Lacey's Laundry

I asked my good friend Lacey to do a guest post for me. The topic she has addressed is dear to my heart! (As seen here) Of course my personal washing line quirks are a bit different. Starting with, I’m a bit of a double handler – I love to fold once I get inside, and although I started to when I was first married, I rarely hang things inside out. I wish I did sometimes, but I’m afraid I’m just too lazy! Laziness means I never, EVER colour code pegs on purpose! Anyway, Enjoy this post, and look forward to you sharing your laundering secrets with us!

Hi, I’m Lacey. I blog over at A Fruitful Life. I started my blog 18 months ago, as a way of documenting the (few) crafty things I was doing around the home outside of my very busy job. Over time, it has morphed dramatically, as I gave birth to my baby girl, gave up my rewarding career, and decided to stay home. I write all sorts of things about my life …. my crazy experiments into using DIY natural beauty products, and spectacular cooking failures like accidental-pork-chocolate-chip-cookies, along with crafting success stories, coping with a post-partum body and all sorts of other bits and pieces. I’d love for you to pop your head in, and of course, leave a comment sometime.

Anyway, I’m here to buy Caitlin a little more time cuddling babies, wiping bottoms and filling empty tummies. Caitlin and I share a common past: we were both teachers, and at the same school to boot. I also like to think that we share a common future: watching our beautiful families grow, as we cheer them along. Sorry, just a little sentimental there. I’ll get back to my frivolous writing style right about now.

So, in my former life as a teacher, my colleagues and I were sort of hard pressed to find topics to talk about other than our students, our workload and how much we hated all the curriculum rewriting we were being forced to do. Occasionally, though, we would stumble our way into a topic that made all those stresses fade away. One particularly memorable lunchtime, a Mr Brown* and I delved into a topic that had the entire table chiming in: how to hang out washing correctly.

I really love that Australians (pretty much) all hang their clothes outside on a line to dry in the sunshine. It’s so good for the environment and for our wallets. And, it meant that an Australian invented the rotating washing line for the world to benefit from. There’s something familiar and comforting about the routine of hanging fresh, clean clothes on the line, with the breeze tickling your face.

Everyone has their own little personal habits and rules. Here are mine:

  • The outer lines must all be filled up before going into any inner lines. 
  • Shake each item vigorously to remove wrinkles. 
  • T-shirts are hung from top, with pegs on the seams to prevent peg marks. The shirt should never, ever be stretched taut, but should hang loosely. 
  • Socks are hung on one side only, with the top hanging open to let in the breeze. 
  • Jeans hung inside out
  • Underwear is hung with one peg only, on the crotch
  • When taking the washing off, pull off all the socks and underwear and things that don’t need folding first, so that it sits at the bottom of the basket. 
  • Bigger items next, especially ones that don’t wrinkle easily. Fold as you go. 
  • Jeans/button up shirts/dresses/thing that crinkle last, laid gently on top. 

It drives me nuts when my husband and I hang out washing together. I try to enjoy doing it together, but he just doesn’t do things “my way” and I don’t cope. 

So … what’s the correct way to hang out (or take in) washing? Do you colour code the pegs? Or does it just not matter, as long as the clothes are dry? Please share! 
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