What's new

Line Dried Laundry

I love the fresh, clean fragrance of clothes hung out to dry, especially the bleached whites. But what does one do about the exfoliating towels?! Wow!

Any suggestions (other than, "rejoin the 21st century and use your drier")?
 
Go ahead and line dry them. Just prior to or just after they are dry (I mean don't leave them hanging in the sun for 2 hours after they are dry) take them off the line and put them into the, gasp, dryer but do not use heat or cling-free-sheets just air. Add a few tennis balls or similar things to jostle them a bit. The idea is to agitate them a bit. It's not as soft as dryer with dryer sheets but they are still softer and have that clean smell of line dried. It doesn't work as well with towels with really tight weaves but we have had good luck with it. :idea:
 
I return to share some line-dried observations:

1) laundry is now an excellent, mindless task;
2) proper use of wooden clothespins is not self-evident (seriously);
3) blue jeans come off like new;
4) stuff I would normally send out or iron, if hanged properly, come out good enough to wear around town;
5) I like not paying for the dryer;
6) Skin scarifying towels get better, but then need to be washed again . . . .
7) I am now equally mindful of my laundry as my car (a convertible).

This may be another instance where technology solved a problem I didn't have.
 
I remember working in Phoenix for a while. Line drying was crazy. You start hanging a load at on end, and by the time you had finished hanging it you could start back at the beginning taking it down. Anything short of blue jeans dried that quickly.
 
I remember working in Phoenix for a while. Line drying was crazy. You start hanging a load at on end, and by the time you had finished hanging it you could start back at the beginning taking it down. Anything short of blue jeans dried that quickly.

Yea, but it is a dry heat.
 
Yeah, and it was hot, too.

The thing that sounds the craziest is that we kept the swamp cooler thermostat set at 90 deg, and it was perfectly comfortable when you walked inside.

Always amazed by the relativity of temperature extremes on the body. Teeth chattered in The Mojave when it hit 80 degrees in the wee hours of the morning. Same in the jungle during the rainy season when soaking wet.
 
Last edited:
Always amazed by the relativity of temperature extremes on the body. Teeth chattered in The Mojave when it hit 80 degrees in the wee hours of the morning. Same in the jungle during the rainy season when soaking wet.

Yeah, and the past few years I've been working in North Dakota.

Funny story about that is one week I was home on my days off, doing some work around the house in shorts and a tee-shirt. I needed something from Home Depot, so I jumped in the truck and headed out. When I walked in the building I realized everyone was wearing a jacket because it was in the mid 40's outside.

We acclimate more quickly than we expect.
 
Yeah, and the past few years I've been working in North Dakota.

Funny story about that is one week I was home on my days off, doing some work around the house in shorts and a tee-shirt. I needed something from Home Depot, so I jumped in the truck and headed out. When I walked in the building I realized everyone was wearing a jacket because it was in the mid 40's outside.

We acclimate more quickly than we expect.

Indeed.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
I need to string a laundry line one day. Right now, though, you could wash you clothes on the line :lol:
 
I remember my mom using a clothes line when I was a kid. Here, there's more water in the air than air, so once dryers got more efficient, you really don't see clothes lines anymore.
 
I love the fresh, clean fragrance of clothes hung out to dry, especially the bleached whites. But what does one do about the exfoliating towels?! Wow!

Any suggestions (other than, "rejoin the 21st century and use your drier")?

I love the abrasion of those stiff line dried towels (and flannel sheets), wish i could duplicate it year 'round but the basement clotheslines have very limited capacity. Of course I also like sandpapery toilet paper...

dave
 
Modern dryers must beat the tar out of fabrics. I imagine them to destroy fibers the way an electric razor mangles whiskers (vs. a straight).

Ha, tied in some shaving with a laundry thread. BONUS! lol
 
Top Bottom