Thrifty Thursday- clothesline

In our "old" house, we had a clothesline. My wonderful husband hooked up a line for me on our back deck, which was very hot in the summer time, and got great afternoon sun. I had a hook on the line, and an O hook on the fence, and a little 3/4 hook on the house, and then another O hook to clip onto the other fence line, so it was like a V. I used it a lot in the summer time, when it was not rainy/ cloudy, and got "free" dryer service! It is a great way to save money!

We moved into our new house in the end of last June, and I was so busy with moving in, that I didn't use a clothesline last year. When the weather finally got warm here just a few weeks ago, with no hint of rain, I talked my hubby into hanging a new clothesline for me. The pictures below are what we rigged up, and it worked great!

 These two pics show the hooks, and how they are hooked around a post on our porch, and a tree.

My sister posted on Facebook that she was jealous, she wants a clothesline too, so I took pictures for her and posted these (below) there. One of my aunts saw them and was appalled that I'd hang clothes in the FRONT yard! Our cul-de-sac has only 5 houses on it, and one is nearly deserted. It is a pretty secluded area, and the front yard gets lots of sun, so... that's where the new line went! The fences in the backyard are the neighbor's, so we didn't think we should pull on them with the weight of clothes on a clothes line.

A friend also commented on Facebook that she has a retractable clothesline-- that's what I want when I get my next one! The one I have is a cotton cord, and it stretches a bit when it is wet. If I were to do it again, I'd be sure to buy nylon cord for it. It really is easy to hook up and easy to hang clothes outside. My aunts said their favorite thing to hang on the clothesline was sheets. I don't do that often because of the allergies in our family, I don't want allergens clinging to our sheets. Maybe I will later in the summer.

I have the clip=type clothespins, and they are easy to use. I made myself a nylon bag for them when the plastic bag gave out. It is easy to clip on the clothesline for the pins. I hang lots of jeans and shorts by the pockets, since you won't notice the bumps from clips there. I hang shirts upside down, and I put the *ahem* "unmentionables" on a wooden drying rack on the deck in the back yard. I also put socks on that since they are smaller. I don't overlap the clothes too much because I don't want them to have wet or damp edges. I may try overlapping them some when it gets a lot warmer here later this summer!

One problem with drying clothes this way is that the garments are sort of crispy. My remedy for that is to put fabric softener into the wash load, and that seems to help a bit. I get the generic fabric softener if I don't have a coupon for that, of course! At the very least, you could hang rags and kitchen towels outside, and it doesn't matter if they get kinda crispy! :-D

Let me know if you have a clothesline, how often you use it and where or how your's is hung. I'd love to hear about it!