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Thread: Laundry: Do you use a clothesline?

  1. #1
    Senior Member awakenedsoul's Avatar
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    Laundry: Do you use a clothesline?

    We don't really have a home forum, so I'm posting this here. (The kitchen seems pretty close.) Do you line dry your clothes? What's your routine? Do you make your own laundry soap? What about hand washables?

    I wash my clothes and towels every Saturday and hang them to dry on my clothesline. I make my own laundry soap with Borax, baking soda, baking powder, and liquid soap. I launder my sheets every Sunday.

    I no longer use my dryer. My gas bill is so much cheaper without it, and I live in a very warm, dry climate. I also love the way my clothes smell after they dry outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

    I make liquid soap with boiled down bar soap that I buy from Goatsmilkstuff.com. I grate it into a pot with eight cups of water and heat. After it's cool I keep it in a recycled plastic raw milk jug. I use it for my hand washables. I hand knit all of my socks and sweaters, so I do a lot of laundry by hand. I use white vinegar as fabric softener.

    What about you?

  2. #2
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    I line dry in warmer weather and inside on drying racks in winter when the wood heat dries them overnight.
    Hand washables in Bronners liquid soap.
    I soak the items like undies in a bucket of hot water with 1/4 C washing soda added and then cold water wash with a vinegar rinse.
    I have made my detergent and really liked it but have gone back to Arm and Hammer laundry detergent.
    Otherwise, my routine is similar to yours.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  3. #3
    Senior Member Jilly's Avatar
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    Laundromat and dryers for towels and other linens, sheets/blankets. I live in an apartment, so the only things I air dry are clothing and undies, and whatever I need to hand wash. Clothing lasts forever if you do not use the dryer. My stuff wears out before it can get to looking old. I use racks and over-the-door rods.

    I do not use fabric softener, bleach, spot treatment or those dryer sheets. I still make hand soap, but laundry soap is too much work for just me...besides I am lazier and lazier by the day.
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  4. #4
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    Laundry day, varies on need and schedule. I have a clothesline that I use both outside and in the basement. I have a dryer I was given (belt was broken), after my old one died (1960 model), but haven't fixed it yet. (use the clotheslines or the laundromat getting multiple loads done in an hour.
    I only started using the laundromat a few years ago, after my employers medical condition (which reared its head again), drove my hours WAY up.
    I'd like to make my own detergent (sister did it and her and mom were using it), but work has been providing me with detergent and a few groceries for the shopping I do for them.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Sad Eyed Lady's Avatar
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    I dry outside anytime the weather permits. If not, then I have a folding rack I use inside. I also have a dryer, (had it since 1972 so this tells you how much it has been used), that I use rarely and usually for things that will dry really fast. I love my laundry dried outside, especially in summer, and when I bring everything inside there is still the smell of the sun and air.
    "Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in the midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free." Leonard Cohen

  6. #6
    Simpler at Fifty
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    I dry outside from Mid April - Nov. Depending on the snow. In the winter I dry the towels and socks in the dryer. I have two wooden drying racks for everything else. I bring our rugs and comforters to the laundromat to wash. I line dry if in season. They offer free drying a couple times a year so I take advantage of that with the comforters if I need it.

    I made my own laundry detergent once and it was a mess. It was too goopy. This was over 10 years ago and recipes may have changed. I use white vinegar in the rinse and do not use fab softener in the dryer.

    I have been researching new wooden racks. I like these and would do a day trip there to pick it up if they allow that. http://woodenclothesdryingrack.com/shop/

  7. #7
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    We don't have a dryer so I line dry the laundry every time, outside whenever weather permits because the racks are just taking too much space.

    I have never tried making my own detergent, I use Delicate Wash Ecover which can also be used washing the clothes by hands (that's something I do at least once a week even though lately I tend to use a soap bar for that). Unfortunately this laundery detergent is only available in quite small bottles so I end up throwing away plastic bottles that I cannot re-use very often and it's also not that cheap.

  8. #8
    Senior Member IshbelRobertson's Avatar
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    I dry washing outside on a rotary clothes line in what we call good weather, ie when it isn't raining! In winter or wet I ise my clothes pulley, which used to be near the Aga in the kitchen. When I had the Aga removed, it was moved into the laundry.

    http://www.pulleymaid.com

  9. #9
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    So you're channeling Mrs-M, awakenedsoul!

    I have a clothesline in the basement, which works well for me. I can hang a load of laundry down there. I truly love hanging clothes for a few reasons: It saves money on electricity/gas, it saves the clothes themselves, and it saves ironing--the best tip my MIL gave me was that if you "fluff" the clothes in heat for just a couple of minutes and THEN hang them, they come out with lots of body and no wrinkles.

    I'd love an outdoor line, but just haven't been motivated to install it--although it is part of my "grand plan" for my yard that came out of my permaculture course.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  10. #10
    Senior Member awakenedsoul's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by IshbelRobertson View Post
    I dry washing outside on a rotary clothes line in what we call good weather, ie when it isn't raining! In winter or wet I ise my clothes pulley, which used to be near the Aga in the kitchen. When I had the Aga removed, it was moved into the laundry.

    http://www.pulleymaid.com
    Oh how beautiful Ishbel! That takes my breath away...I love that stove, too. What is an Aga?

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