Clothesline

[Acre of Blessings]

The best pointer that I can give you is to hang all you clothes upside-down. Mu hubby is gonna fix me a new clothes line soon b/c the one we have now is only a 1-liner. I need a 3-liner and about 25 ft. long.

Plus, do what I did and ask a department store manager if they have any of the racks that they hang clothes on in the store that they are going to trash and usr them. this way the clothing is already on a hanger and can go from rack to closet in no time. I love mine.

 

[hdchic]

I have always had a clothesline and LOVE IT! One thing I make sure and do is distribute evenly. By that I mean if its a load of jeans or towels, I start at one end and hang one one each line, not all on one. I also try to hang the heavy things nearest the post. Heavy duty clothes pins are great, as well.

I shake out my clothes before hanging, that helps with wrinkles, and straightening out jeans (cuffs, pockets, etc) helps as well. I also hang my shirts upside down, mainly to avoid the mark on the shoulder from the clothespin.

Everyone else covered things well...I also pair my socks, and conserve pins by pinning two corners together....that can even be done with t-shirts.

Something my DH did with my posts is to run a guide wire from the top to the ground so you can keep them pulled straight and tight.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Click on this link for my Homemade Lavender Laundry Detergent recipe:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=45032

 

[Bec]

A helpful tip with jeans and pants. Hang them from the waist band but only pin he back of the waist band. let the front kind of hang free. It's kind of like a wind catcher, the breeze blows in the pants and then you don't have dry pant and wet waist band and pockets!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

We only have a clothesline in the summer when we need to hang beach towels and swimsuits. We just tie a rope between two trees. I'm not sure the neighbors appreciate it...

 

[SterlingAcres]

Actually, as I'm thinking about it, this house here is the only place we've used the dryer. We'd always hang our clothes. If outside wasn't possible (like the apartment) they were hung up on hangers and hung on the shower curtain rod. They'd dry in a day in there with the window open in the winter.
Once we get our things moved over to the new house, we're adding a clothesline from the back of the addition to the woods. It's about a 30ft run and I plan to have 2 or 3 lines out there. I wash all my sheets and blankets at the same time and I have tons of cloth diapers, so I'll need lots of space.
I can't add anything to what everyone else wrote, but I second the hanging your clothing upside down. I shake the wet laundry out before hanging and usually had no issues with wrinkles. If something was creased, we'd just iron it before we wore it. No big deal. My dh and I actually love our jeans off the clothesline, they don't feel rough to me... just a little stiffer.

Good luck with your laundry!

 

[DuckLady]

I hang stuff out all the time when it is not raining. I run the towels on the touch up cycle in the dryer for about 5 minutes to fluff them.

Edited to add....
My DH found this tension thingy that is a tube thing with ball bearings inside and a release button. When my line is sagging, before I hang clothes, I start at the anchoring end and run the line to the other end and release the tube thingy and run the slack through and let go of the release and the line is tight again. Did that make sense?

sort of like this
http://www.pennplastics.com/line.htm
but it is a metal tube thing.
I think it is called a quick lock cleat

 

[sara]

I hang all my laundry out in the spring/summer. It drops my electric bill 20.00 per month.

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

Quote:
Oh! I hadnt thought about doing that!! D'oh
I hate bringing the clothes in off the line and finding them covered with lint and pet fur. And I know I dont have that issue with the electric dryer! Silly me.

I have a umbrella clothes line from Home Depot. And dry everything out there. Along with fencing in the back yard it is one of those "why didnt we do this sooner" things

 

[henjoy]

I can't add any other tips. The previous ones are all good. We don't have a dryer (personal choice) and live in Michigan where there is lots of cold snowy weather. I dry clothes on my outside line March-December and on a wooden drying rack inside the rest of the time. Saves lots of $$. JustHatched I predict you'll love your clothesline.