Sunday, November 29, 2015

A Laundry Line

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I read a post on Homespun Cottage about laundry and about clotheslines in particular.  One thing about RV Living is, we can't really have a clothesline for we live in a park with other RV's.  I really miss having a clothesline.  There's just something about hanging wash to dry.

I had heard an account a few years ago of a therapist recommending hanging wash to dry as a means to decrease stress.  For me, this was old news but I wondered then how many people did not know this?  We live in an age of convenience, and in a society of instant gratification.  I suppose I'm preaching to the choir, but maybe we need a little less microwave dinners and a little more homemade bread.

When I took a load of laundry outside to be hung to dry, it was usually early in the morning and this was my first trip outdoors that day.  The sun would barely be up over the Catskill Mountains where I lived at the time in upstate New York.  The chickadees would be twittering away, and the sounds of my children were far, far away.  I was instantly calmed somewhat, and would grab my bag of clothespins and get to work.  As one shirt after another, one sheet after another, one pair of socks after another was hung...more and more I would become calmer and more serene-feeling.  In the afternoon when I took it in, the smell of fresh linens would be overpowering.  Those candles that are supposed to smell like fresh linen can't hold a candle to what it really smells like.

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There are other benefits to hanging laundry that are just as important.  It decreases your utility bill, for one, and not by a small amount.  If you are looking to try to make the move to stay at home, but aren't sure how to afford it, this is one big thing you can do.  Hanging wash will save you 10% to 20% on your utility bill.  That's a big difference, ladies, especially if you have children at home.

Hanging your wash increases the life of your clothing and such.  This is because it's not being battered around in a machine.  This means you'll have hand-me-downs that actually still look decent, and you won't be purchasing new socks and linens as often.

Egyptians learned that the sun naturally bleached their clothes, or at least that's what I remember learning once.  The sun really does naturally disinfect your things, plus it whitens your whites and will work a bit on stains as well.  Yes, it will also fade your colors but hang those inside out and you'll be just fine.

Image result for hanging wash

10 comments:

  1. Mmm, the 'perfume' of fresh washing off the line! Delicious. :) In this part of our country it is the norm to hang the washing out on the line to dry. Every house has an outside clothesline. I personally don't even own a clothes dryer now although when our children were babies I had to occasionally dry their cloth nappies in our dryer if it had been raining for days. It is getting so hot now here that I'm sure to hang the washing out earlier in the morning and take it off later in the day to keep myself out of the sun. For preventing the fading of clothes, I have an under-covered area where I hang them on their own hangers (not with clothes pegs), then just bring them inside at the end of the day, some to be ironed, some to be hung straight up in the wardrobe and others to be folded. I guess we all have our own little routines and these change during the different stages of our life, different seasons and if we move homes.

    (In caravan parks here even travelers, have some form of small lines on which to dry their clothes and linen. It's refreshing to see the washing flapping happily in the breeze on these lines.)

    Thanks Michelle for this lovely post.

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  2. Where we live we have a homeowner's association which does not allow clotheslines outside at all. It really stinks, but we can get a violation if we break the rules. I have 7 drying racks I set up in the house that I use instead. It works, but not as nice as being outside!

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  3. Housewife from FinlandNovember 30, 2015 at 3:17 AM

    I like to hang bedsheets and towels out when it is summer. And blankets and such. We live in a flat in an apartment house, but there are common clotheslines outside. Clothes I hang on drying rack inside. And when it is winter, I use dryer for sheets and towels but not clothes.

    BTW, I have always wondered how people wash their carpets in other countries? Here in Finland we have common carpet washing places that are open in summer and free to use. They are like this:
    http://www.kaupunginosat.net/oulunkyla/2008/Pukinmaki.htm

    People who have their own garden quite often was carpets with pressure washer.

    But I have understood that these are totally finnish practices. So how you ladies wash your carpets?

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  4. Washing place for carpets free to use - housewife in Finland, how interesting. We personally have wall-to-wall carpeting in our bedrooms which can be shampoo-ed by a Carpet Cleaner. There are many carpet cleaning businesses that come to your home. I think some people clean their own with equipment they can hire and in the interim they can sprinkle products on the carpet then vacuum thoroughly. We've only just purchased two large floor rugs/carpets, one for our lounge room and one for the sunroom but have yet to work out how to clean them. Hopefully that won't be too soon if we're careful around them. Thanks for your comments. I love to read them.

    P.S. On the news I thought I caught the story that there's serious snow storms in parts of the U.S. but didn't see where. I hope you are faring ok Michelle?

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  5. We have wall to wall carpet, which I personally do not like. We have a carpet cleaning machine that does a really good job--I just prefer a hardwood floor. I am content and very grateful for the floor the Lord has provided though!

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  6. Here in Oklahoma we are having some rain, but that is all. What I wouldn't give for a few feet of snow though. We don't normally get snow here...well not what I would call snow.

    I've been really sick, and to be honest, I keep one post up on you guys. This means I keep a post back just in case, and so this laundry post I actually wrote a couple of days ago, and only put it up yesterday. I've been so, so sick with the flu. I'm feeling a little better this evening.

    Oh my goodness. When I seen all these comments, my heart was filled with so much peace and joy. I'm really happy to come here and be able to converse with you ladies.

    We have wall to wall carpet that is nailed (or tacked) down. We have to rent a carpet shampooer. Which actually I really, really need to do. Maybe when money permits.

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  7. Get well soon Michelle. You sound like you've have had a bad case of the flu. Get plenty of rest (although I suppose you were planning on delving into spaces that haven't seen your deep attention in awhile - with the men out for the first time today day. I hope they had a productive day.) All the best...

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  8. Housewife from FinlandDecember 1, 2015 at 1:38 AM

    I hope you will get well soon, Michelle. I have also been sick like two weeks, this years flu is something really awful. Everybody's sick for ages, even my hubby who is never sick. I am so used to relying on him that I feel really helpless when he is sick.

    About the carpets: here in Finland nobody has wall to wall carpets. Those must be really hard to keep clean and fresh. We have parquet floor, which is easy, but then we have some sheepskins as carpets. Those gather all doghair and dirt. I just put them to dryer, since it has "refresh" -program. It removes the dust and doghair very nicely.

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  9. Michelle, I hope you are soon back to "fighting fit". I have been sick too, but fortunately only with a cold. When we are sick, we realise how grateful we are for good health, don't we?
    In Scotland, nearly everyone hangs out their laundry, apart from when it's raining or too cold. I have a dryer, but the dryers here are not as effective as those stateside, and so I use it only for towels or sheets when the weather isn't good enough to hang them out.
    I too, get a feeling of peace when I see all my washing pegged out and blowing in the breeze. It's even better when it's all brought in and wash day is over for a day or two. Then, you just have to hope that you'll get a good drying day for it again :-)

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