# The disappearing art of hanging laundry



## mar13 (Oct 23, 2021)

Last weekend I hung my last load of laundry outside after 6 months of using nature to dry my laundry. The pole is collapsed and in the rafters until spring when the shadows back off and the winter rains fade away. Using the gas drier this weekend....

All this high-end expensive technology emphasis these days to save the planet and I don't hear much about drying clothes outside. A bit like walking a mile instead of driving your car a mile - 100% efficient, albeit a bit more time consuming and perhaps less convenient. (Even if you drive a Tesla that mile ) Better than wood burning as there's no gas for the chainsaw or truck, unless you handsaw and foot haul.  And I think the clothes last longer.

There is some mental planning cost. Will it rain or be too foggy today needs to be considered before hanging laundry.  How many loads do I have space for on the line? Will I be home before the evening dampness gets to the clothes?

There's some basic joy to it as well, besides the simple economical and environmental virtues. I like listening to the birds and watching the deer or whatever other activity is going on. Sometimes I do slip in a blue tooth ear piece and listen to a podcast or call a friend. Just like stacking and splitting wood, there's strategy to how to order the clothes when hanging, as well as folding and sorting clothes when taking them down.

Just like with wood heat, it used to be the only option and perfectly ordinary to do.


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## peakbagger (Oct 23, 2021)

My wood boiler is in the basement so I have a laundry lines hanging from the ceiling so I dry in the basement in the winter. I the summer I have lines in an unfinished bedroom. I have owned a Staber washer for 30 plus years and it really gets the clothes dry right out of the washer.


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## Gearhead660 (Oct 23, 2021)

Grew up hanging clothes outside on the line.  Still do it.  Enjoy doing anything outside.


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## Grizzerbear (Oct 23, 2021)

Still do it here too.  Nothing better than air dried shirts. You can smell the fresh air when you first put them on and pants have that starched feel.. Can't leave the clothespins on the line though. My pyrenees has a unique fondness for snatching them and leaving them strewn about the yard. Then the mower gets em.


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## tlc1976 (Oct 24, 2021)

My old house in the HOA had a rule against clotheslines. I wonder if other HOAs or towns do too.

I grew up with my mom using a clothesline in the summer. I didn’t like how the clothes turned all crusty, but they did smell good.

Here I have a clothes post from the previous owners. I haven’t used it for anything but hanging parts to paint them. For the reasons already posted, like planning. I do laundry when it’s dark or crappy out, I do other things when it’s nice out. And I don’t like crusty clothes. Or birds crapping on them or bugs getting in them. My stove and water heater and dryer are gas and I only fill the tank once every 2 years so that’s not too bad.


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## Brian26 (Oct 24, 2021)

I use a wooden drying rack which is in front of the fan outlet on my heat pump water heater. The rack gets a direct blast of cool dry air from the heat pump. I usually hang my clothes in the evening and wake up with them completely dry. The hpwh sees most of its runtime in the evening into the night due to higher hot water usage with cooking and an evening shower.


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## begreen (Oct 25, 2021)

We hang the laundry outdoors in the summer but right now it would be pretty soggy.


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## Jan Pijpelink (Oct 26, 2021)

I am from 1958. Growing up in The Netherlands, we had no washer and no dryer. All was done by hand, till the early '70s.
When in 1991, my better half and I moved to Sarnia, Ontario, we were the first in the family to have a dryer.
I had no clue how to use that thing.


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## gthomas785 (Oct 27, 2021)

We tried hanging our laundry a few times this summer but it got moldy before it was dry.
In the winter, we use an indoor drying rack near the stove. It's pretty effective.


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## mar13 (Oct 27, 2021)

gthomas785 said:


> We tried hanging our laundry a few times this summer but it got moldy before it was dry.
> In the winter, we use an indoor drying rack near the stove. It's pretty effective.


Along our coast, the winters are  cool (not cold) and damp, so it's all about trying to keep the inside humidity from getting too high to prevent mold.  I'd probably do more inside drying with the wood stove, but then it'd just increase the indoor humidity. I suppose for much of the country,  more  indoor humidity is desired during the winter.


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## stoveliker (Oct 27, 2021)

My experience is to not hang (large, bright) pieces it outside the first time it gets above 55 F. (Honey-) bees start flying then in spring. And they poop. And somehow prefer white t-shirts...


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## EbS-P (Oct 28, 2021)

I have a a pulley line from my 2nd story deck to a tree about 80-100 ft away.  I’m still hanging loads out. Even in the winter I can get 1 load a day dry if it doesn’t rain. I found clothespins are to slow so I only use a couple every load. Basket goes on railing so I don’t bend over.  Every load but may 10 since March no sock or underwear.


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## EbS-P (Nov 5, 2021)

I lit the stove for the first time today.  Hung out a load a laundry after the secondaries fully engaged on the reload.  We’ll se how dry it gets.  It’s up to 55 with a good wind.


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## clancey (Nov 5, 2021)

Good set up you have there--"Why" Lets be honest you like hanging out laundry on a nice day...lol clancey


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## Gearhead660 (Nov 5, 2021)

Hung some clothes out the other day, windy with high near 40.  Dried in a couple hours.


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## Grizzerbear (Nov 6, 2021)

The only thing I don't really like about laundry dried on a line this time of year is the asian lady beetles that invade this time of year. I occasionally will feel one crawling on me/inside my shirt after I have put one on. They are everywhere right now....it's tough keeping them out of the house even.  

You also really gotta pay attention when your mowing and the clothes are on the line. The wife isn't too fond of grass and leaves being blown all over the clothing


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## Mt Bob (Nov 6, 2021)

Hardly ever use dryer, usually just to soften towels. Hang inside and out year round. Don't care if they freeze, does not last long,humidity here drops after a snow.Sunshine is THE best disinfectant for laundry. Too  many people use too many dryer sheets, and the perfume and chemicals clog up material.
Another lost art- stripping laundry, especially towels,wash cloths and sheets.


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## georgepds (Nov 9, 2021)

Don't  have a dryer

In the winter, I hang the clothes on the beam near the stove

In the summer I hang them in the sun under the shed PV.

Those are solar thermal  panels below the PV for warm summer showers. That's a V2 chevy volt charging on the right, an covered  wood racks on the left.

Once you start down an energy aware path, it's  hard to stop


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## mar13 (Nov 9, 2021)

Mt Bob said:


> Hardly ever use dryer, usually just to soften towels. Hang inside and out year round. Don't care if they freeze, does not last long,humidity here drops after a snow.Sunshine is THE best disinfectant for laundry. Too  many people use too many dryer sheets, and the perfume and chemicals clog up material.
> Another lost art- stripping laundry, especially towels,wash cloths and sheets.


I had to look up "stripping laundry"  .  (  https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/a33588329/laundry-stripping/  )  I can't keep up with my current chores, so I'll just adhere to the "smart laundry practices" to avoid the need.

The coastal Pacific Northwest is not friendly to outdoor drying during the winters - too darn gray and damp, especially if surrounded by tall trees.


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## Mt Bob (Nov 9, 2021)

mar13 said:


> I had to look up "stripping laundry"  .  (  https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/a33588329/laundry-stripping/  )  I can't keep up with my current chores, so I'll just adhere to the "smart laundry practices" to avoid the need.
> 
> The coastal Pacific Northwest is not friendly to outdoor drying during the winters - too darn gray and damp, especially if surrounded by tall trees.


Yep,I feel for you.I swear when I was visiting Portland I could SEE the moss growing on cars and houses!


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## mar13 (Nov 9, 2021)

Mt Bob said:


> Yep,I feel for you.I swear when I was visiting Portland I could SEE the moss growing on cars and houses!


I know an environmental engineer who seems to have never washed his old white (?) Ford Escort. It is thickly covered in all types of lichen. Perhaps it's an attempt for a bit of a carbon offset  ( https://phys.org/news/2012-06-algae-lichens-mosses-huge-amounts.html )


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## Grizzerbear (Nov 9, 2021)

Around here strippin laundry means fun time lol.


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## clancey (Nov 9, 2021)

lol lol... Those educational video's are a little too much for me to think about doing to my laundry but I get the drift..I rather just throw them in the washer, then the dryer and on a nice day maybe hang some sheets outside...Just tooooo much for my brain to handle and I rather relax with a cold beverage soaking in a hot tub with epson salts to help my tired muscles after a day of hard work..That's what I call stripping laundry...lol lol old mrs clancey


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## MongoMongoson (Nov 10, 2021)

We hang our clothes outside all spring/summer/fall and inside in the winter.   We need moisture in the house in the winter, anyway.   

Sometimes if we have days of rain we'll hang them inside in the summer, as well.  I run a dehumidifier.   I don't know, but it seems likely that the dehumidifier probably uses less energy to pull the water out of the air than the dryer does to pump steam out the side of the house.   

It is very rare that the dryer runs in our house. 

I can't remember the last time I ever washed a car or had one washed.   That, to me, does seem like a waste.  Maybe my Focus would have lasted me more than 16 years if I had washed off some of the salt in the winter, though.   It rusted to death.


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## Woodsplitter67 (Nov 21, 2021)

We run the dryer for thicker or bigger stuff like towels bed sheets. We hang outside occasionally spring, summer, fall. We have wooden clothes racks we use a lot in the basement for pants,shirt, sweatshirts its all kept in the laundry room which is pretty big like 16x24. I went solar and my dryer is electric, we still try to keep the usage down so the solar covers 100% of the electric


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## EbS-P (Nov 21, 2021)

I lost track after 8 loads this week.  All on the line.  I will no heat tumble everything for a few minutes just to soften it up.

Evan


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## mar13 (Nov 21, 2021)

EbS-P said:


> I lost track after 8 loads this week.  All on the line.  I will no heat tumble everything for a few minutes just to soften it up.
> 
> Evan


Had a break in the weather? I could do, maybe, 4 loads max on my line space. Hanging season encourages me to do laundry on a regular frequent cycle. When it's drier season, the dirty laundry can sometimes build up as my weather/line limit/hours of sun is no long a thought.


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## EbS-P (Nov 22, 2021)

mar13 said:


> Had a break in the weather? I could do, maybe, 4 loads max on my line space. Hanging season encourages me to do laundry on a regular frequent cycle. When it's drier season, the dirty laundry can sometimes build up as my weather/line limit/hours of sun is no long a thought.


I can get one big load on the line at a time.  We try not to let it pile up.  Weather here is generally accommodating.  Yesterday it was 75, 65 the day before and 60 before that.  Light rain now, and 55 and sun tomorrow with the possibility of our first freeze.   I could get two loads dry tomorrow if I had too.    

Back to the art part.  I have given up on clothespins as they just take two long.  I can hang the load out in half the time if I just lay it over the line. Couple exceptions windy days, or late start when it won’t have time to dry otherwise.


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## clancey (Nov 22, 2021)

I think you all are nuts and I rather do it with my electric washer and dryer or a gas one whatever...lol  That's just too much fooling around and they come out stiff too...I like softness because I guess I am spoiled and had my share of old timey stuff.  Heck as a young person I remember spending many hours doing laundry--hated it...lol  old clancey


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## dh1989 (Nov 25, 2021)

We have an indoor line that gets strung up down the hallway of our raised ranch. The clothes add humidity to the air in the winter and dry fairly quick in the summer with AC on. There's pollen and bugs to deal with outdoors so we keep the line inside.


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## kennyp2339 (Nov 26, 2021)

I have a 1 piece Walls insulated coverals and bibs that I always hang dry in the basement by the woodstove after snow plowing on the tractor, feels so nice to put them on when they've been hanging, absorbing the heat for a few hours, same with my hats and gloves after skiing, hang them up on the ceiling pipe and there dry in an hour.


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## MongoMongoson (Nov 28, 2021)

I bought 4 of these recently, at $5 each.  I thought they would look cool and old timey while being functional.  I was right.









						Vintage Swedish Military Wooden Hanger
					

Wow, what an incredible discovery these hangers are! These wooden hangers were used as clothing drying lines. We just love the used, vintage look. They would make a great display piece on a wall along with other rustic tools and articles. You could also s




					colemans.com
				




I strung one in a straight line, and a second I suspended by chains from the ceiling as a square.

They about tripled our indoor laundry hanging capacity for this winter.

A third will hang from the ceiling of our cabin in the UP, again as a square.  

This evening I was looking at the square I hung and realized that it should raise and lower with a pulley.  Lower it, load it up with wet clothes, then raise it to get it out of the way.  We have a 12' ceiling.  

If I did that, I could even have two squares on one pulley; one above the other.  T-shirts, socks and underwear (short stuff) could hang from the top square, long stuff from the bottom square.  Even more capacity!


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