To dry, or not to dry

I hang dry summer and winter. We have two folding racks that we use in the house and try to space laundry out so that we can use them most of the time in the winter. Line drying is easier on the clothes and allows them to last longer. Besides, who can resist the smell of line dried sheets?

I line dry all jeans, farm clothes and towels. We have a pool so I dry boat loads of towels each week. I do run everything through the dryer on "Tumble Press" when I bring them in.

I'm right around 50%. When DH ever gets around to installing the long pulley clothesline I want, it will be much less. We use an indoor rack for most laundry in the winter when the stove is running. Drying laundry indoors helps boost the humidity.

Sometimes we use the rack outdoors in the summer, but sometimes it's a pain if I'm in a hurry so we soemtimes don't. I hate hanging socks & underwear, so I'll probably always dry that stuff. I like the dryer for getting wrinkles out of my office wardrobe, too.

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I was waiting for someone to say that! LOL Did you have to "wash" by hand or did you have one of those fancy-dancy roller type tubs? LOL

I laugh, but I knew someone who Grandparents still had one of those types of washers, more like a ringer. Since I think you still had to hand wash them first????

I'm like several others--allergies prevent me from line drying laundry as much as I'd like to but since mine are seasonal allergies to pollen, I just dry inside during those times. I don't like crunch towels or cardboard jeans so often do a brief period on air fluff when I bring in the laundry.

I've had laundry freeze in my hands as I tried to pin it to the line so we found a gizmo that runs air from the dryer through a louvered box with several inches of water in it. The water catches lint that might not be caught by the filter and helps to heat and humidify the house in winter. We also use my grandmother's folding clothes rack.

The other objection I have to line dried clothing is finding little "gifts" from the birds that grace our yard. I once had a wren start building a nest in the fold of a sheet. I don't know who was more startled by the other, her or me, when I took the sheet from the line and shook out the collection of twigs she placed there.

We use the clothesline during the warmer months, as it saves a LOT on our electric bill. During the winter, I have our dryer venting into the house through a filter box. That helps heat the house, and since we burn wood, it also compliments our humidity levels. We also hang some clothes on racks around the wood stove, at times.

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veni, vidi, volgavi

If you got the fancy ones, it was a hand-crank washing tub with the wringer attachment. ~smiles~

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

I do not own dryer. I haven't had one for 11 years now, ever since we moved up here to the UP. The electric costs are very high and I don't need a dryer to add to it! We do have an indoor freestanding woodburner which dries the clothes most of the winter. I have 1 large and 1 smaller wooden clothes rack that I use, and I hang some of the clothes on doorframes and the shower rod. Interesting thread

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Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

I've been using a laundromat since the washer died. We wash them there, roll them, and bring them home to hang on hnagers which we then hang on the line. Our lines are in the rafters of our porch, so we can hang clothes to dry even if it rains. It is very expensive to use the dryers at the laundromat, they take forever, and the clothes tend to shrink in them.

I live north of Mobile and I hang almost all my laundry on the line outside. I don't have allergies and I love rough towels and the smell of line dried bed clothes. I do have to use the dryer some in the winter because we get so much rain and sometimes we need things when I cannot hang them on the line.

Most of the time. Putting those warm blankets on the bed in the wintertime feels soooo good.

75% so far, I am very impressed! This helps scratch one more energy hog item off my list when I go solar. I might keep a drier around for my Underoos and for quick drying needs, but it sounds like with a little planning I can get by just fine without using it most of the time. I don't care for the drier sheet, and don't mind the crunchy towels, etc anyway.

This is really pretty funny when you stop to think about it. Like the point that it wasn't that long ago that everyone just did laundry this way and now to think that it's something special to do it this way is kind of goofy.

I guess it's the same as only having one car or no vehicles in the family and using public transportation to get around. Heck, even just getting up to change the channel on the TV is a crazy thought! I think I leave the TV off if the remote isn't working.

SirDude, my older brother (14 years my senior) once asked me why women buy washers, dryers, vacuums, and dishwashers; and then go buy gym memberships, exercise equipment and diet pills. He made me think. He is also the one who taught me about reloading one day and how bake bread in a wood cookstove the next. Did his laundry and bathed in a creek for many years until he got married. Quite a guy really.

I don't like the way line drying outside makes my clean clothes crunchy and dirty smelling. I especially can't stand drying off with a crunchy towel. I do line dry my tops but I keep them inside. If they are knit tops or gentle fabrics I don't want them in the dryer.

I have 2 pulley clotheslines for the spring, summer and winter and 2 large homemade drying racks on wheels for the winter. I find that drying the clothes on racks in the winter really helps with the humidity of the air.

I usually don't wash clothes when it's raining but sometimes I'll do it anyway and hang it out...it'll dry eventually.

And I love the feel of all clothes and towels that have been line dried including jeans. Can't remember the last time I used the dryer.

We use to dry outside on nice day's , but can't anymore .
We rent 1/2 of a duplex and the landlord came around and pulled out all the clothes line poles as a kid cutting across a neighbors back yard ran into a pole on his bike ??? .
So they have banned any outside clothes drying for fear of a law suit .( Hanging ? )
Today We got a letter also banning any fire pits , trampolines and Kiddie Wading Pools.
I so want out of this "Nanny State "
Thinking about Either Nh, Me , or Tn
Bob

We live near a hog confinement and my wife has to go out and smell the air before she can hang clothes out to dry------or send me out to do it.

For me hanging out the clothes is as relaxing as it gets! I love to be outside &listening to the birds. I normally hang clothes in the morning before I head off to work and take them off the line when I get home as a way to wind down from a long day. I would never look at it as extra work, to me it is very relaxing! And I love the smell it gives my clothes!

For the same reason men buy riding lawnmowers, rototillers and chainsaws, and then go buy gym memberships, exercise equipment, and diet pills that they never use.

~peers in her garage at the pile of metal stuff that, if assembled, would be a full "home gym"~

"For sale: Home gym, mint condition. Used twice. Call Chubby at 555-1212"

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

I watch the weather and plan to do the laundry when I can hang it outdoors. I have two lines strung between the house and the shed. It is a pleasant chore, and yes, exercise for me. I use the dryer for undies and about once a month to de-fuzz the towels and if something is needed when the weather isn't favorable for hanging outdoors. I do use a small rack in front of the woodstove in winter for things that didn't quite dry outdoors.