1st load of clothes drying outside!

**SwirlyThing** · 03-19-2011, 05:21 PM

I live in Florida. My hubby put up a nice clothes line for me today. I've been asking for one for a while.

I just put up the first load. Never done this before, and I'm strangely excited about it. I just don't like the idea of paying to dry the clothes in the dryer, and then paying more to cool the house after creating all that heat.

**jas** · 03-19-2011, 05:27 PM

My dh put one up for me about two weeks ago, I love it!! I live in Florida too and I know what you mean about the a/c. My only complaint is that it is not big enough. I can hang only one load at a time. They do dry really fast here in the Florida sun and I can wash one and then wait till the first load is dry So far it has not taken long at all. I don't put underware or sock on the line though, too much work. They only take a little bit in the dryer so that's not too bad.

Another thing I have been doing is to wash clothes as soon as there is a full load. Not waiting till there are more than one. This only takes a short time to wash and dry and its done for a few days. I actually like this a lot.

**Droppedonmyhead** · 03-19-2011, 05:55 PM

It's lovely to dry clothes outside. I haven't had a line to dry laundry in over 10 years. I rented a home and wasn't able to put one up. Now I live in a condo and am not allowed to put a line up. Even so, I've always hung my work or better clothes in the house to dry because it prolonged the life of them. Everything else I dry in the dryer. Thank goodness I don't have a lot of laundry to do each week.

**loria** · 03-23-2011, 11:18 AM

Does hanging the laundry realy make them last longer. If that is true maybe I could start just hanging up our towels and me and hubbies clothes.

**savvy_sniper** · 03-23-2011, 11:31 AM

ABSOLUTELY! The heat and tossing breaks down the fiber over time.

Originally Posted by loria

Does hanging the laundry realy make them last longer. If that is true maybe I could start just hanging up our towels and me and hubbies clothes.

**savvy_sniper** · 03-23-2011, 11:32 AM

I live in Houston Texas and line dry pretty much year round. I have two folding racks (one wood and one metal) and a rolling clothes rack that I put hangers with clothes on. There is really no place for a clothesline in my yard.

**SwirlyThing** · 03-23-2011, 05:39 PM

I have to say I'm enjoying using the clothes line. I'm finding that, at least here in Florida in March, that the clothes dry FASTER than in the dryer! Maybe that speaks more about the condition of my dryer than anything else, I don't know. Even my teenage daughter now thinks that the clothesline is, in ways, more convenient than the electric dryer... and she says she doesn't mind the stiff towels either.

**benosayi** · 04-01-2011, 09:55 PM

I have a clothes line that I use when the weather is good. It goes from my deck to a tree and i just stand their and reel it in and out

**SwirlyThing** · 04-06-2011, 02:24 PM

Got my first electric bill since putting up the clothesline. Unfortunately it was an estimated meter reading, not actual. However, I went out and checked the meter and they overestimated my usage by at least 200kwh. That's about a $20 difference, and we only had the line up for less than half the month. I think I can figure that line-drying should save me $40 or more per month. It's like having money hanging out on that line!

**cuteoldlady** · 04-06-2011, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by jas

My dh put one up for me about two weeks ago, I love it!! I live in Florida too and I know what you mean about the a/c. My only complaint is that it is not big enough. I can hang only one load at a time. They do dry really fast here in the Florida sun and I can wash one and then wait till the first load is dry So far it has not taken long at all. I don't put underware or sock on the line though, too much work. They only take a little bit in the dryer so that's not too bad.

Another thing I have been doing is to wash clothes as soon as there is a full load. Not waiting till there are more than one. This only takes a short time to wash and dry and its done for a few days. I actually like this a lot.

Jas maybe try putting your clothes onto hangers and hang those on the clothesline. I have been known to get almost a full load onto a five foot shower stall rod

and if the clothes are "short" for example wash clothes, hang a wash cloth on the hanger and then hang another wash cloth from that wash cloth, and continue.

Sheets were always my Armageddon until I realized I could fold in half or quarters then hang and they dried beautifully.

Hope this helps some.

SwirlyThing I have LOVED hanging out my clothes, I am happy you are excited at the chance and hope it lives up to what you hope to accomplish!

I gotta tell this story. I am always paranoid about what I will find in my clothes. I have found many things, crickets, ants, spiders, scorpions (I think they fell out of the tree) and lady bugs. Well one spring I had to let the clothes sit out overnight and when I went midmorning to get them from the line, lo' and behold a bird had built a nest and already laid an egg in the sleeve of a sweatshirt! I dont recall what kind of bird it was anymore, but I do remember I lost that 40ft line for several weeks

I was ok with that - I still had another 120ft. Now I feel it is an adventure to be able to hang the clothes outside and see what nature has to offer this time

Nature never fails me.

ps - my line is no longer under a tree.... no more ants and scorpions!

.

**Quiltin'Mom** · 04-11-2011, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by benosayi

I have a clothes line that I use when the weather is good. It goes from my deck to a tree and i just stand their and reel it in and out

This is what I want a clothes line that you can stand in one place and just reel it in and out.

This past winter my dryer decided to give us some trouble (its about 18 or 19 years old and have never done anything to it). So we hung up a couple of loads of laundry in the house to dry. I was quite surprised that the clothes weren't as "crunchy" as I thought they would be. So we have continued to hang the clothes most of the time.

Now that the weather is improving I would like to have a clothesline outside. We have plenty of room, but I want it to be one that you reel in. Does anyone know where to get the equipment to set one of these up or how to do it?

THANKS!!!

**Josephhgoins** · 04-11-2011, 03:12 PM

btw, Granny always told me to dry the whites in the sun so that the sun could bleach them and make them white and the colors in the shade so they didn't fade. When I put one up at my last place I made sure it was half in shade and half out.

**SwirlyThing** · 04-12-2011, 11:45 AM

The clothes line I have is one your can reel in and out. It goes right from the back door to a pole in the back yard. It's SO easy to use. I have a table next to the back door to set my laundry basket on, and can just stand right there to do it all.

Hubby bought a pulley clothesline kit at Lowes, but it did not come with the piece that tightens the line... you were expected to just make it as taught as you can by hand (which left the line really sagging when heavy clothes were on it). Hubby called that piece a "chinese finger", but nobody at the stores knew what that was, and he had to find it in the catalog. I don't know if it has another name. We ordered that piece from Ace hardware, because nobody here carried it in stock.

I've seen kits online as well, if you cannot find them in a local store. Search for "pulley clothesline kit."

Originally Posted by Quiltin'Mom

This is what I want a clothes line that you can stand in one place and just reel it in and out.

This past winter my dryer decided to give us some trouble (its about 18 or 19 years old and have never done anything to it). So we hung up a couple of loads of laundry in the house to dry. I was quite surprised that the clothes weren't as "crunchy" as I thought they would be. So we have continued to hang the clothes most of the time.

Now that the weather is improving I would like to have a clothesline outside. We have plenty of room, but I want it to be one that you reel in. Does anyone know where to get the equipment to set one of these up or how to do it?

THANKS!!!

**khaski** · 04-12-2011, 01:39 PM

Wait til you smell how great they smell afterwards- no detergent can match it! We finally had some warm weather here in NH over the weekend, I got 3 loads line dried. I was WAY too excited to have clean, fresh air dried sheets on my bed, but even 3 days later they still smelled of fresh breeze and sunshine!

**Spikey1341** · 04-18-2011, 01:12 PM

At my old house I had the greatest clothes line. It was 5 lines that ran from the house to the garage in the alley. I always hung clothes and actually got crabby when my mom tried to help me. I found it oddly theraputic.

This house I have too many trees. I am thinking about putting my umbrella clothes line on the patio. DH needs to make me a stand though.