Ann Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I just made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent and I have to tell you that I absolutely love it!!! Clothes smell so fresh and clean and it's so economical and easy!!! I've also dumper fabric softener and instead use 1/2 cup white vinegar per large rinse load. There's absolutely no vinegar odor and the clothes are soft, bright and fresh smelling. Anyway, all of this made me want to put my clothesline back up and ask this question...... What memories do you have of a clothesline and do you still use one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlemike Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Ann, Yes clotheslines bring back many fond memories to me. It seems like yesterday my mom was out hanging clothes or bedding with her favorite flowers in the background wearing a dress.Back then I dont remember seeing her in anything but a dress. I didnt realize it growing up but when I look at the pictures I realize my mother was such a pretty woman. Yes I put up a clothesline about 8 years ago mostly for memories sake but it gets used quite often.Funny how the word clothesline brings back such peaceful memories.Thanks Ann. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenarrow Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I do have some fond memories about clothes lines and the special feel and smell of a line dried sheet and such. Then... When I was a kid I had a 10 speed bike, which made me rather tall in the saddle. I remember a night time trek across the yard on, then off the bike because of a clothes line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstdzy Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Running with my sisters in the back yard, playing peek a boo between the sheets on the clothes line! Clothes always smelled so good dried on the line in the sunshine! Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dahknee Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Funny you should mention it, pops in law set the poles last weekend and I just have to add the lines. Wife and i both have great memories of the childhood clothesline and decided to put one up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 Wow....I guess I'm not the only one with great clothesline memories. It seems that one of the first chores my mom had me help her with was hanging clothes on the line. I would stand beside her and reach into that big laundry basket and hand her the clothes, one at a time. Now, I know that sounds easy but my mom was very finicky about the way clothes were hung on the line. All of the pants (my dad's of course, as my mom only wore dresses) were hung together, as were all the shirts, undies....you get the picture. The clothes, especially the sheets, had such a wonderful smell after drying outside in that fresh mountain air. Getting the clothes washed was also an interesting experience, as my mom's clothes washer was a Maytag....wringer style. I don't know if any of you are old enough....or were poor enough.....to depend on a wringer style washer but that's what I remember us having until I was in high school. What a scary thing that old Maytag wringer was!!! I remember my mom telling stories about someone she knew getting their arm caught in a wringer machine and ending up an amputee. That would have made the washing machine the second most feared thing my mother owned. She was terrified of her old pressure cooker but would use it anyway when she was canning....lol Up until a few years ago, I still had a clothesline. It wasn't a nice, long line with wooden poles, like the one my dear sweet dad had made. IT was one of those little compact jobs that fold up, yet have about four little lines. You know, after this post, I think I'm going out and buy me another clothesline, even if it is a modern little cheapie. Maybe I can take my grandchildren outside with me and teach them that clothes don't always require electricity to dry. If they have half the great memories about my clothesline that I have about my mom's...then I will have made some smiles for the future!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenarrow Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Yep, had the wringer and heard the story to go with it. It was a feared machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilyjohn Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I have such good memories of clothes drying on the line. Mama worked so I was left with a lady who kept me during the day. She had a clothes line on her back porch. It was on a pully and the clothes were pushed out to a pole in the yard. They flapped in the wind about 30 above the ground. I loved helping take them down at the end of the day. The weather in the summer was always so great in the bay area that the clothes could stay out all day. They smelled so good. She also had a wringer machine and later a Maytag that had the spin tub on the side. Instead on putting them through the wringer you put them in that tub and it spun the water out of them. She made her own lye soap and shaved that to wash clothes with. They were always so clean and smelled so good. I can remember my mom in the canning season (she worked in a canery) up at midnight washing clothes and putting them out before day break the next morning. She often worked 10 or 12 hours a day and 7 days a week during Spring and Summer. The first washer I had was a wringer machine. We were poor but I could have had an automatic. I chose the wringer washer instead. I loved that thing. I think it cleaned better and saved a lot of water too. I got used to very hot water fishing them out by had or with a piece of broomstick. All my girls, daughter , daughters in law and grand daughters, can not believe how hot I can stand the water yet today. I only gave in and got a new machine when my youngest son was born. It had been a really wet winter and we had bought a dryer to use when I couldn't hang my clothes. The wringer just didn't get enough water out of them so I gave in and got an automatic. I gave the old wringer machine to my mom. She used it to wash quilts and rugs. I think it stayed in their garage until she died. If I hadn't lived so far away I would probably have taken it home with me Now that we got that out of the way what about cloth diapers on a wash board. I did that more than once too!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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