OK OK, I’ll bite.
Gentlemen of the audience. How do you hang clothes up to dry?
Presuming you aren’t just leaving them in a sodden clump, and that you hang them over a line or a clothes horse… can there really be a WRONG way to hang clothes up to dry?
The way I hang ’em up doesn’t stop them from drying, so how can there be a wrong way?? Honestly, you wummin don’t half make things complicated sometimes…
Why? I don’t understand why your clothes would be wet. Did you get caught out in the rain or fall into a canal?
They need to be hung to dry in such a fashion that they won’t stretch under their own weight. For some garments, this means hanging the over an airer so that their own weight is supported. For t-shirts and some other items, it means not hanging them from points but from the length of the line so that the load is evenly distributed.
Alternatively, bung the whole lot in the tumbler and wait for it all to shrink whilst burning a whole in the atmosphere.
gordon bennett. typo-tastic.
A whole what in the atmosphere?
Graybo has it spot on, but if the washing is out on a line towels must be all together in a row, shirts together, underwear together ..get the picture? If you are really obsessive and I had a friend who was (maybe still is) ..you hang same colours together and when half dry you pop out and turn all washing the other way up!
Or you bung it all on a whirly in secluded part of the garden and have a large G&T and read a book!
I had an old neighbour who came round after I had gone to work and rearanged my washing in the ‘correct’ way. She also advised to have little frames made for drying baby jackets. 4 pins to each hankie she had.
You still think Louise is fussy?
Of course there can be a wrong way to hang up clothes. Obviously, whatever way a man hangs them up to dry is the *wrong* way.
I just hang ’em out to dry. I don’t analyse it in the way Graybo has, but usually hang things from the seams (i.e. bottom edge seams on a t-shirt) as they’re the strongest part.
Only other thing I try to make sure I do is have the pegs on the inside of the clothing item – that way if the peg leaves a mark for any reason, it’s inside, not viewable by the world.
But yeah, in general it’s just a case of hanging it all out on bits of the whirly (or on the indoor one, in inclement weather) so that maximum drying/surface area is achieved.
And that’s it.
Oh. My. God.
I want you all to get hold of yourselves and give yourselves a damned good shake. You’re MEN! Why are you discussing how you dry clothes? If the women in your lives want to worry about how best to hang clothes out then let them do so in their own time after they’ve put the loo seat down.
I’d say that you lot need to go out and have a good, refreshing, manly beer but I’m a bit concerned that you’ll all order taboo and lemonade and end up discussing the best type of skin moisturiser.
This is seriously disturbing. Stop it.
I take back my comments on all men and washing. It must be mine only! So who thinks he does it so as not to be asked to do it again?
Ian’s Mum – your friend sounds a little coo-coo!
We hang ours on the Sheila Maid over the Aga, according to the following principles:
T-shirts – upside down, folded just above the bottom seam.
Shirts – along the spine, i.e. from the back of the collar down to the middle of the tail. The collar itself should remain unfolded. If there are a lot of shirts, then it’s OK for one shirt tail to rest on top of another, provided that the respective collars are at opposite ends of the rail.
Boxer shorts – these should be straightened and flattened prior to hanging, so that you don’t end up with nasty crinkly shorts once they have dried. These should be hung on the outer struts of the Sheila Maid, with one of the side seams aligned with the strut itself.
Underpants – see boxer shorts. If the Sheila Maid is very crowded, then it’s OK to dangle the boxer shorts from the furthermost end of the outer strut – but it’s not OK to do this with pants, as they are less robust and might stretch.
Socks – again, these should be straightened, flattened and paired prior to hanging. K thinks it’s OK to hang each pair up with one sock sitting on top of the other, but I disagree – although the kitchen is warm and the Aga dries everything quickly and efficiently, I find that that the lower socks are still slightly damp when it’s time to remove them in the evening (i.e. before cooking supper, as you don’t want the cooking smells to infest your nice fresh laundry). Happily, our relationship is strong enough to survive this profound difference of opinion.
Trousers – dangling from the ankles, so that the waistband area carries the bulk of the weight. Again, these should be flattened and shaped before hanging.
Towels and sheets – obvious really, but as with everything else, laundry MUST be bone dry before it goes in the airing cupboard or ironing pile.
Easy when you know how!
When pegged out correctly, there will be less ironing after the laundry is dry, you’ll get more clothes on the line and you will use fewer clothes pegs.
We went to see the most recent Indiana Jones movie. The thing that I noticed and caused me to suspend my disbelief was the fact that when Dr Jones was running through the mock suburb just before the test bomb was to go off, he ran underneath a clothesline. The clothes in the movie were PEGGED OUT WRONG. I thought, isn’t there anybody on the set that knows how to hang these things out properly? ANY housewife in the 50’s (the time in which this film was set) would have been ashamed of that washing line.
I have been known to re-peg the clothes after my darling husband has put them on the line. I know that they will dry on the line if they’re pegged out incorrectly, but I’ll have to look at it and frankly it will bother me. It bothers the shit out of him that I do this, but I think it will bother me more if I don’t.
Good god.
What a bunch of nutters.
Oh Gordon, surely you must know the answer to this one by now.
The correct way to hang clothes out to dry is…
Exactly the way she tells you to. And no other way will be tolerated. If you ever want to have sex again.
Hope that helps.
If you hang them out, I’ll be happy. Do it your way. Just don’t let the colours leach from one item to another.
Mike, will you come over and hang my laundry? Much obliged.
OK, here’s how one more nutter hangs his clothes.
Equipment: one sunny living room, one clothes airer (as wide as a t-shirt), no pegs (they leave marks, and I do not iron).
1. turn outerwear inside-out when getting undressed and wash it inside-out, it will save it from damage during washing and fading during drying;
2. t-shirts on airer first, inside-out, folded across the chest just under armpits
3. then briefs, one per airer length, which leaves enough room for
4. two socks per length next to each brief, folded across the middle lengthwise
5. jeans over two airer bars, to distribute weight and avoid discoloration if dark and new-ish
6. jumpers over two or three airer bars, same reason as 5
7. shirts on hangers on side of airer.
I flatten things a bit by shaking them before hanging them, and then again a bit when I fold them to put them away, and that’s it. I only iron a shirt very rarely if I really need to wear one.
After reading all these my friend is not the only coo-coo person! Louise how did you get him to hang up anything? Forty years and he still thinks he lives in a self cleaning, self tidying house. probably so does his son!
Do you know, I really am *very* worried about some of these contributors… 😉