Hanging clothes on the line

Oh yeah! My husband's socks. Lord have MERCY if his socks got washed with my work scrubs!!! UGH. One time I didn't notice it right away and I got to work and got a whiff of his socks and wondered where it was coming from. Then I smelled my shirt. How embarrassing is that??

I've had it happen. After awhile the clothes get an odd smell I've yet to be able to describe but I've never been able to get the smell out so the clothes are ruined. Very distasteful smell. It takes much more time for this to happen if we're using commercial chemical detergents, happens right away if we use more natural cleaners. This problem has happened at all three places we've stayed at over the last four years.

No idea how to get rid of it. Folks here offered suggestions like lemon, vinegar but those didn't help. *shrug*

A little tip I got off the cleaning forum, is to put vinagar in your rinse water, instead of fabric softener. It works great and there is no smell. I was having a terrible time with my towels stinking, straight out of the dryer, but the vinagar took care of that and softens them too.
P.J.

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too much soap makes for stiff clothes...try washing a load without adding soap and you may be surprized at the bubbles you get! We have started using the 3x detergents and only one tiny cap really does clean the clothes...and these are grubby farm clothes. Only add bleach to underwear/socks/towels load and my white nursing pants. I pretty much hang everything outdoors and for years hung on basement lines for 4 kids with no smell. DEE

I know what you mean but here it is the humidity. It can be so humid here that the clothes will "sour" on the line. I have to use the dryer when it is very humid. The clothes wont stink as bad right off the line..it is when you wear them...if you get hot.
Maybe that is your problem..I normally love to hang clothes on the line. Dang Tennessee humidity.

I hear ya. It took a while to get used to it, but it has worked great the last few years. The wife was a little skepitcal at first, after the the first couple weeks she even quit hanging them up to dry, so I started hanging them up myself. Took a while to figure out where to hang them to dry. By the third or fourth time I wore em I couldn't just drape em over my boots to dry, didn't take long at all to smell up the room something fierce. I tried to dry em on the clothesline with the washed laundry but they would contaminate the clean stuff in no time at all. I finally strung a line up down wind from the house and away from the livestock where they get a good breeze. Tell your husband that if'n he don't like em so stiff when he goes to put em on he can take and smack em against a tree trunk (rough bark seems to work better than smooth bark) or on the side of the barn. Give em a dozen or so good smacks and they'll soften enough to pull em back on. The one problem I have is they don't seem to last near as long now as when she used to wash em. Don't seem to take no time at all before they start to wear through at the heel. I suppose I could go ahead and darn them, but truth is, by the time they've been worn enough to wear through to the heel I don't care to handle them enough to do it. By the time they hit the 2 month mark I don't want to do much but peel them off and throw em over the line to dry. What I need is another holiday besides fathers day, Christmas and my birthday for to get new ones. Maybe that could be a at home money maker for somebody, startin up a "Sock of the Month" club. Maybe every month get a couple new pairs sent straight to your door, along with some type of container to get rid of the old worn ones.

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I have hung clothes for 24 years and never have they smelled bad! I admit towels are stiff, but they do dry your body much better. I hang year round, but must have DH put coal on the fire instead of wood if I'm hanging out in the winter. Can only remember once or twice having bird poop also. I have a front loader now, wash in warm water & use very little Tide HE powder with vinegar in the rinse.

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Cindy in PA

My hubby calls that "time-released stench".

Women in Italy plant lavendar along their clothesline so that when the wind blows the fragrance blows accross their clothing. Such a nice thought - but I've never done it.