The old way of drying your clothes

Posted by Tricia in Saturday, January 26th 2008   
14 Comments


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This weeks theme is Old Fashioned

Blue clothes line covered in frost, ice and snow

We do have a dryer, it came with the house when we bought it (it’s 30 years old and probably qualifies for this photo hunt theme too!), but we sometimes dry our clothes the old fashioned way on a clothes line in the backyard.

I don’t think that there as many people using clothes lines these days as there used to be. I grew up with my parents using a clothes line or later one of those odd large metal umbrella looking things in our backyard and when we moved into this neighborhood we noticed that most of our neighbors (all the closest are in their 80’s) used clothes lines.

Our house had a clothes line but it wasn’t in good shape. The actual line was sagging and the wheel was rusted. We got a new set up and one of our neighbors showed us how to tighten up the line properly.

We rarely dry anything on the line in the winter. Well not unless I want a stiff frozen piece of laundry! I think I have used it in the winter once or twice though when it’s been unseasonably warm. Mostly the clothes line is just a great place for the birds to hang out in the winter.

Frosted clothes line

In the summer we use the clothes line quite a bit. Unlike some of our neighbors we don’t dry our under garments on the line. No one needs to see those! We tend not to dry towels or sheets on the line either as they aren’t as soft when dried on the line as they are when they’re dried in a dryer. We do dry all of our cotton clothes on the line though and that makes up the bulk of most of our laundry during the summer.

The clothes smell so fresh and clean when they are dried outside! Oh and did you know that the sun is a great way to keep white clothes bright and clean? It naturally bleaches the clothes.

Since our dryer is ancient and I’m sure its an energy hog we also save a lot of money by drying a good portion of our clothing on the line during the warmer months. In the winter I often hang clothes in the basement to dry instead of using the dryer for everything.

Topics: Canada, Home and Lifestyle, Living Green, Photo Hunters, Photography, Recreation, The Neighborhood, Toronto
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14 users responded to this post

Yen (7 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 6:38 am    

That’s a great photos and interesting story! Nice one:)

Prudence (1 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 6:50 am    

We still use clothes lines. I think the clothes that are sun-dried are better than dried in a dryer. They smell different actually. The sun-dried smell fresher.

napaboaniya (2 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 7:06 am    

Where I come from, maybe 70% of people still dry their clothes on the clothes line or more commonly the ‘bamboo stick’.
Definately will prefer to ’sun-tan’ my quit blanket on a sunny day than throw into my dryer :)

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Hootin' Anni ( comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 7:15 am    

Excellent!!!! [but does it ever look COLD outside!!!] I’m still old fashioned enough to continue to dry my bedding outdoors…I just love the fragrance of them when they’re dried in open air instead of a dryer!!!

Mine is posted, I hope you can drop by. I love visitors. Happy weekend.

Jean-Luc Picard (384 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 8:19 am    

The old ways are the best!

sasha (2 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 8:27 am    

An old fashioned dryer! Our neighbor still has one :)

Happy photohunting! Mine’s up!

Larawannabe (1 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 9:20 am    

A clothes line is an old-fashioned way to drying clothes. We still use it though. The best way to dry clothes :)

Mine’s here

Utah Mommy (3 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 10:08 am    

We also have old clothes like in the backyard, it’s better to dry clothes that way it doesn’t get easily wear out. Happy weekend!

heather (1 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 11:23 am    

I miss having a clothes line.

ellen b (3 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm    

These photos are fabulous. I actually remember hanging cloth diapers on our clothesline in the backyard when I was young…

Sanni (12 comments.) said in January 26th, 2008 at 2:09 pm    

I can´t imagine any better way than drying the clothes outside, especially during spring / summer – love the scent.

Happy hunting :-)

Ellen (14 comments.) said in January 27th, 2008 at 12:57 am    

I remember those days back growing up in Arkansas. ONe of my chores was to bring in the clothes from the line and fold them. Of course I hated doing it. Now in retrospect, I remember how great they smelled. But they were stiff. Then I vaguely remember when dryers were made and we got one. Everything from the dryer was so soft. But the clothes didn’t last as long and the colors became dingy. I had to chucke when you said you didn’t hang under garments. Yea, I wouldn’t do that either.

Reading this post and all the comments sure brought back lots of memories.

Great post Tricia!

mistyeiz (1 comments.) said in January 27th, 2008 at 6:40 am    

what lovely shots!! who would have those that clothesline makes great objects for photography. :) thanks for sharing!!

ps. i really didnt know abt the sun being natural bleach! ;)

Mary (5 comments.) said in January 27th, 2008 at 2:23 pm    

I have hung and brought in thousands of loads of clothes from the clothesline. That is the best way to dry clothes. We don’t hand underwear on the line either, but when I was a child that’s the only way there was to dry them. I remember bringing in clothes off Grandma’s line that were frozen stiff. We then hung them in the summer kitchen to dry out a bit, but ironed them while they were still damp. Grandma used flatirons that were heated on the woodstove.

I still hang clothes out during the summer months, but not in the winter. Guess we are spoiled with the dryers. There is nothing as nice as slipping between sheets that have been dried on a clothesline.

Blessings,
Mary

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