Comments on: Monday Q&A | My siblings, my childhood, and my clothesline!

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:13 +0000

Disclaimer: I have not done this myself but am giving it to you on the authority of my mother, who had no option but to line dry back in the 50s. She claimed that clothes were SOFTER if allowed to freeze on the line and then shaked out. I think this must have shaked off a lot of ice crystals, thus removing the (frozen) water from the clothes. Why it should make them softer, I have no idea. The climate I now live in doesn’t usually get much below freezing in the daytime so I can’t test this for you. This is just a very second-hand report.

By: kai

kai — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:05:01 +0000

two tips for newbies: 1) wooden clothes pins last longer than the plastic ones – the plastic breaks down in the UV light (after a couple of years) and become very brittle. Try the grocery store near the cleaning products. 2) retractable clotheslines might be good for indoor spaces. I live in Massachusetts, and in winter (and during our LONG rainy spring this year), I dry inside when I can. Right now I have a regular clothesline in my basement, but I’m getting tired of walking into it, so I’ll be buying a couple of retractable reels next time I’m in the hardware store. It’ll be a lot more convenient and a lot more attractive – I would think it’d be fairly easy to put one up in the living space if you had to – there when you need it, gone when you don’t. I don’t find the collapsable racks hold very much and tend to become somewhat less stable for things like jeans & towels.

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:55:36 +0000

I have found that using Fabric softener in the washer helps the clothes from getting really stiff. Really you could limit the use of the Softener to just the jeans and towel loads as they are the articles that tend to get the stiffest. I too, do not look at air drying as all or nothing. I always run my laundry in the dryer for a few minutes to help soften the clothes and mainly because I have a Black lab and his fur seems to be everywhere! As for getting any supplies that are Air Drying related, I personally love the Vermont Country Store. I have gotten most of my supplies from there, since it has been getting harder and harder to find things in my local stores. Also, small hardware stores may be a good idea. I live in New Hampshire and my local family owned store has beautiful Birch Laundry Racks made in Canada. Online sites your may find interesting are Project laundry List and Frugal Village. Hope some of these ideas are helpful.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:33:30 +0000

I’m in the UK where line drying is very normal. I try to line dry as much as possible – my tip would be to put the washing machine on at night so that it is ready to hang out first thing in the morning.
Now that the winter is coming I use my tumble dryer alot more, although I do have an indoor airer. When my central heating is on I use the airer more often.

By: Katy Wolk-Stanley

Katy Wolk-Stanley — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:07:20 +0000

Strict or not strict, there was very little children’s programming on TV when I was growing up. And there were certainly no videos or DVD’s. It forced us to play marbles, jacks, hopscotch, house and ahem . . . “doctor.”

My favorite doll was a Sasha doll, which I still have.

Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

By: Frugal Liz

Frugal Liz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:42:37 +0000

My parents were really strict about t.v. too!

By: Tamara

Tamara — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:39:12 +0000

Ditto. Both my father and father-in-law are NON-consumers, that is exactly the term I used for them 15 years ago when Sean and I married. We both had limited TV, lots of sport & camping holidays. Fads just did not even feature in our lives. It made for a good, stable life and one Sean and I aim for now.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:27:53 +0000

@Amy
I’m so glad you de-lurked! I love to hear from my readers.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:27:27 +0000

@Battra92 I told my husband about that, and for our anniversary a number of years ago, he bought me a Care Bear! lol Zoe has now adopted my Bedtime Bear (Sonia has one that she bought for $1 from Goodwill).

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:59:27 +0000

I’ve been lurking for a long time but decided I would come out of hiding to comment on this post. Kristin, I love your blog and read it faithfully each week! As my husband and I prepare to start a family, we are trying to learn to live frugally and responsibly and stay within our budget (our hope is to be able to have one parent at home when we have kids) and I have learned so much from your blog and experiences so thank you for your willingness to share!

Anyway, I have been drying a good portion of my clothes on the line since I got married a few years ago. I wasn’t consciously doing it to be frugal but rather to preserve the life of my nicer clothing (so I guess I was trying to be frugal!) I don’t use an outside line but instead hang most knit shirts and other clothes I primarily wear to work, church and out on hangers in my laundry room. Sweaters and pants typically dry flat on a clothes drying rack set up in our guest room. I do use the dryer for other clothes, sheets and towels. My husband uses the dryer for most of his clothes, but he’s starting to hang up more of his stuff to dry, too. Since we recently moved into a house with a privacy fence, I’m thinking about trying out a clothes line next spring so we can dry more things outside and save our dryer for occasional use.

Anyway, just wanted to throw in my two cents if it may help someone else who would like to line dry more items but wasn’t able to try the clothes line route. My mother-in-law also uses her guest bathroom to hang up shirts to dry by hanging them over the shower curtain rod when the bathroom is not in use.