Washing lines

To those who don't hang out their smalls , how do you dry them?

Good post Nannan2 (Sat10.55)

How ridiculous. Happy to be common

Never had a wirlygig line as id seen on news a child of 3 hanged himself while playing with one..and ive had 7 kids, so safety first- ...might be a thought for all you who own one? Get a cover for it and keep it covered if you have visiting grandkids.(before we are allowed to have them visit us again)

My 'ordinary' line was hung up tight& so was too high for my smaller kids to reach it...I hang smalls 2 to peg together as it saves space.

As I live in a block of flats we have a shared drying area at the back. We have our own lines. I don't hang my underwear out for this reason.
I do love the fresh smell of air dried laundry. I don't own a tumble dryer. I have found that hanging bedding out this time of year attracts pollen though and I end up sneezing when I get into bed ?

Despite my Calvinist upbringing, if a sunny day falls on a Sunday I now hang washing out with gay abandon but never, never leave washing out overnight. That’s a step too far?

I remember the days when i had more than one line(up to 3) as id had only 2 of my children closer in age and had terry nappies for them! And all the other washing too meant id have been lost without hanging the wash out!

One grandmother stoked up a fire under the copper in an outbuilding early every Monday morning. Thereafter, the washing was either hung across the garden or, if the weather was inclement dried on a couple of those racks which could be hoisted up indoors and rested when out of use, usually somewhere near the ceiling
The other grandmother part employed a washerwoman who would collect from all her clients one week and return the clean garments the next. I believe she was paid 2/6 a week=12.5p. When the washerwoman's husband died leaving her with a large family and no money. a subscription service was set up by her customers. My grandmother offered her a bucket of coal a week for however long it might be necesasary.
My mother used nothing but a laundry, where even my school knickers were starched and ironed flat
When my husband was sent to West Africa there seemed to be a large number of people who lived in accommodation that we provided and also seemed to help themselves to food. Washing was put out and returned to the relevant drawers etc, freshly pressed the same day by one of this group

I have a whirligig thing in my garden and use that whenever I can.
What does that make me, anyone? other than taking advantage of what I have got.

I am soooo common!

I love the look of washing blowing on the line (not a whirligig). As I peg it out it always makes me feel a solidarity with woman from the past who have carried out this task over the centuries.

Ha ha I though it was a joke question! It used to be a common to have ladders in your stockings, go outside with curlers in your hair and hold your knife like a pencil, to talk with your mouthful, to spit in the street, to cut off the top of a boiled egg with a knife, to put make up on in public, and to chew gum. At least according to my Granny.

Haven't read the whole thread, sorry , so this may have been mentioned already, but sunlight is a wonderful germ killer, so that's why I like to line dry.

Never waste a windy day!??

I think it is 'common' for people to line dry washing, most of us do!

I hang my washing out whenever I can. I have a rotary line but Move it when not in use as I then have a much better view of the garden from my kitchen window. I think line dried washing is much better.

There was only 11 months between DD1 and DS. Our cottage was at the foot of a hill on a popular road to the beach. When DS was about two weeks old some friends popped in for a visit. Although we'd sent them a birth announcement card, they said they didn't need to be told I'd had the baby because when they drove past they could see double the amount of nappies on the line.

I don't have a tumble drier so for me it is washing outside on a whirlygig (though I have never heard that expression before today!) Or washing draped over a maiden by a radiator. What I really love is stripping the bed in the morning, washing the bedding , putting it outside on a lovely sunny day , then putting that same bedding straight back on the bed. Lovely!

Until I had my morning room and kitchen completely revamped and knocked into one about three years ago, I had one of those racks on pulleys to lower and put the washing on. As we have been in this house for 34 years it had seen me through all the years of family washing and even though it is now just me and DH I still miss it.

I have an elderly male neighbour who takes an inordinate interest in female underwear, so I hang mine at the end of the line farthest away from him, otherwise it blows freely outside in the sunshine and wind with everything else.

I, too, love to see a line of washing blowing outside in the fresh air. It's a happy sight.

Washing hung out on a line ,especially on a sunny day smells lovely when it is dry.
What on earth is "common" about it?
Are those of you who think it is "common" having a joke?
If not ,please will you explain why doing it is "common"
My mum never hung washing out on a Sunday though.
I do.
Ah I think what you must mean is that it is common practice ie a normal thing to do..
If that is what you mean then I would agree with you.

Nannan2 yes, my friend definitely has OCD, though it doesn’t seem to bother her, or her husband. It sometimes drives me mad, especially when she constantly plumps up cushions, and whisks away cups as soon as you finish your drink. On the other hand, my happy-go-lucky housekeeping must upset her.

I put washing out any day,even Sunday.I can remember years ago hearing people grumbling about neighbours leaving washing out all day,but I didn't know people still thought like that.I love your comment Elegran.

I am reminded of travelling in India for many months in my youth when we would hand a day’s worth of clothes, minus my undies, to the dhobi each evening. The next day it would be returned, spotless and perfectly ironed. On one occasion as we crossed a bridge we noticed the dhobi we had engaged the previous night washing piles of clothes in the river and spreading them on the boulders to dry. How they succeeded in doing such a perfect job amazed me and yes I always hang out my washing and never regarded it as common though my mother would have had a fit at the way I hang clothes out on a Sunday.

DD worked in Lesotho and the local women did her laundry.
She commented that her t-shirts had pinholes in them and wondered why, then she saw the answer, they hung the washing over prickly bushes to dry!

I call it "My Solar Clothes Dryer".