LivingSmall

Although it’s snowy today, it’s been in the sixties all week, which means I can start drying clothes on the line again. I’ve written before about my clothesline love, and I’m always surprised by the number of people who object to clotheslines on principle. I really don’t get it. When I moved in, my house, like most houses in town, had a huge clothesline made from plumbing pipe that was set into about four feet of concrete below ground. We have famously strong winds here in Livingston, and the legacy clotheslines were built to withstand it. I had that clothesline cut down because it was right in the middle of the backyard, and people kept bonking their heads on it.

When I decided I wanted a new clothesline, I splurged on this one by Versaline: the Disappearing Slimline Clothesline. It was expensive, but I’ve been using it steadily for four years now, and it’s held up beautifully. It’s a great clothesline for small spaces, because you can fold it back against the wall when you’re not using it. I leave mine up pretty much all the time, since it’s in a spot where not much else happens in my yard. The other key to using the clothesline a lot is that it’s in a convenient spot — my washer is in the basement, and the line is just outside the basement door.

I use my clothesline all the time, and my sweetheart teases me a little bit about my internal rules for hanging clothes. I like to hang like items together, all the shirts in a row, with their arms hanging down (otherwise you get weird bumps on the shoulders of your shirts, makes you look like you’re shrugging), all the pants in a row, and the cloth napkins, well, that’s a whole line to itself. I like the order to it. And if you’re worried about the neighbors seeing your “smalls” as my English friend Sabrina calls them, just be sure to hang them on the inside where they can’t be seen. There’s no reason a clothesline has to be unsightly.

For me, clotheline love isn’t just about the energy saved. There’s nothing better than sheets that smell like sunshine and breeze. As far as towels go, I leave a couple of them crunchy for the sweetheart who likes them that way, the rest I toss in the dryer for ten minutes to fluff, then hang on the line. It’s one of the easiest ways to save energy, using a clothesline, and although I try not to preach here at LivingSmall, I have to say, that it’s blog policy to encourage clothesline use.