack/clothesline? Depending on how warm you keep your house and how dry the air is inside, as well as how loosely your laundry is hung, it could take 6-24 hours for clothes to dry. A lot of times in the winter, I wash one load each day, and hang it up inside. By the time I'm washing the next load, the first is dry (from the day before). So I have a constantly-filled clothesrack. I keep the clothesrack in the warmest room of the house, near a heat-vent. If your house is cooler or more damp, and your laundry takes longer than 24 hours to be completely dry, then you need to either spread it out more, or not line-dry indoors, because you don't want mold to start growing on your clothes or in your house!  Tammy's Tips for Successful Laundry Line-Drying 1. Watch the weather forecast so you know when a good laundry day is approaching. For example, if I have 3 loads of laundry to do, and the forecast for today is hot and sunny, but rain is predicted for tomorrow, I make sure I get the laundry all caught up today, so it can be all dried outdoors. On the reverse, if today is rainy but tomorrow (or the next day) is supposed to be sunny and nice, I wait (if at all possible) and wash on the nice day. This is easier to do in the summer than in the spring, fall, or winter, simply because there are so many nice washdays to choose from. :) 2. Start your laundry early in the day. On cooler days, this will give your laundry ample drying time. On hot summer days, it will allow you flexibility on when you hang clothes up and take it down. I find it's best to get things hung out early no matter what! :) 3. Shake each piece of laundry briskly before hanging it up. This removes any lint and wrinkles, and results in softer laundry when it's dry. It makes it easier to hang pieces neatly, too.  4. Take the children along. If they aren't old enough to hang some themselves, have them shake pieces and hand them to you to hang. If they aren't old enough for that, let them run around and play. For babies, take out a car seat or swing, or just throw a blanket on the grass so they can watch! 5. Use fewer clothespins (and save a little time and line space, too!) by connecting the sides of t-shirts, towels, or sheets. 6. If you find yourself running out of space on your clothesline, consider doubling up thinner things (thin towels, cloth napkins, sheets, thin baby diapers, etc.). You can also save space by "squeezing" things, as shown in this photo. The thin diapers in this picture are also doubled.
I only hang this way if I really need the space, since it tends to produce more wrinkles. 7. If you're short on time, hang out the loads that have a lot of larger, heavier items. Those loads are quick to hang, but would cost a lot to dry in the dryer. 8. If you use cloth diapers, make sure they get plenty of sun! Sunlight will whiten your cloth diapers and kill germs naturally. Sunlight not only whitens cloth diapers, but will help keep away diaper rash, too. I was utterly amazed when I hung out a diaper that had a bright yellow stain on it and found that a few hours of bright yellow sunlight had completely erased the stain! 9. If the weather is chilly outside (but you know it will be warmer later, or you have some diapers that really need the sun, etc.), wearing rubber gloves while hanging the laundry helps keep one's hands warm. And now you know more than you ever thought there was to know about line-drying your laundry! :) This is just some of the things that work for me, and what I've learned in my years of hanging laundry. It remains one of my favorite tasks, especially in the summer.  Hi, Kristy! Thanks for reminding me to be thankful for the blessings we have where we live. I cannot imagine dealing with such a long commute or the impossibility of ever affording to live somewhere besides an apartment or place with no yard! I'm sorry you had a discouraging day! Thanks for your comment. :) ~Tammy I really appreciate all you wrote from your experience to help others. I copied and pasted this entire article to save for my daughters for whenever they marry and might need to pinch pennies. I've used a dryer for our entire married life, so I am thankful you wrote this post to give some really great "how-to's." Deb Hi, Tammy! First of all, I just LOVE your site. It has encouraged me in ways I cannot even describe. I was without a dryer for several months and line-dried. No matter what I did- using liquid fabric softener, vinegar, and brisk shaking, my towels especially were like cardboard. (I even had someone laugh about them.) Do you have any suggestions? Also, my clothes didn't smell good- I guess the outdoors does not smell good here! Thanks! Hi, Janet! Thanks for your comment! We don't think our laundry smells "good" after it's been line-dried. (Except for diapers.) I hear people saying that all the time (even our next-door neighbor!) and wonder what they're talking about!! ;) I don't think the laundry smells "bad", but not exactly "wonderful"! Just clean and dry, I guess. :) Maybe some people have good memories or thoughts associated with the smell of line-dried clothes, I don't know! :) About stiff towels. Mine are stiff unless there has been a strong wind that day. Joshua hates stiff towels, so I usually use his once first before giving it to him. (We use our towels several times between washings.) Another option is throwing the line-dried towels in the dryer on the air-dry setting for about 10 minutes or so. This uses less electricity or gas, because it isn't using heat. If you have a full load, 10 minutes of air-fluff should make them a lot softer. I was raised on stiff laundry, so I hardly notice, but Joshua likes soft socks and towels and such. So about once every week or two, I have a load that I fluff in the dryer. (After I've line-dried it, of course.) I just linked here from a google search on "winter clothesline" as I recently started hanging my clothes on the line (that was always out back, I just never thought to use it!) this year. Summer was awesome as the clothes dried SO fast, but we got our first frost here yesterday (Canada) and the clothes this morning were stiff as boards!!! Luckily by this afternoon, the weather warmed to about 5 deg Celsius, and the clothes thawed. :) So I was looking for information about hanging clothes outdoors in subzero temps. I just need to dry them outdoors until they are not dripping wet, then I can bring them inside to hang on my indoor rack. Usually overnight outdoors does the trick... until the frost hit, of course! I was wondering if freezing the clothes damages them, thus the google search. I use this gadget: http://www.gadgetuniverse.com/product_detail.asp?SKU=TK+231+N -- as I live in the upstairs portion of a house and I don't have a washer. Perhaps why I never used the line before. I was laundromat-woman all my life. This this is AMAZING and forces me to handle each item and treat clothes like they are special instead of cramming dozens of things into a triple loader and letting colours run and things get damaged. I'm so enjoying my clothesline. It's positively ZEN!!! I agree with your opinion that it's therapeutic! Thanks for the great site! Thanks for your comment! I agree, I much prefer hanging laundry outside when it's warm. Today I think it was about 38 degrees, but sunny, so I hung diapers out and they got completely dry! Yay! I don't know if freezing hurts the clothes. My clothes in never dripping wet, since I use a regular washer. I had never heard of the small washer you linked to! I imagine if you weren't doing laundry for a large family, it might be a nice little gadget! What a great blog you have! I want to look around for some more ideas. We built a new house this year and I made sure I had a door just off my laundry room so I could easily take clothes out to hang dry. I have a great indoor drying rack that I've had for years. It works great and stays out of the way. We even moved it to our new house! Thanks for the comment! I actually got to hang laundry out today (before it got cold and rainy), which, for December in Ohio, is a nice perk! :) I've never seen a wall-hanging drying rack like that before! How much clothes does it hold? :) Although I must confess I've never weighed my wet loads of laundry before hanging them, I don't believe I've been carting 50-pound baskets of wet clothes up from the basement. :D A professional like you That's too funny!! LOL :D First time here, from the sparrow's nest blog. She linked to your "Keeping a clean house" posts and I've been looking around after reading those. I'm saving your blog-love it. :) p.s. Here's the blog where I found you from- First time here, from the sparrow's nest blog. She linked to your "Keeping a clean house" posts and I've been looking around after reading those. I'm saving your blog-love it. :) p.s. Here's the blog where I found you from- First time here, from the sparrow's nest blog. She linked to your "Keeping a clean house" posts and I've been looking around after reading those. I'm saving your blog-love it. :) p.s. Here's the blog where I found you from- Hi, Joanna! Thanks for leaving a comment! I didn't know that Mrs. Wilt had linked to me, so thanks for telling me that, too! :D I am an Aussie who has always line-dried clothes. Here a dryer is considered an extravagance to only be used if absolutely necessary. Even quite wealthy women dry clothes on 'clothes-horses' indoors over winter. Some tips: 1. A number of you have commented that your clothes are stiff after line drying. If you spin them on your washing machines fastest cycle they should dry less stiff. Dripping washing always dries stiffest. 2. Rough towels exfoliate the entire body ;) 3. If you hang things through one rather than two thickness of cloth thay dry faster. Also, hang by the thinnest part eg hang jeans upside down with the pegs through the ankle part, rather than right way up through the waist where the fabric is thick. 4. Always put the pegs on a seam to stop things getting out of shape eg hang men's shirts upside down with the pegs on the bottom seams. 5. Don't place pegs where they will make visible marks eg hang T-shirts upside down so the shoulders don't get indentations. Thanks for sharing! Very interesting, since sometimes I think line-drying clothes is seen as something a poor(er) person (or else, someone really old-fashioned!) does here. A lot of "wealthy" neighborhoods don't even allow outdoor clotheslines! Thanks for including your line-drying tips!! :) I think there are a number of reasons that Australian's traditionally dry outdoors. Firstly, we have a tradition of houses with backyards, so there is mostly room for a clothesline. Most places in Australia don't have snowy or even particularly cold winters, so we can dry outdoors year round. Moreover, our summers are generally hot, and who wants a dryer making the house even hotter? Here in Melbourne, which is a 'cold' (LOL) part of the country, many of us dry our clothes indoors over heating vents in winter. I guess people in flats (apartments) would be more likely to use a dryer; also couples working fulltime. My cousin in Bondi in Sydney dries her washing on the balcony of her apartment. I even know of a working mum who hangs out the washing after the kids are in bed at night and brings it in the same time the next night! Thanks for your blog, by the way, I discovered it the other day and am really enjoying it. Kate in Melbourne Thanks for commenting, Kate! :) Oh, I love it when the nights are warm enough to dry leave things out all night! Usually here (in Ohio) there's too much dew; the clothes starts getting wet again, so I take everything down by sunset. :) My friend Ruth (who is the featured guest chef right now) lives in Australia and she is always hanging out her laundry, too. :) If we have heat on in the winter, I like drying clothes inside because we need the extra moisture in the air. :) However, my mom, who lived most of her life without a clothes dryer, got one when she moved into a brand new house. The house is so air-tight that they don't have to use much heat in the winter, and she can't get all the clothes (for 7 people) dried indoors. She still hangs outside, weather permitting though. :) For a number of years I dried all the clothes for a family of 8 in an extra room in our basement during the winter. It wasn't very big though so I used hangers for everything and then hung the hangers on the clothesline. I just had to make sure there was room for airflow between the hangars. Sometimes I used clothespins to fasten undies to the hanger first. When we had to covert the room into a bedroom before baby #7 arrived, we bought a dryer. I hang clothes outside every possible day of the year and use a wooden drying rack for towels and jeans otherwise. Yesterday was my first "outdoor day" of the season here in Michigan! :) Also, if you throw a load of laundry in the washer just before going to bed, it will be ready to hang out when you get up in the morning. It's a nice way to start the day. My mother (raised in a family of 9 kids) tells of her mother hanging clothes outside all winter long on lines my grandpa put up on the porch. After the clothes had freeze-dried she'd bring them in by the cookstove to finish. Her hands were chapped, cracked, and sometimes bleeding all winter long. In those days before permanent press the ironing basket was always stacked shoulder high with things which needed ironing. The girls just pulled out what they wanted to wear and ironed it before school. When I used to get tired of drying indoors all winter (I LOVE drying outdoors), I used to remember Grandma's laundry and quit complaining about mine. Thanks for sharing!! :) Our basement is so humid/damp... I don't think clothes would ever dry down there! :) Every house is different... my mom lives in a newer, air-tight house, and if she tries to dry too much laundry indoors (even in winter!) it won't dry and the house gets too humid. If you're rack-drying your clothes but have to run a de-humidifier, well, that kind of defeats the purpose! ;) Everyone's situation is probably a little different. :) I have done that before-- started laundry before bed. :) It helps me get an earlier start! A lot of times, then, I start another load while I'm hanging out the first, and then by the time I'm finished (if it's a load with lots of little pieces!) I have another load ready to hang... the children get a nice long while out there that way. :) Ack, I hate ironing! :) I love line-drying outdoors. I don't mind it indoors, but occasionally I wish that the laundry could just be over and done with -- no clothes rack taking up space in the house, for once. :) Hi Tammy! I typically don't use fabric softener in the wash, just dryer sheets if I use the dryer. Would softener help with the little bit of stiffness I encounter when line drying? I've heard of using a quarter cup of vinegar per wash load, but who knows... Brenda Hi, Brenda! Yes, fabric softener would make line-dried clothes softer... vinegar will work, though not quite as "well" as commercial fabric softeners. Another thing to try is putting the wet clothes in the dryer for about 10 minutes before hanging. That seems to help a lot (though I don't do this regularly myself). :) Depending on the amount of breeze, my line-dried clothes is anywhere from fairly stiff to very soft. :) We live on the edge of town and there's quite a breeze many days though. :) That helps a lot! :) I don't use commercial fabric softener, and only rarely use vinegar, because we're used to stiffer clothing. :) houston, texas Hmn... high humidity... I guess we don't get too many days of extremely high humidity here in Ohio. Usually after it rains, especially when it's warm outside, everything outside is just really damp and muggy, and I usually don't hang clothes out then! But often a couple hours of sunshine, and then it doesn't feel so damp outside and I can hang laundry. When it's really humid outside (and I mean REALLY humid) it's very difficult to dry laundry, unless you have a LOT of sunshine. Here in our part of Ohio, I can't really think of any/many days where it was sunny but too humid to dry clothes. Now, in the Seattle area (where Joshua's family lives), where there are many days that are overcast, with light drizzle off and on, it's pretty pointless to try to get clothes dry outside on cloudy, damp days. However, there are still sunny days in the summer that are great for drying laundry! :) As for inside drying, I very rarely dry laundry indoors in the summer. I suppose with our air conditioner, it would dry inside. You can always hang the clothes on a wooden clothes rack indoors and put a fan blowing on the clothes; that helps them dry a lot more quickly, and I have done that when, say, it started raining on my clothes, so I brought them in and hung them up with a fan to finish. In the winter, I put the rack over a heat vent, so no fan is needed. So, those are just some thoughts... let me know if you find a workable solution for your area! :) I also live in Melbourne Australia, and I don't know anyone that uses a drier on a regular basis. EVERYONE hangs their clothes outside to dry. In winter (and our family does own a dryer), I wash a couple of loads at night and hang it out first thing in the morning. In the evening I take it down before the dampness sets in and hang it around the house. By the morning, everything is dry!!!! Thanks for sharing! :) It gets too cold to dry clothes outside in the winter here, but usually by then, the air inside is so dry, I can just dry things on a rack inside. :) Better than running a humidifier AND a clothes dryer! :) Hi Tammy and Everyone, I have some summer cottons that I have always drip-dried on hangars over the shower curtain. In warm and evenly mildly cool weather I always have a window fan going in the bathroom. In the winter the radiator is hot and the air dry. Unless the weather is very rainy I usually don't have trouble drying my clothes. However, this summer a couple of my neighbors convinced me to try line drying my clothes outside. My next-door neighbor let me use his clothes line which sits in full sun all day. Recently, I tried drying two loads of clothes on a nice, hot, sunny day. They stayed outside for nearly 10 hours. I have noticed that my outdoor line-dried clothes never feel truly dry to me and they don't smell good, either. These felt okay, but not really dry, although my neighbors said they were completely dry. Anyway, I put them all into a laundry basket and left them overnight. The next morning I started ironing them -- I love ironing my clothes and use starch on most items. Anyway, I noticed that most of the items had a very bad smell. I have noticed that before on line-dried clothes and on clothes that have sat in an airtight container too long. I can't stand that smell. It is a sweetish, flowery smell, but it smells more like an artificial scent, then a true flower scent. I was afraid that the smell might be due to mildew or something and that it would spead to my other clothes if I put these in my closet. I tried spraying these clothes with Smells Be Gone and with Febreeze. Neither worked. I tried rewashing them,. Since they are colored cottons, I cannot use bleach, but I added Oxyclean. That didn't work. I then soaked them in an odor remover designed to remove pet odors and mildew odors. I had to let them air dry completely to remove the odor. I thought I still smelled it a little bit, but it was so faint, I thought it might be my imagination. I then rewashe3d the clothes this time adding baking soda to the wash. After that I dried them on very low heat in the drying until they were just lightly damp. They smelled nice. But then I hung them to let them finish drying and THE SMELL RETURNED!!! I am desparate. I cannot stand that smell and I am afraid to put those clothes with my others. It is two loads of some of my favorite summer clothes. Please help. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how top get rid of the odor. I cannot believe that mildew could have set in that fast (overnight) to such an extent. Someone else commented on your blog that she doesn't like the smell of clothes on dried on the line. I don't either, but this is the worst. It is two sweet and too artificially flowery. My neighbors keep saying they love the smell of line-dried clothes and I am wondering if that is the smell they like. If anyone can tell me what that smell is and how to get rid of it, I would really appreciate it. I hate to be a party pooper, but I love the feel and smell of clothes from the dryer and I will never be fond of line drying. The only reason for doing these on the line is because they are 100% cotton and I didn't want to risk them shrinking. Catherine Catherine, after reading your comments, I'm not sure I have any ideas about this! While our line-dried laundry doesn't smell "perfumed" (like laundry detergent, fabric softener, etc.) it also doesn't smell "sweet-ish" or "flowery"... And I always think my indoor-dried clothes doesn't feel as "dry" as my line-dried clothes from outsode! You said it was a hot sunny day when you dried your clothes, and so I don't think being outdoors on the clothesline in the sun would cause any mildew. It has been rather rainy here in the NW-Ohio and SE-Michigan area lately, so unless it was an extremely humid day...?? We have had some of those sort of days but I haven't noticed any adverse effects on my laundry... Sorry I can't be of more help!! :) Greetings! I stumbled upon this blog while searching out alternative fabric softeners (just can't take the vinegar). Any recipes that won't cause too much flammability would be appreciated! Anyway, I always loved the smell and feel of laundry from the dryer. But I really enjoy hanging clothes on the line and watching them blow in the wind-- it's relaxing. It's like summer's version of stoking the fire, and watching the fire flicker and dance in the woodburning stove in winter. And, like to save energy when I can. My compromise is, in summer, hang the clothes out on the line until they are completely dry, and then put them in the dryer on HIGH heat for about 5 minutes after I bring them inside. I find that the clothes soften up a lot in that short amount of time, and the stale-air smell goes away as well (well, almost!). I don't use dryer sheets or anything. I use up *some* energy this way, but not nearly as much as putting laundry in the dryer from wet. I do have to say, my Speed Queen washer here at home spins so well that the clothes dry really fast outside. They're half dried already, right out of the washer-- so that helps. In winter, I have a collapsible indoor clothesline and also a fold-up clothes rack (for items needing to be hung on a hanger). I put them in the living room where the woodburning stove is, and the stove and the ceiling fan on high dries everything in an hour or two. Makes the house smell nice, and humidifies it too! (We had to train our Weimaraner to leave the clothes alone!) Vik I really enjoy hanging clothes on the line and watching them blow in the wind-- it's relaxing. It's like summer's version of stoking the fire, and watching the fire flicker and dance in the woodburning stove in winter. Oh, so true!! :D Thanks for the comments -- I've never tried the high-efficiency detergent (didn't even know it existed -- I guess that shows how much time I spend in the laundry aisle at the store! ;D) but will have to check it out. :) I love drying clothes indoors in the winter -- like you said, if you use scented detergent, it does make the house smell lovely! :) Forgot to mention that high efficiency "He" detergents are supposed to rinse out of your clothes a lot better than regular detergents, making them a lot softer. Even though I no longer have a front load washer, I still use the He. Cleans better too, I think. Our appliance repairman said that using He detergents, whether you have a high efficiency washer or not, will help your washer last longer, since the suds in regular detergents wear out your washer faster, as well as the clothes themselves. I use Cheer He, which is cheaper than Tide He, and works very well. Consumer Reports said that either Sam's or Costco's brand works the best and is cheapest, but I can't remember which one it was. I am not a member of either club so I wouldn't know. That's my $.02! Vik Hi Tammy and others, Us Kiwis (New Zealanders) always dry our clothes outside on the clothesline too. Like the Aussie girls have said, owning a dryer is a luxury and even though many people do own them we only use them if absolutely necessary. I often hang my clothes on drying racks outside during the winter, that way if they are not dry after a day outside (I put the clothes out in all weather except rain) I can easily bring the racks inside overnight. I have 3 drying-racks but find I pretty much only use 2 of them You will find that clothes dried on the line are much stiffer and more rough than clothes dried in the dryer. Giving the clothes a fluff up in the dryer will soften them up nicely but I never bother. I find that giving each item of clothing a few hard shakes as you take it off the line will soften it up considerably. Also taking the items down and putting them all into a laundry basket (or even in a big pile on the couch lol)and leaving them for a day or so will soften them up (this time frame shortens if you let your children roll and jump all over them - truly this does work!!) I prefer to fold my laundry as I take it down from the line - it has helped me eliminate the huge pile on my couch which just seemed to build up all week and then take ages to fold. Another tip to help your clothes dry crease-free is to give each item a few shakes to get rid of any wrinkles before you hang them up on the line. Also, sometimes with my husband's shirts, I hang them straight onto clothes hangers and hang them off the drying rack (takes up less room) and that way I can get away without ironing them - I hate ironing! As for the problem of smelly laundry - I really don't know how this could be helped. It must just be the smell from the air. Laundry will smell like smoke if there are fires being burned and will pick up pollution smells if these are in the air too. It can also smell really yucky if it is left in the machine overnight during humid or hot weather. I can easily leave my laundry in the machine after it has been washed in the winter but if I leave it overnight during the heat of summer it can smell really bad, even after hanging on the line. The only thing that helps is to wash it again. I find that clothes dried in the dryer don't smell as "fresh" as clothes dried on the line so I suspect it must be just what you are used to. I love seeing clothes drying on the line, so satisfying! What a great article Tammy! Have you been to my house??!! I, too like to fold the laundry outside as I take it down (unless it's scorching HOT out... then I hurry back to the a/c!) and it gives the children extra time to run around and play while I do it. :) Also, I think the clothes is basically wrinkle-free when I fold it right off the line (I do shake things out well as I hang them, to get the lint off and get wrinkles out). I do the pile-on-the-couch allll the time... Joshua used to tell me that the only reason we had the couch was for it to be a big laundry basket!! :P I have gotten better about that, especially since now when I put the laundry on the couch, it ends up all over the living room floor within an hour or two, thanks to my two little boys. ;) And while it does soften the clothes, I don't want my dish towels on the floor!! :D Dear Tammy, Use a fan to direct airflow over the clothes AND open the window. The air in the room can only hold so much moisure. Hi, Michelle! Damp weather does make drying difficult! I kow the times when it is rainy outside and not cold enough to require heat in the house, it's a challenge to get the clolthes dry fast enough! Someone already suggested what I was going to say: Try using a fan to blow air on the clothes. And definitely keep the door of the room open , and window (unless it's raining, since that would mean the air out there really can't hold any more moisture!!). :) The fan should help a lot, though! :) Tammy, P.S. If it's not to personal Tammy I'd like to know what kind of church you attend. You might also want to try moving the clothes, if you have room, out of the bathroom. I am sure the steam from showers and such is not helping in the drying process. Maybe move them to a drying rack if you have one.,.. to a "warmer" room, kitchen dining room? Hi Tammy! I bought some new jeans - some pairs of black and some denim. I washed them separately in detergent and vinegar. I hung them up to dry as I did not want them to shrink. When I checked on them days later, the black jeans looked fine and I was going to iron them. I looked at my blue jeans and they are streaked - like the dye ran! Is there any laundy remedy or should I take them back to the store? OR am I out of luck and how should I have treated these blue jeans? I have bought inexpensive jeans before and never had this happen!! Thank you! Hi Sheryl... When I get new jeans, I always wash them the first time all by them selves in warm or tepid water with a pound a salt...non-iodized. It helps set the dyes and helps keep them blue/blue for a lot longer time. I know a lot of people like the 'faded' or 'washed' look, but I like the 'dark blue' look myself. I have done it to black jeans too, but black jeans just never stay black enough for my taste. They always seem to fade out to a dark, dark gray. (I like how dress pants stay really black.) As for your jeans that streaked....if it were me....I'd take them back. Since they did that, it probably means that the dyes weren't 'set' right in the first place. Try getting another pair and washing them with salt. Have you done the vinegar thing before? I haven't ever heard of it, and was wondering if maybe it could have been what caused them to streak. Vinegar is a weak acid. Maybe the chemical agent they used when they dyed the denim didn't like the acid wash you gave them. Just think....some people probably would pay good money for that look! LOL. I can't believe the way my nieces and nephews bye jeans with holes, tattered cuffs, worn out seats, and really just ugly looking jeans. Kills me. Hope you can get some new ones! Debbie J. Thank YOU, Debbie J. AND Tammy for your responses to my question! I apologize for the delayed response as I was looking in the wrong spot for an answer! oops! I read somewhere so long ago that adding a cup of vinegar to each jeans rinse (especially black!) would help keep the color. Works as a mordant to set the dye. And it does seem to keep the color longer but would slowly fade. I never did try the salt. But will next time! Also, I did wash the new ones together - No outside fabric to contaminate them. And Black with black, blue with blue. Debbie, I never did think that vinegar would be an acid to attack the indigo but that makes sense. I never had that problem before but maybe the indigo dyes are different now and more reactant to acid as the GRUNGE look is still IN!! I like lived-in jeans that I wear out over time but NOT "shop-worn" jeans! haha I pay money for them to LAST and not to be mechanically beat up and, therefore, shorten their jean-life with ME! I will try to take them back and / or contact the mfg. which I am sure will be tossed at me. I will let you all know if you are interested! THANK YOU AGAIN! What a VERY interesting site, Tammy! Have a GREAT 2008! Hi, Sheryl! I have no clue about caring for new jeans... Thanks, Debbie, for your input! I will remember the salt wash next time Joshua needs new jeans for work. :) Just another reason to love garage sales, I guess... my clothes stays how it was when I bought it! ;) I have wanted to hang clothes outside for several months now. Our dryer is 10 years old and is taking forever to dry. We live in a rent house with a small backyard and have no trees. Any ideas on how to put up a clothesline that is not permanent? I thought about attaching a line to the fence but wasn't sure if that would support the clothes. What kind of line do I need to use to support the clothes when I find a spot? Any ideas would be great. Thanks! Well, you can get clothesline fairly inexpensively at a hardware store or even a place like Wal-mart. There are plastic-coated metal lines, plain metal lines, or a white plastic line. When Joshua and I were first married we lived in a rental house that only had a very short clothesline. One end was attached to a tree, and the other was knotted to a hook that was screwed into the siding of the house. We purchased some white plastic clothesline at Wal-mart (it was $2-3 for quite a long line) and added more line from another section of the house. If you have anything that you can attach a large hook or something to (fence, house, garage, porch, deck, etc.) you should be able to rig up a clothesline really cheaply. :) The white plastic line does stretch as it's used, and I remember having to un-knot one end and tighten it several times before it stopped stretching as it was used. But it's very sturdy and very cheap. And since it was just plastic, we could cut it with a scissors... or just un-knot it. :) Hope that gives you some ideas! :) Such good ideas Tammy!! I just might start using my clothes line! I used to have the problem of smelly laundry, like sort of a mildewy smell. However, I live in Arizona and it is very dry here and there is not much mold. I would use the baking soda or washing soda along with vinegar in the rinse to no avail - the clothes would still smell musty even out of the dryer. I thought it was because I was washing with cold water - and using hot water for some items did help a little bit. But then I realized that the smell was actually coming from inside my washer. So I ran a cycle with just hot water and one cup of bleach - no clothes in it. And lo and behold - no more odor. I have an older washer and I'm guessing that all of the water does not always drain out completely causing some mold inside. I don't usually use bleach in my laundry, but I do keep it on hand for certain tasks, like cleaning mildew off of the shower mat. But especially if you live in a damp climate, disinfecting your washer from time to time with bleach will kill the mildew/mold and keep your laundry smelling fresh. The clothes line....a dead give away. Do the kids today even know what a clothes line is? I am sure a lot of you are too young to remember the clothes line, but for all of us who are older, this will bring back the memories. . . . At least it did for me. THE BASIC RULES 1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes. Walk the length of each line with a damp cloth around the line. 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. 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 line was '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 To neighbors passing by. It also was a friendly link For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets' The line announced a baby's birth The ages of the children could It said, 'Gone on vacation now' New folks in town were scorned upon But clotheslines now are of the past I really miss that way of life. I'm a student at Pomona College in Claremont, California and recently spent a good amount of time looking into the various clothesline and drying rack options since Pomona is going to purchase some for student use and I wanted to get the best available racks for us. In my research, I was shocked to find that there is NO good website explaining all the different clotheslines and drying rack options, so I made my own! It's a wiki page on the Tip the Planet sustainable living wiki that ANYONE CAN EDIT. You can check it out here: http://www.tiptheplanet.com/index.php?title=Air_dry_washing I'm trying to spread the word so that the site becomes a clearing house for drying rack information, and people have to spend less time scouring the web for the best products. Have a look, share it with your friends, and by all means add your wisdom! Take care, Hi, I have been putting my clothes out on a rack and my t-shirts always have wrinkles. I saw your tip about shaking which I will try. Any other tips to keep clothes wrinkle free? For those of you who have smelly clothes, it may not be the clothes rack or drying process that is making the smell; it may be the washer. For around a year now I have a had clothes that smelled rotten, mildewey, or moldy. I tried bleach, baking soda, vinegar and various types of laundry detergents, but nothing worked. It seemed to be particularly bad in the spring / summer. After cleaning the bathroom tub one day with soap scum remover, the proverbial light bulb went off over my head. If the tub collects soap scum, why doesn't my 11 year old washing machine? I disassembled my washing machine one Saturday morning (it took hours because I did not have a service manual; I could do it now in 10 minutes). The insides of the auger, auger base, and tub were all coated with a disgusting black soap scum residue that took quite a bit of soap scum remover and elbow grease to remove. Just remember to remove the 'inner' tub of the washing machine (the thing the clothes sit in) and clean the outside of that tub, since it will be BLACK with soap scum. The 'outer tub' (which is basically a giant bucket that holds the water) had a 4 or 5 millimeters of soap scum collected on the bottom!!! Truly revolting. With all the parts are now gleaming white, and my clothes smell fresh and clean, no special chemicals needed. I know it's not the quick and easy answer that you want to hear, but it is the ONLY way to get at the root cause of the problem. First off, let me say I love your site! I was looking for some hints for my clothes and stumbled your site. My in-laws in Southern England dry 99% of their laundry on the outdoor lines. Their dryer is used only in emergency! I think this is typical of the Brits. Since most days are cloudy, they finish off their drying in an "airing cupboard" which is a closet where their water heater is. The water heater gives off a small amount of heat, which is enough to finish drying the clothes. They have a bar for hangers, and several wooden shelves that are made of slats for open air flow. I'm in New Jersey, and don't have a proper airing cupboard, but could create one if necessary. Thanks for all the tips on hanging. There are two opinions here on how to hang jeans (right side up or by the ankles). Any comments? Thanks for all the tips on hanging. You're welcome! :) There are two opinions here on how to hang jeans (right side up or by the ankles). Any comments? Try both and do whatever works for you. :) Post new comment |
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Hi!
We live in Southern California in a townhome, and are trying to move closer to my husband's job so that he does not have to commute an hour and a half EACH WAY, two hours on Friday afternoons. It would take a miracle for us to get an actual house, and I am not waxing poetic here, the area my husband works in has starter homes for about $750K, nope, not kidding, nope, not a typo. So I continue to pine for and pray for a house, where I can garden and hang my laundry outside.
It is a big dream of ours, a long way off to be sure, but a dream none the less.
Thank you for letting me live a little bit vicariously through your yard in this posting, it was just what I needed on a very discouraging day.
Kristy
Phil 2:9-11