I want to put up a clothes line at our new house, but I'm not sure how long it should be. I usually do one load of clothes each day, but sometimes save it up and do several in a day's time. When I was sheets, I do all 3 sets in one day. There are 4 of us. Any recommendations as to how long a line I'll need?

-- Jo (mamamia2kids@msn.com), November 15, 2001

Answers

I have a super-duper clothesline, with 6 lines about 30 feet long! I usually wash clothes until it is filled up, and then start again the next day. I have too much laundry! You might buy a 50 foot clothesline and make two lines about 20 feet long (extra for tying them up). The shorter they are, the easier it is to keep them tight. My husband put tighteners on mine, becasue a saggy clothesline drives me crazy!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), November 15, 2001.

Here in Canada most people have pulley clotheslines. Ours is attached to the side of the house at one end and to a 30-ft post at the other end. I reckon it to be about 50 long. This will easily hold 3 loads, sometimes 4. I have got our laundry down to no more than 4 loads a day, usually only 2-3. We use line connectors, which are hooked on to the top and bottom lines to hold them together. I put a connector on after each load to keep the bottom line from drooping too low. The pulley on the house end is on a mechanism the raises or lowers the pulley so that my daughter can reach the line to hang clothes and then pull on a cord to raise the line up out of the way.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), November 15, 2001.

Wow, you guys. I can't imagine that much laundry. I do mine once a week and have about as much as some of you in one day. But, there are just the two of us now. Still, I can't remember a time when I did laundry more than once a week, unless it was blankets after winter or back from camping. But then, I tend to group all of one type of chore in bunches to be done all at once.

I love my clothesline, but it is toooooo near a hazelnut tree that the previous owner planted. He didn't think far ahead, I guess. I have 4 lines that are about 50 feet long, but I never use all of them. Unless I'm doing blankets, like I said. But, for me, no matter how many lines or how long they are, the most important thing is that they are sturdy and will support the sheets/blankets well off the ground. I used to have one at another house that I had to prop up in the middle with a large wooden pole. It worked, but what a hassle. I just wish I still had the clothespins from back then. The ones I've bought these days fall apart very quickly.

Good luck on your clothesline project. It really pays off in the long run. The best kind of aromatherapy in the world.

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), November 15, 2001.

I love my clothesline!! My kids hate it though. They think it makes us look "trashy" espescially when I have a perfectly good clothes dryer. But it saves on electricity! I did compromise with the kids I don't hang out any underclothes!! Denise

-- Denise K. (Rabbitmom2@webbworks.com), November 15, 2001.

Iris, I used to do all the laundry on one day to get it over with, but I developed back trouble and Tom insisted that I spread it out over the week.

Denise, I quit hanging out the underwear when I got a clothesrack for indoors. I very rarely use the dryer; I wouldn't even have one except that some friends gave us their old one.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), November 15, 2001.

I could always get by without a dryer, as long as I don't have to wash the clothes by hand!! Seriously my husband makes a load of clothes a day himself...Especially in winter, he dresses in layers!!!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), November 15, 2001.

I miss my clothesline. We haven't had time to put a real one up yet, just have a line between two trees, which doean't make a bit of sense to me with sap and birds. Soon. I love to see clothes on a line, especially towels and sheets. We don't have a dryer any more, don't want one, everything goes on the line, in bad winter weather, we hang stuff around the wood burning stove, except this year, we don't have that ready yet......

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), November 16, 2001.

I like the umbrella clotheslines, especially if you live in a standard neighborhood with small yards. All the laundry is in one place, and the post revolves. Also nice to hang unmentionables on the inside, and bigger things (blankets, towels) on the outside. And you can take it out of the holder and fold up when not needed.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 16, 2002.