Washing lines

Not hanging washing out on a Sunday does have a religious connotation, as many Presbyterian Scots formerly held Sunday as strictly as a day of rest as observant Jews hold the Sabbath.

The ten commandments state that no work is to be done on the Sabbath, which was of course Saturday, when Exodus was written.

In Scotland the Sabbath just moved to The Lord's Day - there was nothing more dreary than a Scottish Sunday in my childhood. My grannie only served cold food, cooked on Saturday, no reading except the Bible or a religious book, two church services, no music, radio, tv , so obviously no-one did a washing on a Sunday.

I hang out washing, unless weather doesn't permit. I never put a load straight from machine into the tumble dryer. If I have to, I hang it in the garage, then, finally, to finish it I might bring it into the house overnight. The underfloor heating tends to be on during the night if the temp drops below 22. I do iron certain things, and it does soften the towels to some extent. It's economical, and ecological.

Juicylucy- ive not heard that-my youngest(17) loves the smell of the sheets off the line-and the cat when he when hes been outside- in fact he said other night "you can actually 'smell' the outside air you know"-(this coming from a child who generally speaking doesnt like to go out.!) I agreed as i can smell the colder fresher air when i let the cat in/out. All my AC have always liked the smell of fresh washing as i used to hang everything out to dry in good weather when they were growing up.It depends what youre used to i guess.

The only thing that annoys me about washing lines is when people leave all the pegs out on them

I have hung washing out all my life and never been told it was common.

Certainly, in Scotland in my childhood, no-one hung washing out on a Sunday! And all washing was in before dark, whether it was dry or not.

My paternal grandmother objected to my mother hanging her own underwear on the same line as my father's in 1947.
My maternal grandmother hung her bras under a towel or inside a pillow-slip.

Dryers are convenient but bad for the environment and not terribly good for the clothes either.

Nothing better than line dried washing

People have been putting their washing out for ever - Charles Dickens gives a lovely description of clothes on a line, dancing and whispering in the breeze, in Barnaby Rudge. I'm all for it myself.

Every time I spot this thread title in 'Trending' it brings back memories of teaching small children to ride.

Whenever they allowed the reins to slip through their fingers you'd shout, 'WASHING LINES!' This taught them to gather up the slack whilst on the move.

Great comment jennyvg

I always hang out my washing when the weather's good enough, as it gets it out of the way. I'm a bit odd in that I don't actually like the smell of washing dried outside, but the benefits outweigh that.
I don't understand how it can be common to hang your washing out. The only things that don't go out are my underwear and that's because I share the courtyard with 11 other people and I'd rather keep my smalls (or my larges?!!) to myself.
Make use of the good weather; saves on using tumble dryers.

I now have a garden mooring so I am going to get a rotary line. At the moment I dry on an old fashioned airer fixed to ceiling of boat. I do have a dryer but rarely use it. Have to say this is the first time I have heard hanging your washing out as common. You can't beat the smell of sheets dried in the fresh air. Not sure I will let my knickers blow in the wind for other boaters to see....

I like your fathers term Witzend

Elizabeth1,i dont think its a superstition, not to hang out laundry on sundays- my late mum was the most superstitious woman i ever knew, but she never said that one- in fact, I've never heard it said before today, on here! Unless its as it was always considered a 'day of rest' and could be religion related maybe? As shops always used to be closed too?Its certainly not an old wives tale or superstition i dont think, or my mum or gran would have been forever quoting it at me

Yes I am obviously common, I love to see the wind blowing through my drawers

GreenGran78,your friend sounds like she has O.C.D. maybe? I do hang the thicker ones in more sun though,like you, and i remember my late mum always saying to 'hang things upside down' so the heaviest parts (like waist bands etc. are flapping in the wind) I cant always hang stuff out these days as ive bad arthritis, and i cant ask my son as he hangs them all wrong, just throws them over at middles etc like blankets..im wondering if he does that so i wont ask him

I love hanging out washing but am puzzled by DIL who hangs things on a rack indoors even with two small children. Her father apparently thinks it’s common to hang things out but he lives 200 miles away. ?

Hanging out washing is environmentally essential. I once moved into a house where the woman next door lit a bonfire if I hung washing out on Sundays. I asked why she did this and she said because she would rather I did not hang out on Sundays. I said OK and on Sundays hung out my washing on a concertina airer in the garage. Then this woman next door told me I must get my 6 year old son a hard-hat. I thought she was threatening to hit him. Then she took him horse riding. He spent many happy Sunday mornings with her hacking group on Frensham common. That woman really was a stuck up cow, she was a deputy bank manager. We had to move after only one year and when she saw us going she came round to our garden to say how much she would miss us. She might have been a stuck up old cow but I finished up missing her!

This is a wind-up right?? and GabriellaG54- youre just winding up the OP back- either that or youre 'above yourself'! Id have thought anyway,in this day of 'save the earth' etc that NOT to hang out washing would be frowned on!!

Whenever I watch garden makeover programmes I always think, “But where can they hang the washing?”
I remember, as a child, my mum complaining about the washing getting smutty marks from all the chimney smoke. On wet washing days it was miserable, with clothes hanging around the fire, blocking off the heat.
I’m glad to have a nice long washing line, and clean, fresh air to dry my laundry. I don’t think it’s common, in the bad sense, and hang it out as often as weather permits., smalls and all. When I had five children at home I was glad to have a tumble dryer to help me, but I haven’t owned one for years.

Talking of ‘precision hanging’ of washing. I have a friend who is fanatical about everything being hung evenly, in groups of colour, and with co-ordinating pegs. She’s like a painter, stepping back to study the effect, and making adjustments to the arrangement until she’s satisfied. I’m quite happy to take it as it comes, though I do hang the thicker items on the sunnier end of the line.

I sold my house last year to a lady who wanted to move because she lived somewhere where you weren't allowed to hang out washing, shake your rugs outside, loads of rules. I never heard the like! I hang my washing out all the time and I live in a 'nice' area. It's in my back garden and it's not as if my smalls are swinging away in the street for all to see!

Common!! It is not. The sight of fresh linen blowing and flapping in the wind is wonderful. It is however dreadful to use a tumbler dryer in fine weather.
While i am posting, i would like to know who these people are who declare what is common and what is not.I had no idea such dinosaurs still existed.
Finally, i knew it was love when my younger, beautiful ex public school partner
had without asking pegged out the laundry
including my ‘Bridgets’ using 2 pegs for each big knicker!!
That was 20 years ago and still in love.
Ba humbug all you Hyacinth Buckets!

Never hang out towels, prefer them soft directly form tumble dryer and never hang out undies. Have vague recollection of mother never hanging out on a Sunday but doesn't bother me unless I hear neighbours having BBQ or visitors in garden and then think it's nicer for them not to be confronted with line of washing.

Always hang my washing outside - unless it's too wet! Even in the winter - finish it off on an airer if it needs it!
My mum would never wash on New Years day - you were washing out the good luck for the forthcoming year and washing in the bad from the last!
These gardening makeover programmes- anybody seen one yet where there is provision for a washing line of any description?

My mum used to say it was unlucky to do your washing on Sunday, but an aunt said ‘Better the day better the deed’!Both the same generation so take your pick.

I haven't hung washing out for decades ,simply because I left for work before 9 and came back at 6 ish or later and the washing would be hanging wetter than when it went out.Made more sense to use a dryer .