Seniors! These days do you ever hang your sheets or other laundry out on a clothes line?

Question

And if not, do you miss it?

Okay, to Jill and everybody else young and old, this question is open to all!

Answer 1

Those were the good old days--I remember no one had a clothes dryer because there was no 220 power in houses. I used to have to hang all my clothes on the line and there was no perm press so they all had to be ironed. I miss the clean smell, I used to take the baby diapers out and they would smell so clean and nice and the sun helped to brighten them. In a complex now and not even allowed to take a rug outside to dry. My solution to that one is my wonderful daughter and her huge washer, when I go to take care of the short guy, I can do a rug or a quilt and hang it outside to dry. Yes I do miss it---I always had some way to hang clothes, in NC I had little space but bought a bungie affair at Big Lots and hung stuff on the porch to dry--it even had little clothes pins on it.

Answer 2

Of course I hang my laundry out on the clothes line. Why wouldn't I? Everybody talks about "Global Warming"....and using an electric dryer for no other reason than "convenience" doesn't make sense to me. I realize that some people cannot use a clothes line...restrictions, lot size, etc. but if you have access to a clothes line....use it....the clothes smell wonderful when you bring them in off the line! Besides, there's nothing nicer than to hang out the wash on a sunny morning and hear the birds singing in the nearby trees.

gere

Answer 3

I live in a townhouse too and can't hang outside. I alwayd did when I lived in the UK and electricity is costly both for the environment and for the purse. Solution? I put my wet clothes in the dryer on low for about 5 minutes only and hang around doing other jobs till times up. AS SOON AS you open the door, take out the clothes etc., shake them and hang them up on proper hangers. I put a rod up in the laundry room but you could hang them anywhere. Use skirt hangers for skirts and pants. There will be no creases at all Go do some laundry!!

Answer 4

Would love to, but since we're bird lovers and have all kinds of houses and feeders in the yard, it's something I can't do anymore. Took the line down a couple years ago after I got tired of always having to rewash the clothes! Yes, miss it lots and the scent of laundry dried outdoors is one of the best in the world. Had to laugh at what Dragon said about the frozen jeans....used to go thru' that big time, having 5 boys, when we still lived up north. I'd take the jeans off the line and they could stand up by themselves!

Answer 5

I'm a "baby boomer" & yes, I do indeed hang my laundry out on the clothesline. I don't hang everything out but for sure, I do hang my sheets & bedding out. I love the great smell when I open my linen closet. No other aroma like it. As a very young girl, I always helped my mother on "Mondays" which was laundry day. This was before we got a modern day washer & dryer. We had the old wringer washer, with the two laundry tubs, filled with rinse water. It took all day, as I helped my mom do the wash. I always like to help her hang the laundry out & take it off the line & fold it, before placing it in the laundry basket. What a fresh smell!!!

Answer 6

I hang jeans and towels out on the line, weather permitting, because I have a feeling these things take an enormous amount of energy to dry being thick cotton. I also hang out anything of my daughter's made of Rami witch I think is thick cotton - more like sponge since it takes forever to dry. I dry everything else in the dryer, especially sheets, pillow cases, table clothes etc because it seems these things dry very rapidly.

By the way, I just bought a new dryer after 30 years and the new one has a setting on it that amazes me. It senses when the clothes are dry and shuts itself off. I'm always the last one to learn anything so I imagine everyone else is already familiar with this feature but it seems like a real energy saver to me. Actually, it doesn't take much to impress me.

Edit: I changed genes to jeans lest someone think I hang my DNA out on the line :)

Answer 7

Sure! I strung a 100 foot line between the back of my house (where there was already a wheel set up) to the big white ash tree that sits beside my shed, a few years ago.

I hang up a lot of clothes and (especially) bedding and towels in the summer.

When I was young, it was my job to hang out the clothes all year long. It was quite funny taking jeans down off the line in the winter, and standing them up in the snow (they were literally frozen stiff!).

And you know what...they still smell just as nice when they come in from all that fresh air and sunshine!

Answer 8

If I could, I would. I now live upstairs in an apartment building. No clothes line-just a nasty old dryer. I used to love hanging clothes out on the line. I never put diapers into the dryer because I thought the sun was better at drying them. I used to love taking them off the line and smelling that totally fresh smell. They call dryers progress, but sometimes I have to wonder-is it really?

Answer 9

I do have a clothesline but rarely hang anything out because of dust and allergies. I do miss it, though. The smell of sheets dried in the wind is reminiscent of my childhood, when my Mother hung everything on the line. We didn't have a dryer but neither did anyone else. Those were the good old days.

Answer 10

The house I live doesn't have laundry facilities. It's 15 miles down the mountain to a laundry.

I wash all my clothes in the bathtub and hang them outside, warm weather, indoors wintertime.

I honestly don't think I'd miss it if I had an alternative.