# Clotheslines...



## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

I am hoping to get something set up to dry my sheets, blankets and towels on for as much of the year as possible...

We even have a pumphouse, I though of setting up a line inside during our wet months (which is about 9 months out of the year...

It would not be too much to set up some poles with lines, I know this, my issue is how to keep the laundry soft so we don't have stiff towels. I could use softener, but I feel like this might still not be the secret. I thought I had heard somewhere about using vinegar in the rinse cycle to keep things soft? Towels are my main concern, as I have a fussy city husband..

We have well water which does have minerals, I am thinking calcium would be one of those (leaves white film on stuff after a while).

Would love some input. Thanks


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I have to say that the only way my towels stay somewhat soft while line drying is if it is super windy that day.. you know the kind.. where you have to double them over the line and use 4 pins per towel.. they come out very soft and not stiff at all.. but most of the time I line dry and then when they are a touch damp but mostly dry I put them in the dryer for just about 5 to 10 minutes.. it beats them soft again.. 
also the white vinegar( not good for food but fantastic for cleaning) will help a bit. but if you don't have a water softener then get some of the salt for water softeners( it is pretty cheap) and I dissolve a cup full in about a quart of water( it won't all dissolve) I put a couple shots of the salt water in the soap spot of my washer and a glug in the softener side too. the salt does make a difference in how clean my clothes are. I have super hard water too.. white on the glasses and shower and washer.. I often use vinegar on my glasses and in the washer with baking soda to clean them a couple times a month to keep the build up down.
I put stuff out on the line till it gets almost too cold to really dry and then often give them a couple minutes in the dryer.. it does cut back down on the electric. But I still get the nice outdoor smell on the sheets and stuff.. I even put the undies out on a line between two other lines of sheets or towels.. helps them last longer as the heat of the dryer will break down the elastic of them quicker..
I do use my dryer more often lately but knee surgery and a nerve burned out of my back have me more infirm the last couple months.

Hope this helps a bit..


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

SWMBO got yelled at by somebody down the block (in a different neighborhood) for being a ghetto person with drying stuff on the line. I LOVE line dried clothes.


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## Fn/Form (Nov 6, 2008)

Hoppe, sorry I don't know a home remedy for softer line-dried clothes. But you brought back some memories and a laugh. Our jeans could nearly stand b y themselves after line drying. We all had to hang clothes. To this day we refer to the phrase "hahaha, like a white load" in reference to things we'd rather not do.

I remember my then-new sis-in-law commenting that we must have skin like leather... and we were equally surprised that she and her family wore jeans more than once before washing. Our jeans were filthy after one day.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

I do put all my line dried clothes in the dryer for a few minutes---never stiff.
I tried vinegar; couldn't see much difference.
I have a rack for drying little clothes in the winter; a rack with rollers for hanging things to dry like shirts and jeans on hangars.
Works great.

Incidentally, I wear my jeans more than one day---and when TSHTF, I do believe we all will!!!:ignore:
Especially my dh.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I am guilty of wearing my jeans more than one time.. holy moly I have worn them about 3 or 4 times before they hit the wash..but.. I have several pair and wear a different pair each day.. more in the winter tho.. in the summer the jean shorts tend to get sweated thru so probably not more than once or twice then in the was.. 
I do remember the summer vacation where my and my one sisters suitcase didn't end up making it to the car. We had between us the clothes we wore and two extra tshirts and one pair of shorts and one set of jammies each.. but we got all new underthings. so spent a couple times that trip in our jammies(or swimsuits I forgot them) while mom ran our clothing thru the washing machines at the local town.


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## siletz (Aug 23, 2011)

Yep, a few minutes in the dryer will make them soft. It can just be on the air setting without heat to keep the electric bill down.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

All helpful...My mother (almost 73) who was raised in a family of nine and mother of 6 herself, said NEVER do underwear on the clothes line if you don't have to, jeans either.

She also said towels won't be super soft line dried, but they absorb a whole lot more than being dried in the dryer. 

I have never used softener, I hate how it seems to leave a film on my skin, makes me feel itchy, my husband on the other hand, if skin rashiness on my part from the softener was not an issue, would use it ALL the time, and a lot. He was the one I had to wean off of massive amounts of paper products, cleaning products and all name brand body products. I cave with him on paper towels, if it were me, cloth napkins and rags only for cleaning.

Finally got him off the softeners, and then he tried to sneak in the dryer sheets, which are much worse for my skin. I am not sure if I can convince him line dried towels are good, well, maybe until he starts seeing tiny little electric bills, ours in winter have topped out at almost $400 a month.....We have baseboard heat and although we have a woodstove, he forgets to cut kindling and stack by the door for me, as I am the fire starter (when we met, he admitted never camping in his life and only having a coal furnace as a kid in Chicago, so he did not know how to start a fire and keep it going in a wood stove). So, we end up using the heaters too often.

Line drying is going to be my first defense against the electric bill, the next would be to see how to heat water without electricity via the power company. Teen daughter in the house, long showers, sometimes two (she will say she has to shave her legs...) and lots of washed clothes, including the dryer use, it adds up.


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## mamabear2012 (Mar 8, 2012)

I'm jealous. My home owners association won't allow anyone to line dry their clothes outdoors. Ridiculous!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

mamabear2012 said:


> I'm jealous. My home owners association won't allow anyone to line dry their clothes outdoors. Ridiculous!


{{{{{HUGS}}}}} I feel for ya.. that is the most stupid thing I've ever heard in my life.. I suppose you can't have a garden if it isn't all flowers and no veggies.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Tell him*



HoppeEL4 said:


> I am hoping to get something set up to dry my sheets, blankets and towels on for as much of the year as possible...
> 
> We even have a pumphouse, I though of setting up a line inside during our wet months (which is about 9 months out of the year...
> 
> ...


Tell your husband to Cowboy up! The SHHTF and he is lucky to have clean clothes once & a while. If he looks too good, sombody will kill him for his underware.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

JayJay said:


> I do put all my line dried clothes in the dryer for a few minutes---never stiff.
> I tried vinegar; couldn't see much difference.
> I have a rack for drying little clothes in the winter; a rack with rollers for hanging things to dry like shirts and jeans on hangars.
> Works great.
> ...


To be truthful, the real reason I use the dryer a few minutes is for static free sheets...my hair gets the award for 'static dance', even in the summer months!!!! And I can not stand getting shocked---oooh, that hurts!!

And for this :Towels are my main concern, as _I have a fussy city husband..
_ 
To that I say, It's trade in time...
Dear Lord, thank you for my understanding, undemanding husband who'll eat anything I place on the table, never complain about anything(even if I do have to choose his shirts sometimes)


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Mamabear, that really is pathetic! I don't see one single 'trashy' thing about drying your clothes on the line. It's a totally "green" thing to do. 

As for the stiff jeans and towels, I'm almost inclined to say get used to it now so it isn't such a shock after, lol. I do find that the towels are more absorbant when dried on the line. The jeans, well, I don't like stiff jeans any more than anybody else, but the good thing is that once you walk around in them for about 10 minutes, they loosen up. 

Laundry is a super topic to cover. I make my own laundry soap that costs me about 1 cent per load. I think it cleans great and it has saved me a lot of money. One thing I am still looking for is an affordable clothes wringer. I have a wash tub and board, but just thinking about wringing clothes out by hand makes me sudder. If you are planning ahead for doing clothes by hand make sure you grab plenty of extra clothes pins and at least one roll of extra clothes line.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

lazydaisy67 said:


> Mamabear, that really is pathetic! I don't see one single 'trashy' thing about drying your clothes on the line. It's a totally "green" thing to do.
> 
> .


I have a 5 gallon bucket/w. _*two*_ plungers, two great tubs from TSC for rinsing, and a wash board from Uncle Lee's.
I am ready.:congrat: 
My line is a retractable on my back porch..I love it. No grass on feet, no weedeating around poles, no head scalping under the lines...a win-win-win.
And it costs about $14.


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## SimpleJoys (Apr 28, 2012)

Agree on the few minutes in the dryer to soften up jeans and towels. I use flour sacking for dish towels and I'm thinking seriously about finding a bolt or two of the stuff to make bath towels out of. They won't be fluffy, but they'd be a heck of a lot easier to wash by hand and line dry.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

lazydaisy67 said:


> The jeans, well, I don't like stiff jeans any more than anybody else, but the good thing is that once you walk around in them for about 10 minutes, they loosen up.
> 
> One thing I am still looking for is an affordable clothes wringer.


I too am looking for an affordable clothes wringer. I have a lot of trouble with my hands and not a lot of hand strength.

About the jeans, all through my school years, my mother washed, starched and ironed all the jeans and overalls worn by my family. All jeans and overalls were ironed with a crease down the front and back. Since that was the normal, I had no idea that there was such a thing as soft jeans until we got a dryer in the '70's and even then, we used the clothes line to dry unless it was raining or snowing. Even starched, the jeans will soften in about 20 to 30 minutes. Tell hubby if he doesn't like line dried clothes, he can go down to the laundry mat and do his himself. It won't take long for him to realize how much it costs.


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## mamabear2012 (Mar 8, 2012)

Emerald- you got it right! I can't have veggies in the front yard and they limit the amount of potted plants you can have as well. I loathe the HOA but we're stuck here for the time being.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

Dupe post.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

Someone beat me to the retractable clothesline (which could be installed indoors BTW.)
Mamabear, does the HOA limit greenhouses? You might consider using the green energy angle to get the bylaws changed.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Mamabear, does the HOA ban all clothes lines? Mine is pretty restrictive too, but it does allow a collapsable pole that can be removed from the ground when not in use. I got around taking it down every night by always leaving a wash rag hanging on it 

I am not supposed to grow veggies out front either. I planted squash and corn anyway. Squash has pretty flowers and the corn is so I can decorate for fall when it dries :lolsmash:


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

I would try to do that too. Stick a tomato plant in with your flowers. Put a sweet potato plant or something in there. They vine really pretty, lol. Course, I'm not one for following stupid rules like that. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble or get fined, but I would encourage you to use creativity to be passive agressive, hee hee.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Being out here, it is hard for me to imagine being told what you can do on your own property. To my knowledge, there are far less HOA's here than in other states. People here, even in the fanciest neighborhoods, will grow veggies, paint funky colors, decorate yards quirky, and they also drive pretty practical vehicles (you won't really see any Town cars out here, mainly SUV and off road capable vehicles).

We lease in the country right now and plan to stay in the country, no one cares what color your house is, how perfect your yard is, and the bigger your veggie garden, the better, want to dry your clothers outside? No one is bothered.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

We used to have a HOA President who was a PITA. He'd send out fines if the weeds in the cracks of the driveway were too big. I looked at the financial statement, and the association was paying 2x in legal fees as they were collecting in fees. I try to ignore the HOA and not get involved. Seems like every time I get involved with something like this, it somehow comes back to bite me. We're kinda lucky as our backyard butts up against a street in another city. Nobody that can do anything about it can complain about the clothes hanging outside or the very large vegetable garden. Someone might start complaining if I start raising chickens tho


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I've put this up before but it is good enuf to put up again.
A few years ago(probably more like 10 now!) at a town meeting(our "town" is a four way stop with a bar and party store) one of the big "McMansion" owners came in.. This was one of the "rich" folks who have built huge million dollar homes about three and four miles up the road from our town. OH and across the county line(lucky for us the property values didn't triple) The first thing she and her hubby wanted to do and get our small town to sign up a HOA and make it so that we all have to have our lawns a certain length and all grass yadda yadda and you could see all the folks kinda snickering and trying not to call out.. but when she mentioned that she thought we looked all hill-billy with our clotheslines out in our side or back yards and that she wanted us to take them down.. Well... You would have thought the place would explode with a match light! They were told off and to mind their own business and to drive a different way is she didn't like the clotheslines. Who would have thought it it. we all laughed our asses off when she and her stuck-up hubby left asap.
Even the "richest" of us in our small town who would like it if we would all mow short even has a clothesline.. 
Oh and to make it even better.. these are the people who live in Switzerland normally and this is their "USA home" and they only bought about 5 acres of land.. in the middle of a field.. You guessed it! their other complaint was of the animal smell from the farms in the area and that the farmer only spread manure when they are there.. Well.. that is just poor timing on their side I guess..  Their son lives here full time and keeps trying to tell them that you can't build in farm land and expect folks to stop farming. He seems pretty decent and quite embarrassed by his rich family..

on topic again tho.. I too make my own laundry soap and found that I like the Zote soap better than the Fels naphta.. seems to clean very well and the citrus smell is very nice.. I think it may help with the skeeters this year.. plus the bar is bigger.. but price wise fels is only $1 at wally world and the zote is $1.49 at save a lot.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

lazydaisy67 said:


> I would try to do that too. Stick a tomato plant in with your flowers. Put a sweet potato plant or something in there. They vine really pretty, lol. Course, I'm not one for following stupid rules like that. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble or get fined, but I would encourage you to use creativity to be passive agressive, hee hee.


Along the front porch...hosta-day lily-tomato-hosta-day lily-tomato. You get the point.
They are staked, cable tied, and have landscaping blocks(stolen from other place in yard) holding in the new soil w. fertilizer and mulch.
Beautiful tomato plants..most every gardener this year has beautiful plants.
They are just where I can water as I water the flowers on porch and beside tomato plants.:congrat:


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## mamabear2012 (Mar 8, 2012)

Our HOA is pretty specific about not wanting any clothes drying outside. It doesn't matter if it's on a permanent line or retractable. I think I'll have to bring up the green aspect at the next HOA meeting. As for the veggies....I get around it as best I can with container gardens on the back deck.


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## paguy (Jun 8, 2012)

I do not have any secrets on making the clothes soft after line drying but, I do know that it saves on your electric.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Emerald,

Have you shared your soap recipe?

Years ago I was visiting a mfg plant that was literally built in the middle of a corn field. Young engineer that had accompanied me on the trip was city born and raised. She said ewwww, what's that smell. I told her that it was her food growing


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

partdeux said:


> Emerald,
> 
> Have you shared your soap recipe?
> 
> Years ago I was visiting a mfg plant that was literally built in the middle of a corn field. Young engineer that had accompanied me on the trip was city born and raised. She said ewwww, what's that smell. I told her that it was her food growing


I haven't shared mine but I know that the main formula that most of us use is here somewhere.. I think Pamspride put up a thread on it. I'll go look around and bump it to the top of what ever forum it is at.

ETA: found it.. it is down in Chitchat and I bumped it up but it was mdprepper who posted it. I guess we al have talked about it so much here I forgot who originally put it up.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Clothesline, chickens, manure on gardens...tall corn growing, I love the country. It has taken me till recently to get my husband to appreciate it all. I took our John Deere mower and was mowing the grass yesterday while he used the weedeater around things, he noticed a sweet smell and said "thats nice, what is that?", "it's clover being cut" I told him. People make such a fuss over clover being in the lawn, but is smells so nice when you cut it. I also love the smell of alfalfa being cut, same sweet smell (of course in the same plant family).

Emerald, I prefer ******** and hillbillies over anyone else! My best friend lives way out in the country, has horses, her husband is a do it all guy, and their property shows it (cluttered, a little messy), dogs, so their floor can get dirty, but I love their company and feel 100% comfortable with them, and can be myself, no judgements. I do not like the company of people who deem themselve better, seems they are really just trying to always compare themselve to everyone else. 

Imagine those people in a SHTF scenario? Trying to buy some favors from government gone martial law? Hah! Wonder how long it would take them to finally be humbled?


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

fresh cut clover??
I love the smell of any fresh cut grass...and fresh cut hay??? Heavenly!
I rub my hands across my tomato plants just to smell that for a time each day..city foke; don't have a clue.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

JayJay said:


> I do put all my line dried clothes in the dryer for a few minutes---never stiff.
> I tried vinegar; couldn't see much difference.
> I have a rack for drying little clothes in the winter; a rack with rollers for hanging things to dry like shirts and jeans on hangars.
> Works great.
> ...


My jeans are also normally worn for about a week, but, I only wear them to and from work, once I am home, the jeans come off and .... :ignore:


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