Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, do people really do this? I noticed in a lot of ebay sales, sellers don't machine dry the gymbo clothes. I actually love that as a buyer, b/c the clothes are usually in excellent shape. But me, line dry all of her clothes? :rotflmao:

So, do you line dry all of your kids clothes? Or even line dry the "good" clothes?

Sandy

I'm so anal when it comes to the girls clothes. So yes, to keep them in tip top condition I do hang them to dry on the line. :nod: Uh, unless it's a pair of not-so-nice pj's or something that I don't care about that I know won't shrink or whatever....I have thrown a few items in there...but never the good stuff. :)

During the summer, we only line dry. I just love the smell of clothes on the line outside. But I do it more for that and for the cost of saving money by not using the dryer than for preserving the clothes. And I line dry all our clothes--not just Riley's.

I do actually line dry most of her nicer clothes. I have one of these in my basement:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/130/259910742749P.JPG (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=10742749&RN=389)

So nicer stuff where I am afraid of shrinking or fading, I will line dry it. Not all of it....blue jeans dry nicely in the dryer and I've never had fading or shrinking issues. But sometimes the 100% cotton shirts or the stuff that has some stretchy material in it seems to shrink if you dry it. I never dry sweaters. I dont dry Gymbo sundresses. Same with my clothes or anyone else's clothes :)

I don't usually line dry their clothes, but if it's something I think will shrink I just lay it flat until it's dry. I don't have time to line dry all of their clothes. :lol:

Karri, how many pieces of clothes does that fit? Can you get a good amount on there?

I had James put up a cable that's coated with rubber from one end to the other in the unfinished part of the basement (where the laundry room is of course) and that's where all the clothes are hung. I love it.

In our old house we had a clothes line outside. I LOVED it. We don't have one here.

I have one of the things Karri posted, but I never line dry their clothes.

Karri--I've had one of those dryers for the longest time (since 1992 to be exact :lol: )

I'm really picky about what I put in the dryer because to me, things are never the same after they've been put in.

I also do handwash and line dry a good bit of stuff.

I also have a rack that I can use for sweaters, etc., but I almost never line-dry Alex's (or our) clothes. If I wash something that's a little more sensitive (my work pants, anything wool or silk, something with lots of embroidery), then I'll hang it up.
Honestly, I can't think of anything that Alex owns that requires line drying though. Now, if we have a girl next time, that might be a different story. :)

Lyndee - I've had mine since 1992, as well (bought it to take to college with me!). Best $9 ever spent :lol:

Dawn - it holds a lot. I can get 2 kids shirts/pants/etc, 2 of my tank tops, or 2 pr of my undies on each trowel. I think there are 13 trowels.
I also line dry my undies and bras, so it comes in handy for that. And I like it b/c I dont have to deal w/ clothespins!

I dont line dry anything... I will lay something flat if I am worried about shrinkage. (Like sweaters)

Ok so I lied. I do line dry my bras if they have underwire in them.... If they get dried in the dryer one too many times I have had problems with the wire coming out.

Dawn - it holds a lot. I can get 2 kids shirts/pants/etc, 2 of my tank tops, or 2 pr of my undies on each trowel. I think there are 13 trowels.
I also line dry my undies and bras, so it comes in handy for that. And I like it b/c I dont have to deal w/ clothespins!
Hmn, that's good to know. I didn't think it would hold alot. The line we have isn't that long (it's good for one load of wash) and I can always use an extra something to dry more clothes for a 2nd load. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

Ok so I lied. I do line dry my bras if they have underwire in them.... If they get dried in the dryer one too many times I have had problems with the wire coming out.

Ahhh....yes. How could I forget about my bras!?! My bras have never been in the dryer. :nono:

I line dry almost everything except PJs, undies, and towels.....

OK..I line dried all our stuff for the first 2 years of marriage..NO DRYER..boy was that tough..How do you get them to not be so stiff. I actually loved the smell but the clothes were so stiff that I hated that part so much more....

Jayne

Yes I was also wondering how do you keep the clothes from being stiff?

I line dry Aiden's nicer clothing and majority of my clothing and undergarments. I have an extended line dryer that has four extra trowels on it than the one Karri posted. I bought mine at Target.

While I like my dryer, I'm with Lyndee - sometimes when things go in, they don't come out the same. Kind of like Stephen King's Pet Cemetary.

The only clothes I've had stiffness problems with are my jeans - but I will iron them out and that helps a lot.

Line dry clothes.. wugh!? :lol: I guess you can surmise my response. :lol:

I only line dry. We have a clothes line in the backyard. We have a dryer that only gets used in bad weather and then it's only for towels, socks and underwear. I have a rack like Karri posted and I line dry indoors in bad weather. I don't get the stiffness comments. The clothes come off the line just fine :dunno:

I don't have a line, but I leave things flat on the washer/dryer (annoys DH... but then so does everything).

Sometimes things will be a little crunchy that way but if so I pop them in the dryer with a damp cloth for a moment and then they are soft. Works to take out wrinkles, too.

I'm wondering if the stiffness is a result of hard water? It dawned on me that I don't always run an extra rinse cycle with jeans (no real need), and that's the only time I have problems. It might be extra soap still on the clothing. I guess if anyone wanted to try (that has problems with stiffness) they could add some Calgon water softener to their load of laundry or run an extra rinse cycle and see if that helps.

When I was growing up, we lined dried everything all summer long. All of our clothes would be stiff and crunchy. I love the smell of line drying and I would do it outside now if I could.

However, I put everything in the drier but sweaters and a couple of my shirts. I don't buy clothes for the kids that have to be line dried--I don't have the time to deal with the hassle.

Mary

Holy Crap! Lookit all the line dryers! :lol: I seriously am amazed! I am one lazy ass person b/c everything EVERYTHING gets put in the dryer at our house! Anything that I can't put in our washer/dryer (my work clothes, etc.) goes to the dry cleaners. Well, now I know that if I buy anything off of you guys the clothes will be in great shape! :lol:

i hang all my cotton work shirts on the drying rack (if they shrink i am fecked, decent plus sized stuff is htf).

all gianna's nice stuff gets line dried.

i have a really large metal drying rack that has got to be from the 80's.

I usually just machine dry. :blush: I line dry some of Emma's dresses but I often get the stiffness problem as well. :(

What is the hassle with line drying?

I don't think it's a hassle. And I love the way whites turn out and everything smells. At our old house in town you couldn't use a clothesline (ordinance) but I can out here - I should put one in out here because our house has so many windows it's like an oven so I'm always trying to use the dryer at night, which is a pain.

I dont think line drying is a hassle at all, either. matter of fact, I just got up from the basement and was doing laundry and thought "what's the hassle?" :lol:
As I am taking stuff out of the washer and tossing it in the dryer, I just grab those things out that need to be lined dryed. My rack is right behind me, so I literally turn around and hang it up. Doesnt take any time.

I used to use the outdoor clothesline all the time, but since we moved here, we dont have one. Our yard is too small and even if I put up a retractable one, the stuff would still be hanging in the kids playspace. Clean, wet laundry + kids=not good :lol:

Oh --and hand washing? Lyndee, you are nuts. :lol: I dont hand wash. I have a handwashing setting on the washer and delicates go in on that. If I cant launder it, it doesnt get bought (with the exception of when I was working in corp. america).
And I dont iron. We send DH's shirts to the cleaners for that :lol:

See our basement is dingy and wet. I wouldn't think to line dry down there. It wouldn't smell good that is for sure. Heck there are times when I am standing in water to wash my clothes (washer and dryer are up on Cement) We have some real issues with water in our area. But I used to do them outside (our weather doesn't permit that come winter) and they were ALL always stiff. DH's good shirts especially. And they were always wrinkled.

Jayne

We don't have room for a line dryer anywhere. The laundry room is just big enough for the washer and dryer and to open the doors on them. I would love to have a line outside, but Dennis won't go for it.

Mary

During the summer, we only line dry. I just love the smell of clothes on the line outside. But I do it more for that and for the cost of saving money by not using the dryer than for preserving the clothes. And I line dry all our clothes--not just Riley's.
Ditto.
We use the dryer in the winter when it just takes AGES to line dry them.

Clare - yes, clothes come out softer when dried in the dryer.

Clare - yes, clothes come out softer when dried in the dryer.

While I agree that is true of towels, I don't agree about clothes. Today I put two of Alex's shirts in the dryer and compared them with the ones that were line dried and there isn't any difference.

I thought maybe it was a cultural thing b/c most people in this country line dry. A lot of Australians don't even own a clothes dryer -shock, horror :eek: But then I remembered that my Aunt in North Carolina has an outdoor clothes line and uses it all the time :dunno:

Growing up, we never had a dryer either. We used to hang stuff outside when it was nice and we had this big, monster clothes line for inside when it wasn't. I hated not having a dryer, so I vowed that when I got my own place I was NEVER going to hang clothes out. :blush:

That being said, the only things I line dry are my bras, anything rayon (the heat makes it shrink), and our quilts for our bed. The quilts are too big for our washer /dryer, so I take them to the laundromat to wash them and then bring them home and hang them out to dry. I absolutely HATE wearing clothes that have been hung out to dry! :dead:

nope no line drying here either in fact most clothes go into washer all together with no sorting. I refuse to run a washer on half full. I have to fill it up full load before I will run washer. (money saver) although I probably would line dry if I had the space in my house. We have main floor laundry that is in the hallway and a really small house.

I would like to line dry but my anal dh :lol: can't understand why people put their clean clothes outside to dry with the pollen, polution and car/truck exhaust (he points those facts out every time we pass a clothes line) and I guess his step mom didn't help either by saying it looked "cheap" to have your clothes outside to dry :rolleyes:

we did it all the time growing up and I remember the crunchy jeans :lol: Oh but I just remembered a bad experience I had at my old house when I lived alone, I put my clothes out no problem but when I went to take them down I found bugs( uggh the name escapes me now they were big ugly bastards) I freaked and left the clothes out there for atleast a week :lol:

So, anyway's ..we don't line dry anything here, if I have a sweater I need to dry I lay it out ontop of the dryer on a towel...bra's undies everything else goes in the dryer.

nope no line drying here either in fact most clothes go into washer all together with no sorting. I refuse to run a washer on half full. I have to fill it up full load before I will run washer. (money saver) although I probably would line dry if I had the space in my house. We have main floor laundry that is in the hallway and a really small house.

See line drying is a money saver. I can't imagine what the electricity bill would look like if we used the clothes dryer all the time. It's bad enough in winter when I use it maybe once a week!

I line dry my bras and some of Maggies gymbo gets layed on the dryer otherwise most everything else is put in the dryer.

Here's a fact that will throw some of you for a loop - many home owner associations and the like will not ALLOW you to have a clothesline outside! Apparently lowers the property value to see the tightie whities waving in the breeze. :lol2:

Anyway, I line dry lots of Caroline's clothes. I was annoyed way too often by having a favorite outfit shrink up in the dryer to keep testing my luck. So the only things that go in the dryer are her socks/underwear, towels and sheets.

And I dont iron. We send DH's shirts to the cleaners for that :lol:

same here :lol: worth every penny.

Here's a fact that will throw some of you for a loop - many home owner associations and the like will not ALLOW you to have a clothesline outside! Apparently lowers the property value to see the tightie whities waving in the breeze. :lol2:


that's pretty common here. my neighborhood isn't like that though.

I line dry all the kids' clothes (except pjs and undies). In our laundry room, we have cabinets above the washer and dryer. We have a rod attached right under the cabinets and I hang their clothes on hangers there as I take them out of the washer.

I think it's just as easy. I hang each kid's clothes together so when they dry, I just pick up the hangers and move them to their closets.

I line dry mostly because I'm afraid of missing a stain and having it set by the dryer.

Cami

I line dry a few things here and there.
Rick's clothes go to the cleaners. He wears dress shirts everyday. He has about 35 of them. :eek: :faint:
I have spent hours ironing them before. :nono:

I have lived in small apartments and still will line dry. I just put the drying rack up in the kitchen/living room/bathroom/bedroom - where ever I can find the room for it.

I also hand wash and iron. Dry cleaning is an extra bill - so DH's shirts usually get washed and ironed by me. If it specifically says dry clean only - I usually will alternate between Dryel and dry cleaning. I even have a specific laundry detergent to launder my down comforters here at home to cut down on the cost of dry cleaning (but it does get dry cleaned at the end of the season when warmer weather is out). I am extremely anal about laundry. Heck, who am I kidding - I'm just anal period. :lol:

I line dry all of Lauren's clothes, including pajamas. For DH and I, I run jeans, tshirts, pajamas, underware through the dryer. We have three of the line dryers that Karri posted in our basement.

See line drying is a money saver. I can't imagine what the electricity bill would look like if we used the clothes dryer all the time. It's bad enough in winter when I use it maybe once a week!

we have a gas dryer and gas is much cheaper then electricity in the summer our gas bill is about 15 bucks. This year though will be a different story as the price of gas just sky rocketed.

I hand wash lots of stuff and iron practically everything. DH sends out his shirts to be laundered and pressed but beyond coats and very special things I "can't" handwash, that's about all I send out.

I've already commented on the whole line thing...

When I was a kid I had to save about four or five months to have enough money to buy Christmas gifts for my brothers, sisters and parents (youngest of six) and I'd keep the money I saved (usually all 1's) in a cigar box and then I'd iron them. I love stuff that's freshly ironed.

That probably reveals more about me than I should have chosen to reveal... :awink:

:nod: ^ yep. TMI!! :tongue2: :lol:

When I was a kid I had to save about four or five months to have enough money to buy Christmas gifts for my brothers, sisters and parents (youngest of six) and I'd keep the money I saved (usually all 1's) in a cigar box and then I'd iron them. I love stuff that's freshly ironed.

:screwy:


:lol2:

:screwy: Yeah, that about sums you up, Bridget. :lol2: ;)

and anyone who has ever made fun of me for ironing, please read Bridget's reply :lol2:

:dude: Freaks rule!

OMG Bridget :lol:
I do line dry or more like put on a hanger & hang on a metal rod (shower rod works too) all of DH's shirts and our good clothes. One thing I do with my DH's shirts is to put them in the dryer for a couple of minutes and then hang them it takes most of the wrinkles away and it makes ironing them a breeze. BTW, we're not "allowed" to have clotheslines outside.
I do agree that the stiffness could be b/c of hard water... we have it... if you do, give things you want to line dry a second rinse or throw them in the dryer for a couple of minutes and they will be softer.
We only have a couple of things that need dry clean only (mainly wool jackets)... regular clothes, it doesn't matter how much I like something if it says "dry clean only" it's put back on the rack :nod: