I still line-dry my t-shirts, and put blouses on a hanger and put them on the line. I haven't ironed for years...yuck.

I still line dry my laundry most of the time. I have an umbrella type that I can fold up and bring inside when it is not in use. I love it. And I do most of my laundry on Monday, and yes I put my "unmentionables" on the inside with the towels, sheets etc. on the outside... even though my nearest neighbor is nowhere near where they could see my laundry. lol

My Mother hung her laundry every week of her entire life,summer, winter etc etc. In later years she had a dryer and didn't/wouldn't use it.....

There is a clothes line at this house... installed by me. :)

But, since the cedar tree pollen went up in February I haven't dried anything outside. I sure will have to clean up the lines before putting laundry there again.

I also violate number 5 all the time. If someone doesn't want to see my underthings, they don't need to look. LOL

Presently there are hangers with T shirts and cycling shorts hanging off the ceiling fan. LOL

Moni

I have so many memories of a clothes line. I can remember my grandma and mom hanging clothes out when I was a child. I followed in their footsteps. I still hang clothes outside. When I have a windy day I crank up the washer... Nothing better then climbing into bed with sheet hung on a clothes line.

Yes, very much of what you posted was the way I used to do my laundry on the clothes line. I didn't do the sheets to hide the undies though. I do not have a clothes line now. The men kept driving a tractor or something under it and tearing it down.

Sue

I can't even remember when the last time I used a clothes line. Probably 30 years at least. The clothes would be so stiff they could stand up!

My parents are the only people in their neighbourhood with a clothes line. They're not supposed to have one, but they said "you pay my electric bill, you tell me how to dry my clothes". It's up in a spot that isn't easily visible to the street. I have a clothes line that runs the length of my backyard. I would use it, but my apple trees grew through them. I love the smell of clothes dried outside.

I miss my clothes line! I used it til the snow was too deep to wade through it. In the spring I will take my sheets and bedspread over to our sons and hang out. Nothing like the smell of fresh air! He would never dream of using the beautiful clothes line.

When I see how dusty/dirty my outdoor furniture gets within one day, I know that I would never hang my just washed items outside. I do hang dry most of my clothing indoors, though. I set up those expandable racks under a large skylight.

Frankly, I don't miss stiff as a board towels. I much prefer the ones from the dryer.

I do remember, and here's a picture. Note the outhouse in the background. LOL

forhgtv,

I know what you mean. I would NEVER hang clothes on the line in Atlanta- They would be covered in Spring pollen or Summer smog before I could get back in the house. In WV, the air is MUCH cleaner- at least where we are- near the coal mines, not so much.

Oh, I remember it well. Those days when we were young, so full of mischief and playing under the clothes as they dried. And into adulthood when that was the way it was done. Every one of those RULES...not just rules, but habit and a measure of "good wifery". You think the USMC guys had "rules"....SO did the wives. Remember those commercials about having whitest laundry. Such competition. (Those were also "hat, glove and skirt" days. Love the photo, and thanks for the memories. Nanny

I remember it well also.My mom had an old wringer washer that we helped her with when i was a kid,and the tub of blueing water,and one of plain water.

Later on in life after i married,we were stationed in Maine,no dryer yet.In the winter the clothes would be frozen in the basket before i even got to thi line,hung them anyway.

I havn't hung anything outside in years here in Ca,dh took the lines down,said we didn't need them!!
Kathi

I don't remember ever seeing clothes on the line when I was growing up. I suppose they were there, but my mother always had help for household chores and didn't have to do laundry, so I guess I never noticed.

BUT I didn't have any help! I remember putting on heavy clothes, boots and gloves to go out and hang up diapers which I had washed in the bath tub. By the time baby #2 came, we had moved and had a large laundry room for the residents to use, a few feet from our back door. Also clothes lines.

1. Yes, wash that line; and I remember I always walked down the line, turned the rag and walked back to be sure it was clean.

2. Washed whites and "delicates" separately, so of course they would be hung separately.

3. Right.

4. Absolutely!

5. Don't remember that one.

6. Right!

7. Not only tacky but if you left them out they would get rained on over and over and get black streaks in them. And you took them off and put them in the cute little clothes pin bag that you wore like an apron.

8. Yes, except for real heavy sox.

9. Yes.

10, Yes, and they were ironed on Tuesday.

AND, before you hung them on the line you had to shake each piece hard to get some of the wrinkles out. Made ironing somewhat easier.

Haven't had a clothes line for quite a few years now. Love my washer and dryer! Clothes smell much better than the fumy air in most places now.

Sue

I used to hang clothes on the line in the summer when I lived in CA. Here in Iowa, we have the cleanest air but I never know when it is going to rain in the spring and summer. I need to get my umbrella clothes line out of it's winter storage in the garage and start using it. I always thought my mother was OCD about wiping the lines with a damp cloth before she hung the clothes out. She did it every time she washed. I usually turn the hose on the lines when I get them out of the garage. I never hang my sheets out because I have allergies and don't want pollen in my sheets. I also put my towels in the dryer. I just hang my clothes out and I don't hide my undies in the middle.

I LOVE my clothesline! I do not hang things out in the winter tho (unless we get a really nice day and I can do some blankets and bedding)...but I have a clothes rack that I use in the house in the winter! It puts humidity in the house and we need that in the winter!

I generally wash clothes in the evening and then get them all into the basket for morning to hang them out on the line. I try to get it done before 6:30a.m...and traffic starts in the back....while I am out in my pjs! LOL

Many years ago, I brought in the clothes, folded and put them away. Dean got a pair of boxers on and there were 'no-see-ems' in his shorts! From then on, all clothes are bounced in the dryer for about 5 minutes before they are folded and hung! :)

Those rules are spot on. I recall helping mom with wash day in the 1940s. We used all these "rules' except we did not bother hiding the undies because the clothes line was back of the house, not visable from the road, and the nearest neighbor was a 1/4 mile away.

On a winter day, the clothes did not freeze dry. They froze while still wet, but a large amount of water did drip out first. The frozen clothes had to be taken in and finish drying inside the house. That's what those nails sticking up from the door frames were for. Temporary clothes lines were strung throughout the house to finish drying the wash. These lines were strung over linoelum floors, never over carpet.

One had to be careful when gathering frozen wash from outside. If you bent frozen clothes, it might break the cloth.

The only time I don't hang clothes out is in the pouring rain. I hang them out even on damp days. I don't like the feel of dryer clothes. The dryer uses more electricity than any appliance.

When mom hung out the clothes in the winter and after they had lost most of the moisture, she'd bring them and downstairs. We had a coal furnace and she had a clothes line strung up in the basement just for that purpose. Towels were the only thing the dryer was for.

My mom didn't have a dryer until I was grown and left home. Then I finally talked her into getting one. In the winters she hung sheets, towels, everything over a wooden hanger in our hallway and near the furnace. Sometimes it took 2 days for the clothes to dry indoors.

I just remembered, Mom would use one of those folding wooden racks when she had to dry things indoors. Forgot about that.

Hanging out the "warsh" became my job as soon as I was tall enough to reach. And yes I got in trouble for not wiping the line and not shaking out the wrinkles. I hated sheets.
As I think about it, I had rules for the sequence too...Daddys underwear, then Moms, then the children. (with one pin between) Same with shirts and pants. I would have piles of clothes draped over my shoulder sorting for the "next item". For some reason I coveted the pins with the springs - we had the slotted ones - I have know idea why I wanted them so bad.
I still have rules I use from my childhood years about folding clothes - Lord help the person that messes that up. LOL!

Yes, my mother had a clothesline, and to this day I have to sleep on sheets that are fresh air dried.

I luckily live where I can have a clothes rack on my back deck, and no one can see it. So year round fresh air dried sheets.

O.K -lamoni ... you have me conscience-stricken!

We've had several warmish days ...and I've not yet done a wash ... to hang the results on the outdoor clothesline, that is!

Having over half a dozen sets of underwear that I hang to air/re-freshen over the edge of the other bed and wear in rotation, I wash only occasionally, in winter. I've washed a few in the sink after I wash out the squeezy socks needed for my varicose veins, nightly, and hang them on one of those collapsible set of lines that a neighbour gave me.

Same with socks and shirts.

I had a couple of fairly mild days through the winter that led me to hang wash on the outside line, and hung about three more lines in the basement to add to the two there before, to hang them in between.

While a small amount of water drips from clothes hung on the outside line in winter, much of the included water changes first into ice, then directly to vapour by sublimation.

Haven't had trouble with clothes getting contaminated with pollen ... or dirt ... or bird poop ...

... or no-see-'ems, either, Sandy: I must lead a charmed life, I guess!

ole joyfuelled, enjoying what little we've had thus far of spring

And something not to forget.
Do not place the clothes line across the path to the outhouse.

Love this post..brings back so many memories! and YES, we did hang our unmentionables in the middle and sheets or towels on the outside lines so no one would see them. But, although my mom had a clothes pin cloth hanger that went out with her everytime she washed clothes, I must have been one of the tacky girls because I would leave my clothes pins on the line from wash to wash.
About freeze drying, did anyone ever bring them in and then hang them on a inside wooden clothes rack near the oven to dry? We would and turn the oven on and leave the door open with the clothes near it. LOL.. those were the days!

Oh! I forgot one thing too! My Mom would NEVER allow me or my sisters to hang my daddy's or my brother's underwear on the same line...it had to be on the NEXT line (in the middle of course. If we ever got sloppy and hung the ladies and boys underwear together we were told that was "indecent" by my mom...LOL!!! We had 4 lines parallel to each other with a metal T on the ends to hold the lines. LOL

My clothes line is right beside my bee hive. Makes life interesting.

Old Gardener!! OMGOSH!! I didn't even see the clothesline at first...I was mesmerized by that beautiful collie and yes I've saved the picture and might even just print it out and frame it...Is that you in the picture? What a beautiful doggie!!

Thanks for the trip down memorie lane ladies...I wish I had a clothesline for hanging blankets and stuff...I put them out on the deck to dry...there's just nothing like cuddling up with a line dried blanket...(of course shake them out good or you'll be getting a brown recluse bite like I did last May!)

I'm surprised at you all!!! How come no one mentioned the 'clothes pole'? That was the long pole made by Dad with a notch in the end, that you had to push under the center of clothesline to stop the sagging. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised...maybe it was only my family's clothes line that went from side of the back porch 'uphill' to a tree above back rocks. Wonderful memory thanks.....

Haffie, I had that where I used to live. The line was really long, and strung at the only place possible. In fact, I would string it up on laundry day, and take it off after.

My mom had one of them too.

Kinda didn't think of it when I posted my reply.

Moni

I remember the poles!!!
We used the double wheeled thing that kept the lines close together. We didn't use a pole, but I see them still. Our countryside is made up of the Mennonite community, and Mondays is there wash day. Last Monday I was out, and the weather was rainy, and they all had their wash out.

I just came in from hanging the jeans and towels on the line
Brrrrr!! It's cold!! But are they ever going to smell good!

Jasdip, I too live in Amish/Mennonite community. I am still jealous of the wash lines they have - they are on a pulley and they never leave the back porch.

It's only here, at the apartment bldg that I have to walk along the clothesline to hand the clothes. There are 5 lines on 2 T bars, so lots of hanging room!

We always had a pulley, growing up, with a telephone pole at the other end.

oldgardener, you inspired me (love your pic). I chose a photo of linens hanging out to dry on my clothesline a couple of years ago and used a program to make it appear in sepia tone. Then I sent it to WalMart to have it enlarged so I can frame the photo and hang it in my pantry/laundry room.

{{!gwi}}

Oklamoni - Pretty sophisticated stuff there - being able to put up/take down. Ours was wrapped around the tree uphill, over rocks/banking. When we walked across the porch to the step-on garbage can, we had to be sure we didn't gag ourselves, or behead ourselves, on the permanent clothes line! Great memories. Love these sepia photos. I would love a clothes line where I live now. Far too many NIMBY's I'm afraid. (Even tho it wouldn't be THEIR back yards...there sensitivities would be offended for sure. :-) Nice neighbors tho - regardless.

There has always been a ban on hanging clothes outside in subdivisions. It was lifted in 2008, and there are a number of lines, or at least the umbrella type driers.

I guess they finally figured that people would rather save money by not using their drier year-round, than be upset over seeing someone's laundry airing.

I haven't seen a close line used around here in probably 40 years - in any of the 3 towns i've lived in.
It's just not done.

liz_ga, I'm glad you liked the picture. I loved the collie. His name was Shiloh and he was my childhood friend. The girl in the picture is my sister.

Schoolhouse, love the picture!

Soxxx, the clothesline was actually quite a ways from the outhouse...we didn't have to navigate through the clothes to get to the outhouse in a hurry. LOL

Line I had up at the last house I lived in... taken very early after we had bought the place.

Moni

{{!gwi}}

Well, oklamoni, my embarrassment has somewhat dissipated ... it was nice and sunny and warm this morning, and I did a wash, hanging it out on the line: used up every last clothespin, had to double-pin a few things and took half a dozen socks in to hang on the basement line.

I, too, remember those poles with the notch in the end to keep one's wash flying. When I got started here there was a plastic "S" thing that one uses to hold the two lines close together.

However, there's been a plastic framewith a spool inside and a handle on one side to turn the spool, which would pull some more of the line into it, snugging up the line. But - yiou know what plastic does: gives up the ghost, too early in life! The dang frame had broken, over winter, it seems (maybe I'd break, too, if I had to sit out therein the suin and cold, day and night, what seems forever).

That let the line sag, despite the "S" hanger - there used to be two, but one got lost - and I had to hang judiciously to keep the clothes from dragging on the grass that's just starting to peek out of the ground.

Third load still sitting in the washer ... to be hung tomorrow morning, before I go to the church to do income tax for the low-income folks (our deadline is April 30).

ole joyful

Thanks for the info OG...I just love the picture...I'm gonna hang it in my laundry room and what a great name your collie had!!

This has been the greatest post...I just love trips down memory lane!

I love hanging wash love the smell,I broke all thne rules well blame it on age ok

liz_ga, I think I'll print the picture and hang it in my laundry room too, thanks for the idea.

We just cleaned out the laundry room and decluttered it, and it could use a sentimental old-timey picture on the wall. :)

When I was a child I would ride with my neighbor to take her maid to her home in the country.

In that neighborhood I would see clothing hanging to dry on barbed wire fences and spread over short bushes in yards. I wandered why they had no clothes lines, and if the wire did not tear the material or injure someone.

I also saw my first bottle trees in those yards and wandered why my family did not have one of those

Three things to do last evening: we have a federal election coming up and the TV debate was on last night ... and there was a meeting with a mining company in which I've had some shares for several years as presenters ... plus church council was meeting.

Have any of you figured how to be three places at once?

Wednesday afternoon, and I didn't remove any clothing from the line prior to leaving, this morning (but took in a few, last evening when I returned home, rather late).

The guys doing e-file did some income tax return business this morning, but I, preparing paper-based returns, sat and twiddled my thumbs (actually, had some paper work and reading to do). Many people want their refund back ... right ... away!

Preparing a flyer showing how some income-earners could have had an increase of over 50% in tax-free income from a certain type of investments during this Prime Minister's term of office from about $28 - 30,000. to over $46,000. ... a diffeent method of calculation having been provided for. While the basic ones, slightly under $10,000., went up about 3%.

Took some returns to the tax office, got some gas and soon will be home to take in the last of the two washes and hang out the one left in the washer.

I hope that you're all having a great week.

Just had this page taken over by a lady with a beautiful smile ... trying to sell me beauty products!

Imagine!

Took me a while to find the "X marks the spot" thing!

ole joyfilled (until a couple of minutes ago)

soxxxx, I would think that the houses may have been rental houses and the renters couldn't put up real clothes lines on the property, so they just used bushes and wire fences instead? Not sure though.

Hello Everyone

These are the clothesline poles that I remember as a kid.
My parents owned a three family house in the city.
We lived on the first floor and rented out the second and third floor.
Each floor had two lines coming from each side of the pole,one to the left and one to the right side of the porch. The ropes were on two pulleys, one on the pole and the other was on the porch. The pulleys were on a big hook that was screwed into the pole and the porch. The rope was threaded threw both pulleys and was tied together with a part called a clothesline tightener so when you pulled the rope it got tighter.

To hang the clothes all you had to do was hang the clothes on the line with some wooden clothes pins. and push the clothes out on the rope. If you put to much clothes on the line and it started to droop you would put on this wooden clothesline spreader
that had two small pulleys in it, and that brought the top rope and bottom rope closer together, so it would not sag, sometimes you would need to use two of them. I also remember that we had to climb the pole when the ropes would come off the pulleys. The pole had these big nails driven into it and you would use the nails as steps to climb up it.. (The picture shows only one clothesline on each floor now, the pole is to old to climb and put on new ones. Nobody uses the lines any more -- I guess they all like the dryer better.)

Some things that you needed for your Clothesline Pole

Have A Nice Day
Linesman

At my grandads house we used to have to go upstairs to one of the bedrooms to hang clothes from the window on a pulley line that went out to the cherry tree.Never really put much thought into until this post.At our own home,next door to Grandparents house,our pulley line went out off the porch to a lilac tree.

We also had an ice box and water pails on that same back porch and an outhouse up on the hill.My dad was the towns ice man,and delivered ice to the surrounding towns as well.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,such good memories.
Kathi