Eclectic Red Barn: Blowning in the Breeze

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Blowning in the Breeze

Do you love to climb into bed at night and feel the freshness of clean sheets that have been hanging out side on a clothesline? Do you take in the intoxicating aroma of nature-dried laundry as you snuggle under the sheets.

I hope that I am not the only one that loves sheets that have been hanging outside. One of the great things about living here in Southern Florida is that I can hang out my sheets all the time. In fact, Florida was the first state to pass a right-to-dry law.

Maybe you are thinking about hanging your clothes outside. All you need is a clothesline and a clothesline pole. Ok, the clothesline is easy, but what to use for a clothesline poll? I have a quick and inexpensive idea for you that you are going to love.

Before I show you my fabulous clothesline poll, you should know that I come from a long line of "hang your clothes outside".
I grew up with my grand mother and my Mom hanging clothes outside. So naturally, when I had my family, I hung my clothes out as well.

When life got busier, I relied on my clothes dryer. Then I started hanging my clothes out again and now I do it full time.

Not only do clothes smell wonderful, but it saves on electricity. “Clotheslines have a major impact on energy usage and are environmentally sound.” You can even calculate how much money you will save on line-drying at Project Laundry List.

Do you know that there are rules for hanging clothes on a clothesline? My grandmother would never hang sheets when it was very windy. She said it would damage the fibers. Not sure if that is true or not.

Rules for Hanging Clothes Outside included:

Always hang all of the whites together

Never hand shirts by the shoulders - always by the tail! What would the neighbors think?

You had to hang the socks by the toes...
NOT the top.

You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs...
NOT the waistbands.

You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes - walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.
Wash day on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend, or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!

Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

IRONED???!! Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

Can you believe all of those rules? What a hoot! Know what is even funnier, I actually do some of them. I guess they trained me well.

But what about the clothesline poll? Yes, you do need one if you use a clothesline. Here is the pole my husband and his brother-in-law created for me. Super simple and inexpensive and you can make it in 10 minutes.