Hanging Out

Almost every home we have lived in since we married has had a clothes line. The year before last we finally installed one at this house. Looking back, I remember when I first started hanging clothes out I had no idea how to keep the puckers that the pegs from being so noticeable. Over the years I have figured out a few ways that help. Here they are:

1. Hang t-shirts from the arm pits area
2. Hang button up shirts upside down at the seams.
3. Dish towels, towels, napkins, wash cloths, anything square from the corners
4. Sheets (I love line dried sheets) I fold in fourths and hang with the fold at the top.
5. Pillow cases get hung upside down.
6. I hang jeans from the waist with one peg at each front pocket,
7. Dress pants get hung folded along the creases of the legs the pegged at the waist.
8. Underwear gets hung just as you would wear them with a peg at each side.
9. Bras get one peg at the snap.
10. Rugs get one peg at each corner (if they are allowed to drape over the line you get a
crease where the line was.)
11. I have an umbrella clothes line so I always hang the underwear in the center of the line.
That way everybody doesn’t see them as they drive by or stop in.

When I take the clothes out of the washer, I shake them a little to separate them from each other, and place them in the laundry basket. When hanging them on the line I take them out of the basket and give them a good snap. This helps to shake out some of the wrinkles. Then hang them. Once they are dry, I un-peg them and give them another good snap (sometimes insects land on the clothes and this helps to remove them.) I usually fold them before I put them in the laundry basket, this also helps with wrinkles.

It is best to hang clothes out on a windy day, all the flapping around helps to soften them a little.

Line dried clothes are always stiffer, but towels and dish towels are so much more absorbent. Have you ever tried to dry a spill with a towel and it just smeared it around? You don’t usually get that with a line dried towel. It will really soak up a spill.

Other benefits of using a clothes line are:

It lowers your electric bill.
It helps your clothes last longer (the dryer is really harsh on elastic and all that lint you clean out of the lint trap are really fibers from your clothes.)
You get fresh air and sunshine while you are hanging them out and taking them in.
You also get a little bit of exercise.
I also get the joy of the peace and quiet of being outside with no noise except the occasional car passing by.

I only use my clothes line in the summer and usually only get to use it on the weekends, but with the weather we’ve been having lately, it’s hard to get them hung out at all because of the rain.

I have tried hanging them inside, but we just don’t have much space for that. If you can’t hang your clothes outside there are some really good accordion style clothes lines that will fit in front of a window, on a porch or patio.

Happy hanging!

Mae