# I just put up a clothesline! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154 "2010-04-23T21:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/21 "2010-04-25T01:45:51Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > \ > > Also, to get non-crunchy towels and jeans,\ Heh - I remember more than once my mom leaving the clothes out on the line when it got too cold and having jeans that were frozen stiff. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/22 "2010-04-25T01:51:54Z")
Is it too weird that I want pictures of peopleā€™s clothesline set-ups? Iā€™d love to have a clothesline, but we live in an apartment with managers that are very finicky about ANYTHING on the patios that arenā€™t strictly made to be on one. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/23 "2010-04-25T02:02:11Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Heh - I remember more than once my mom leaving the clothes out on the line when it got too cold and having jeans that were frozen stiff. šŸ˜ƒ I actually broke a sock once. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/24 "2010-04-25T02:08:08Z")
Dry your stuff inside out! Very very important! The sun will fade your clothes faster than you would believe. I used to line dry (and wash my clothes by hand, too) in the Olden Days, when I lived in Bulgaria. As far as Iā€™m concerned, the use of washers and dryers is my right as an American. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/25 "2010-04-25T02:14:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Heh - I remember more than once my mom leaving the clothes out on the line when it got too cold and having jeans that were frozen stiff. šŸ˜ƒ _One time_. Sigh. This was my life. I only had one warm room in my house, my bedroom, because it was where my wood-burning stove was. I would wash my clothes by hand and then hang it in my laundry room, where it would all freeze solid. Then I would bring it in, piece by piece, to dry in my bedroom. It would take about a day to dry in there. Because I didnā€™t have a lot of space for drying in there, it was a continual process, drying just a couple of items a day. Which meant I had to do the wash once a day, too, to keep it going. My pipes froze, so I would go out to the well to bring in near-freezing water from the town well, which I would then heat up in my kettle so I didnā€™t have to wash my clothes in icy waterā€¦ But I digress. I like washers and dryers. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/26 "2010-05-03T15:13:27Z")
Why do clothes dried outside smell so good? In the winter I hang up clothes in the basement and they never get that wonderful fresh smell. Iā€™d claim it was the sun, but they smell just as good dried on cloudy days. My neighbors think that weā€™re showing our concern for the environment by hanging out clothes (several have said so), but actually weā€™re just sticking it to the gas company. With regard to drying clothes outside in the winter, when my sister was born my mother demanded a clothes drier, as wasnā€™t going to dry three kidsā€™ clothes (two in cloth diapers) on outside clothes lines in North Dakota in the winter. Apparently it was the third kid that did it, as for several winters sheā€™d shovel a path to the clothes lines. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/27 "2010-05-03T15:57:41Z")
Iā€™m envious. We used to have a clothes line. Now, we have an HOA. The sole purpose of an HOA is to ensure every house looks like the other with a manicured lawn, no visible evidence of pets and no clotheslines. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/28 "2010-05-03T20:06:47Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I know. Itā€™s more that my yard is basically like a small clearing in a dense forest. Crap flying everywhere all the time(sometimes literally - my deck turns white with bird shit if I donā€™t hose it off every couple of weeks). I have lots of birds in my yard as well, not to mention ā€œindustrialā€ smells from the body shop on the corner and GM down the street. We can tell when theyā€™re painting. I mostly use my dryer now. I used to line dry until I noticed the smell was less fresh than I hoped. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154/29 "2010-05-03T20:09:16Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > _One time_. Sigh. This was my life. I only had one warm room in my house, my bedroom, because it was where my wood-burning stove was. I would wash my clothes by hand and then hang it in my laundry room, where it would all freeze solid. Then I would bring it in, piece by piece, to dry in my bedroom. It would take about a day to dry in there. Because I didnā€™t have a lot of space for drying in there, it was a continual process, drying just a couple of items a day. Which meant I had to do the wash once a day, too, to keep it going. > > My pipes froze, so I would go out to the well to bring in near-freezing water from the town well, which I would then heat up in my kettle so I didnā€™t have to wash my clothes in icy waterā€¦ > > But I digress. > > I like washers and dryers. Please tell me if you ever publish an autobiography, Iā€™ve noticed you have a very interesting life. šŸ™‚ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-put-up-a-clothesline/537154.md?page=1)