Washing Line protocol

I wonder what the the darling mums on Mumsnet would think of this thread.

what an enjoyable thread( note to self....get out more.)

I never knew that there was a protocol! So, have I been hanging it wrongly for years? What a load of nonsense. Keep doing it your way.

The draw? You mean drawer.

I only remember my Mum saying 'Peg tops by the bottoms and bottoms by the tops'. But l do have a thing about matching clothes pegs and would never put 2 different colours on one garment!

Did you say 'sheets' and 'ironing ' in the same sentence? I don't recognise that at all.?

Some years ago, I asked my 16 year old son to hang the washing out. (I would be at work by the time the easing machine would finish its cycle. ) When I returned the washing was lying on the back garden lawn! Apparently, according to him, I should have been more specific and requested that it be pegged out as he had simply hung it over the washing line. Therefore, it had simply fallen to the ground.

Washing machine - blinking predictive text again!

What a hilarious thread! some of us are really sadly anal about it.

I confess to hanging it out in batches as to whose and what type. Socks are hung in pairs so I can roll them up together straight off the line.

When it is dry I fold it neatly in the stacks that go in particular drawers or for hanging.

I do like to match peg colours, and even match the garment. I confess to hanging OHs washing with pink pegs if he has annoyed me as he hates pink. Don't think he has noticed though. Ironing kept to a minimum.

Undies are shown off to all and sundry on the most visible part of the washing line. They are still lacy and pretty albeit in much larger sizes nowadays.

Totally fascinating :D
If you leave stuff out, they get wet again from dew. That's the only reason I bring it in!
And I may have an iron somewhere. Certainly haven't used it for a couple of decades.

Whatever you do don't forget to run a damp cloth over the line to clean it first. I do find myself getting a bit cross if my sons forget and get marks on clean clothes.
and get rid of spiders and cobwebs from the rotary line

A friend who had lived in rural Africa, rented out her flat in a typical Surrey commuter town and let some friends from Africa stay there for a while. They did what they do at home - spread out all the washing to dry over the nearby shrubs and hedges!

I hang underwear on the inside of the rotary drier and always make sure something large goes after it! This is because our line is visible to next door and I don't want them looking at our underwear!

I hang everything from the bottom, sheets from the seams and it's only in my latter years that I hang my undies out on one of those smalls driers, I even wash tops and tee shirts inside out to prevent bobbling. Even if I was criticised I'd still do it. You do what feels right for you and take no notice of what anyone else says XX

I know that in most new build flats with balconies they try to make a condition that occupants do not hang washing out on view. However I notice that soon people start ignoring this!

Just adding, when DH and I lived in Greece our washing machine was outside which was kind of weird at first but it made laundry times much more fun. I had an open air washing line and an under balcony washing line for when it was rainy season LOL The beauty about living there was everything was dry for the morning after and it was so hot it didn't need much ironing if any.

I hang everything by the hems - DH's polo shirts, son's T-shirts etc - knickers and boxers get hung by one seam (take up too much room otherwise), sheets by hems (agree that it's easier to fold them). I still have a 'traditional' washing line rather than a rotary and we get a good breeze here - too good sometimes as things sometimes go flying across the garden!!!

I hate seeing droopy washing on a line. After providing a clean, ironed shirt for my late husband every day of his working life, anything that saved some of the effort of ironing seemed vital to me. My mother hated ironing and put it off as long as she could. She ironed the essentials, shirts and school uniforms, every Sunday evening. That's what I learned from her as well as how to do it, of course. I don't worry about what order it gets hung on the line though. I never hang washing out if it's very cold weather. It doesn't dry, it just freezes!

I love this thread BUT matching the pegs to the colour of the clothes?? Really?? And I thought I was fussy. I never leave pegs on the line however - I have a peg bag that hooks on the line and they go straight in there.

Have you noticed that young people do not do ironing, only shirts.
As a vicar's wife (and flock often about) have always hung my undies out of sight - of course if I had a thong or two might have put them on view

I use a tumble drier in winter as my fingers and feet freeze and turn white [Reynaud's syndrome] - too cold for me. But I love putting the washing out in summer - however "wrongly"!

Apart from the correct technique of hanging the washing I was always told no washing outside on Sunday, and never in the front garden.

Never mind protocol (whatever that may be). If you hang T-shirts by the hem, the shape gets distorted. I hang them over the line and peg them where the side seam meets the sleeve seams. The peg marks don't show.

I was once told by a churchgoer that I wasn't a proper Christian as I hung my washing out on a Sunday. Since I was working full time and collecting my old Ma's washing to do at the weekend I thought it a ridiculous comment. At the time I was living in a beautiful old Georgian former vicarage next to the church and I felt the criticism was probably prompted by jealousy. Jesus wouldn't have minded!

Thirty six years ago wWhen our elder son was a baby, we lived in maisonette with our garden at the side, visible from the front - our downstairs neighbour had the front and back gardens. I used to hang the terry nappies out most days on a rotary dryer. One day, a man who lived a few doors down on the other side of the road fell into step beside me and asked if he could 'pop up for a quick word'. When we were seated, and he'd refused coffee, he said that he and his wife were planning to put their house on the market. I looked at hm a bit quizzically as I couldn't think why he'd goner to all this trouble to tell us in private. He then continued: " ... so I'm sure you'll understand why I'm asking you too stop hanging the nappies out at the side, since it does rather the tone of the are and might affect the value of our house". My husband and I started at him open-mouthed. He went on: "I'm sure my wife wouldn't mind if you used her tumble dryer". We said we'd make our own arrangements, and hen he'd gone we succumbed to very unneighbourly laughter at the idea that someone had actually used the phrase 'lower the tone' in real life. Luckily our downstairs neighbour let us put our rotary dryer out in her back garden, and we ourselves moved to a bigger house a couple of months later. We never found out whether the man's wife would actually have welcomed me going round to dry the nappies in 'her' tumble dryer every day, or indeed if she ever knew he'd offered it. Maybe it was her idea.
As far as clothes are concerned, I do have my obsessions, which relate mainly to ensuring that different types of garment are hung side by side, the same way up, and with each type subdivided into whose they are. I am prepared to deviate if the dryer isn't evenly balanced all the way round. But for much of the year we have to use the heated airer in the spare room, because our part of the Scottish Borders, where we live now, is often very wet and windy and the air doesn't warm up until April.