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toysoldier

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Aug 23, 2006
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City & State/Province
Hutchinson, KS USA
We could save a lot of electrical and gas usage if we started putting in and using clotheslines. I know, not everyone has a place for one, there are areas where the humidity is too high, yada yada yada. But for those of us who can, it can put a dent in the electric or gas bill. They could certainly use them in Texas, where the power grid is problematic. Unfortunately, clothesline poles are not readily available. I bought a house with a large back yard, and started looking for a couple of steel t-poles. No luck. Local weld shops weren't interested in making them. I ended up making them from treated lumber, and they've lasted for nearly 20 years. During summertime, I rarely use my dryer. It's also a good place to hang something when I want to spray paint.
 
My wife uses a couple of portable clothes dryer-racks when the weather allows (which is often here).....

Clothes lines have been known to save lives too. Back in 1908 +/-, my father was a baby and fell out of the fifth story window of his parents' Manhattan apartment. In those days EVERYONE had a clothes line stretching from each apartment. His fall was broken by a bazzillion lines and he lived (I never found out if he was badly hurt, but he did have a scare on his left shin).

J.
 
Wintertime clothesline in the basement and summertime clothesline outside. During the winter the clothes dry in less than 24hrs with the help of the wood boiler. When spring comes the wintertime clothesline gets unstrung and folded up to the floor joists above, out of the way. We have an electric dryer, but my wife loves to hang up the clothes.
 
Growing up we had two iron T poles in the backyard both with two drilled holes in each and long coat hanger wire running on each end (typical clothesline). There is NOTHING! like the smell of cloths off the clothes line fresh and dry. Don't even need the T poles or coathanger wire. Just put some string up and put em on that. Couldn't help commenting on a good post like this but always leery of someone talking going green. lol
 
Good stuff.

A few months ago, I was catching groundhogs at a lady's house,, and she was "cleaning up" a bit around her place. She had a pair of the steel "T" posts from an old clothes line that she gave me. She is in her 30's,, and did not know what they were for.
 
contender said:
Good stuff.

A few months ago, I was catching groundhogs at a lady's house,, and she was "cleaning up" a bit around her place. She had a pair of the steel "T" posts from an old clothes line that she gave me. She is in her 30's,, and did not know what they were for.
Click to expand...
How sad but how unsurprising.
 
So how many of you in the North remember bringing in clothes that were frozen stiff for you Mom??? Yep time to start using the basement.:-)
Nobody ever burned their trash when neighbors had clothes hung to dry.

Houston is humid, but when we were first married 1963 we rented a house with a washing machine but no dryer. It did have a clothesline in the back yard. Yep fresh air dried sheets have that great smell to them.

Selena,
What is a summer kitchen??? "My clothesline is attached to the summer kitchen"
 
Back in the days of wood cook stoves (and even later to facilitate more comfortable days of 'canning'), a 'summer kitchen' could have been a screened porch or maybe even a lean-to often on the shady side of the house. This helped keep the heat of the wood cookstove or canning process out of the living quarters. Some families would literally carry the cookstove out side.
 
Just removed the lines from my outside clothes dryer. The metal "T" poles will be removed this week. My wife has shoulder problems and can't reach high enough to use it and I simply can't lift and carry a wet load of clothes to it. It served us well for forty years.
 
Wyandot Jim said:
So how many of you in the North remember bringing in clothes that were frozen stiff for you Mom??? Yep time to start using the basement.:)
Nobody ever burned their trash when neighbors had clothes hung to dry.

Houston is humid, but when we were first married 1963 we rented a house with a washing machine but no dryer. It did have a clothesline in the back yard. Yep fresh air dried sheets have that great smell to them.

Selena,
What is a summer kitchen??? "My clothesline is attached to the summer kitchen"
Click to expand...
I have a separate outbuilding next to the back door I use for the messy projects so as not to track the mess into the house. I call it the summer kitchen after the habit of their being similar buildings set up as complete kitchens so in the hottest part of summer the cooking fires didn't heat up the entire house. After I managed to buy a 1930's model kitchen stove at an auction Dad tried to be funny and had Grandma's wood burning cook stove installed and gave the building the summer kitchen name.
 
I rigged up a cloths line in the spare bedroom. Actually 3 lines in total from the closet to the opposite wall and back again 3 times. When I used the dryer I ended up with a handful of cotton in the filter after every load. Using the cloths line instead makes my cloths last longer and saves energy. They dry in about a day in Summer and a little longer in Winter.
 
Dryers are a rare thing in Europe and they have cheap nuke power.
It's a cultural thing not money or being green. Would an American want to give up a 1/2 hour of TV time hanging clothes when it only takes 1 commercial break to take them from the washer and toss them in the dryer?
 
We used to use a cloths line but when we moved into the house we now have the HOA didn't allow them. Not really a big deal as far as energy goes and the cloths come out much nicer from the dryer. I save energy and gas by having an older small car and not driving anywhere.
 
Have a modern (20 year old) clothes dryer and a pair of T poles my father in law had made over 50 years ago. I haven't installed the T poles yet.
 
20220807_065900.jpg

20220807_065841.jpg
 
Selena said:
I have a separate outbuilding next to the back door I use for the messy projects so as not to track the mess into the house. I call it the summer kitchen after the habit of their being similar buildings set up as complete kitchens so in the hottest part of summer the cooking fires didn't heat up the entire house. After I managed to buy a 1930's model kitchen stove at an auction Dad tried to be funny and had Grandma's wood burning cook stove installed and gave the building the summer kitchen name.
Click to expand...
Thanks Selena,
I thought that was what you were referring to. Back in the old BAC Days (Before Air Conditioning) our family always tried to cook meals during hot days that wouldn't heat up the kitchen/house.

Must be why way back when the kitchen was in a different building than the main house due to heat and fire.

By the way the Log house we lived in while living in Canada still had a wood cook stove in the kitchen. Luckily it also had a small 3 burner propane stove or I would have starved to death. Sometimes the Wifie just like Mason and Dixon draws the line and cooking on a wood stove is one of them.:-)
 
Jimbo357mag said:
We used to use a cloths line but when we moved into the house we now have the HOA didn't allow them. Not really a big deal as far as energy goes and the cloths come out much nicer from the dryer. I save energy and gas by having an older small car and not driving anywhere.
Click to expand...
Take a look at the law in Florida that allows you to have a clothes line, not withstanding any HOA rules. Best regards, David
 
I wouldn't be able to use a clothes line since I live down a dirt road and the idiots love to raise a dust cloud that OSHA would shut down a factory over if that's where it was at.
 
My deceased wife bought two wooden clothes racks long before she passed away. Recently I started using them again when my energy bill started skyrocketing. They work both outside when the wind not blowing strong and inside the house too.
 
Wyandot Jim said:
Thanks Selena,
I thought that was what you were referring to. Back in the old BAC Days (Before Air Conditioning) our family always tried to cook meals during hot days that wouldn't heat up the kitchen/house.

Must be why way back when the kitchen was in a different building than the main house due to heat and fire.

By the way the Log house we lived in while living in Canada still had a wood cook stove in the kitchen. Luckily it also had a small 3 burner propane stove or I would have starved to death. Sometimes the Wifie just like Mason and Dixon draws the line and cooking on a wood stove is one of them.:)
Click to expand...
I have a Fisher Baby Bear woodstove with a nice flat top. In the winter, I will occasionally cook a meal on it. Even baked biscuits.
 
Wyandot Jim said:
Thanks Selena,
I thought that was what you were referring to. Back in the old BAC Days (Before Air Conditioning) our family always tried to cook meals during hot days that wouldn't heat up the kitchen/house.

Must be why way back when the kitchen was in a different building than the main house due to heat and fire.

By the way the Log house we lived in while living in Canada still had a wood cook stove in the kitchen. Luckily it also had a small 3 burner propane stove or I would have starved to death. Sometimes the Wifie just like Mason and Dixon draws the line and cooking on a wood stove is one of them.:)
Click to expand...
On occasion Dad will come over and start a fire in the cook stove then have me make coffee on it. I enjoy those times because usually Dad is wanting to talk about when he was very young. I can cook on the wood stove but it's not my favorite thing in the world.
 
I remember pulling clothes off the clothesline with black streaks on them. From not remembering to wipe the plastic coated wire rope off with a damp cloth to get the dirt build-up off before hanging up the clothes.
I also remember Mom using a washer with the hand cranked rollers on top to get the water out before hanging up to dry.
 
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