Woooot! Hung my first load of clothes, a few ?/'s

[canuckgal]

Ok, I have hung some clothes on my flimsy wooden drying rack (which is going to be the socks and washcloths and underwear rack when my butterfly rack from http://www.joyfulspincycle.com comes in) and hung my t shirts and uniforms on the shower rod in the bathroom. I have a question about hanging shirts...I have hung the t shirts on hangers, but boy they have sure lengthened, stretched in the neck and the seams (bottom) aren't straight. I have heard of hanging them upside down, or from the sides (clipping by an arm and the side seam), but I don't have room on racks for this and I think the rack I have ordered may be too thick for clothespins. How do you all do it?

Also, anything to get rid of wrinkles? I have given everything a really HARD snap/flick before hanging, but can you use anything like vinegar in the wash cycle or Downy?

I am debating taking the things down when they are dry, and tossing in a damp wrung out washcloth or two with the stuff and running it through the dryer for a minute or two. Does anyone else do this? I have done it when I have left stuff in the dryer for a few days and it is majorly wrinkled. Feels kind of sacreligious to use the dryer, but I figure if I am using the dryer for only 2-5 minutes on low/fluff I still would be saving. I may be chicken, but am planning on still drying washcloths and towels in the dryer, at least till 50-75% dry, as I have heard too many stories of crunchy towels.

So, line dryers, what are your routines? I can't wait until summer to get a clothes line up outside! How lame is that ! :

Tina

[scrapadoozer]

You don't want to hang anything knit on a hanger. It will most likely stretch out from the weight. Stick just to clothing made of woven materials and you should be fine.

Yeah, if you put the almost dried laundry in the dryer for 5-10 minutes that should take care of most of the wrinkles.

[velochic]

Find a horizontal place to lay out your stretchable items. We used radiators when we lived abroad and when we're staying in Turkey with family. Here, I use my kitchen countertops (it takes forever to dry the clothes, however). You can even lay them out on clean towels on the floor (did this when I lived in Moscow in the 90's). Just look around and you will find plenty of ways to dry flat. I spent many years without a dryer and somehow found a way to keep shape in the knits.

Wrinkles - do you have hard water? You can add a bit of vinegar to the wash, which will not make your clothes smell like vinegar, but it will soften the wash. A bit of baking soda will do the trick, too, although it's not quite as inexpensive. During the drying, if you are inside (and the wind isn't softening out the wrinkles) just pick up the garment, shake it a bit and put it back. That helps to get rid of wrinkles. As you are handling the clothes during folding, the wrinkles will usually fall out anyway.

[GinaRae]

Use white vinegar as a fabric softener, but even without it, I don't have many wrinkles. When you hang the clothes, shake them out vigorously a time or three. When they're dry, just the act of pulling them off the line, folding, then either putting them away or hanging them pulls the rest of the wrinkles out easily!

[Smokering]

I don't use vinegar, fabric softener or anything fancy, and I haven't noticed my clothes being wrinkly. Then again, I'd probably happily wear them even if they were... but DH wouldn't, and he doesn't iron his shirts, so they must be OK. I do give them a big flicky snap before I hang them up. Our clothesline is truly pathetic--it sags if you hang something as heavy as a T-shirt on it!--so we just load up the clothes horse and put it outside in the sun. Kids are good for helping, get them to peg the socks round the edges.

I have to giggle at how rebellious line-drying clothes seems to be in certain parts of the world. In Australia and NZ, nobody does it to be crunchy; we all just do it, 'cause why the heck wouldn't you? DH and I don't even own a dryer. I'm not trying to be catty or disparage your efforts or anything; I think it's great that you're line-drying. It's just funny when some of the MDC mamas look upon it as an avant-garde adventure. Still, I guess plenty of countries say the same thing about such 'obvious' tricks as babywearing, homebirthing, cooking from scratch etc. Makes you think!

[vivalamama]

Originally Posted by Smokering

I have to giggle at how rebellious line-drying clothes seems to be in certain parts of the world. In Australia and NZ, nobody does it to be crunchy; we all just do it, 'cause why the heck wouldn't you? DH and I don't even own a dryer. I'm not trying to be catty or disparage your efforts or anything; I think it's great that you're line-drying. It's just funny when some of the MDC mamas look upon it as an avant-garde adventure.

Line drying in your part of the world may be no big deal, but I just checked and the current temp in Manitoba, where the OP is, is currently -11 c (12f) Brrr! I'm still trying to figure out how/where to line dry clothes in my house. I do line dry some of our clothes but am still waaay too dependent on our (horrible, energy sucking) dryer. When I lived in Hawaii, line drying was common and easy, not so much here in Alaska


We north americans are definitely used to our conveniences (especially when it's below freezing! ), so I think it does take an especially thoughtful and committed person to go the extra mile. Good job OP!

[Smokering]

Fair enough. Yes, sun does help--although technically, clothes can dry even in sub-zero weather quite happily. (More happily than the poor person who has to hang them out, anyway!). But to reiterate--it's fantastic that the OP is line drying, and even more so given the weather!

Is it weird that I kinda like crunchy towels? Mine sometimes dry soft and sometimes crunchy--it's never really worried me enough to figure out why, but I think they get crunchier if I leave them outside to get rained on and re-dried. Or maybe it depends on the kind of towel. But I like it when they're crunchy--good for a nice, brisk, skin-glowing rubdown.

[canuckgal]

Thanks everyone, and hey regarding the temperature....

Hey, it's going to get COLDER here! CKinAK, you should know what cold is, LOL! I used to live in the Yukon, and also in the Northwest Territories, our Canadian equivalent to Alaska and the last frontier, I guess. I have seen and felt -30's to -50'sC with the windchill. The temp conversion chart I looked at says -30c is about -22F...that's as low as it went... And it has been known to get almost as cold here.

And no, I don't know anyone who hangs their laundry outside! Dh thinks I am nuts, but I promised him I would be responsible for the hanging of the laundry as long as he still put away. He's even less impressed though with my experiment to stop using the dishwasher over the next month to see the effect on the bills though! :