05-09-06

Here are some basics.  Choose your laundry basket with care for clean washing to take out.  I always go for the ones with smoothness under the handles because when I go to pick up a full load, I don't want to hang onto a plastic seam.

 

Get the best pegs you can afford, and don't leave them outside in all weathers after you bring your clothing in.  I've had the same, top quality pegs for years now, and it's rarely that they fall apart.  They're actually made for doonas, but I use them generally.  I don't use wooden ones because I've had them splinter on pantyhose and create runs.

 

I get as many bags of pegs as I can afford and top up when I can, because I find that I use the pegs in other areas of the house (particularly for closing up bags of frozen vegetables!), and occasionally I'm running low.

 

Try to have an undercover set of lines, preferably in a breezeway.  Or, if you have a covered-in porch, so much the better.

 

If you have an outside line, make good use of it for those things that you want sterilized in sunshine.  I usually hang pillows, doonas, sheets and towels from the outside clothesline, and anything that, in changeable weather, doesn't need to be inside in a hurry.  Soft toys are also hung outside, along with shoes as necessary.

 

Use your line sensibly: smalls as fillers, two or three handkerchiefs together, pair up socks as you go.  On the outside line, which is a version of a hoist (rotary clothes line), because the lines go from smallest to largest, logically I start with smalls, then Alice's clothing or teatowels, and then get on to the adult clothing, towels and, eventually, sheets.

 

To peg out pants, spread them over the line and put a peg on the crutch.  If you want to spread them out more, which is generally not necessary, pull out the pockets and hang by these.

 

For any tops, shirts, etc., a good friend of mine showed me the tip of pegging them out by the underarms.  It's that much less of a mark that shows or has to be argued with in the ironing.

 

Remember to put strong colours inside out so that they don't fade in sunlight.

 

Our hardware stores also sell covers for rotary clothes lines, which makes things easier if you have no covered space to dry clothes.

 

Your clothing will smell very fresh (the only exception being, in my case, Brian's socks!), and you will not need to put fragrance in the wash.

 

A word of warning: towels do come inside scratchier than if dried in a tumble drier, but rubbing them on themselves seems to help, and after the first use, I don't notice it anyway.  Unless the towel is filthy or smelly, I save a lot by changing towels only on a weekly basis.  I figure if I come out of the shower or bath clean, how is my towel going to be dirty after my use?