Laundry

My favorite part of homemaking is hanging my laundry on the clothesline. I’m thankful for the quiet moments it gives me to reflect on the beauty of God’s creation and all the little things I have to thank Him for.

I always find it amusing how very many different ways there are of sorting laundry and hanging clothes on the line. I hang shirts by the hems, my sister hangs them by the shoulders. My mother-in-law can use three clothespins to hang two dishtowels, overlapping the edges, but I quickly learned that on my windy hill that method of hanging out the wash would leave me lacking dishtowels. And the clothespins—I keep them in a basket where they stay clean and dry, while my mother-in-law leaves them on the line regardless of the weather.

My mom sorts clothes carefully according to the care directions on the tag (you know, like that picture going around on Pinterest). I throw them in baskets based upon colors and fabric weights, and use cold water for at least one load per washing day if necessary. (And don’t tell my mom, but if there’s just a bit of laundry—which is rare these days—and none of it is too dark or light, I throw it all in one warm-cold load!)

Clotheslines, sun-dried sheets—there’s something beautiful and even romantic about it all to me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with a clothesline. Maybe it’s because I love the peaceful, quiet moments hanging clothes out on the line.

I never tire of taking pictures of clothes on the line. But I had extra fun compiling laundry photos, stories, and quotables for “Laundry Week” on my blog in September 2012 (much like “Apron Week” I hosted the previous year). I asked some of my friends who love (and hate) clotheslines to guest post about their own laundry habits, methods, and delights.

Laundry Week

More Laundry

laundry around the globe

I asked a few friends from around the globe to give us a glimpse of what laundry looks like in their corner of the world… Washboard in Belize “This is one of my favorite pictures from our travels. We were visiting our godchildren in Belize, and Phoebe wanted to help with the laundry. Prior to…

clotheslines

I love hanging laundry up on a line to dry. For the extra time it might take, standing out there in the open air, feeling the breeze on your face and hearing the birds sing is definitely worth it in my book! Besides, can anything beat the fresh smell of line-dried laundry? –Chantel Brankshire in…

laundry routines

If you wash on Monday, you have all the week to dry… If you wash on Tuesday, you’re still not much awry… If you wash on Friday, you wash in real need… If you wash on Saturday, you are slovenly indeed. -an early 1900’s skip-rope rhyme quoted in The Clothesline by Irene Rawlings and Andrea…

My Clothesline

something about hanging out the laundry…

There’s something about hanging out the laundry that makes it all right in my world once again. Maybe it’s the wind in my hair. Or the sheets flapping in the breeze. Maybe it’s the sense of accomplishment, four baskets of clothes hung neatly on the line. And the even greater satisfaction of a job well…

new country, same laundry

a guest post by Jennifer (Pinkerton) van Leeuwen Monday came fast. We’d arrived to the new “home” on a Friday after two weeks trekking across the country and into Canada on a honeymoon road trip. The occasional hotel laundry room had provided unique bonding experiences along the way (“John! Why did you put my white…

a case of clean laundry ocd

a guest post by Chantel Brankshire I have this thing for laundry. I’ve been doing laundry as my “main thing” since I was a girl at home. Sometimes I enjoy it more, and sometimes less. But it is always one of those things that feels homemakerishly good at the end of the day. I enjoy…

this is the way we wash the clothes…

laundry tips from a fifty-something homeschooling mom This is the way we wash our clothes, Wash our clothes, This is the way we wash our clothes, So early Monday morning. –“Here We Go ’round the Mulberry Bush” a guest post by my mom, Sara Louise I don’t hang my clothes outside like my daughter Gretchen….

The Washing Machine

I knew it was coming. After seven years of marriage, it was bound to happen. It was only a question of which one would go first. But when I heard the strange banging, I knew. I grabbed my cell phone and pressed speed dial 2, turning it on speaker phone while it was still ringing….

hanging out the laundry

A neighbor happened to call the other afternoon. “How do you find the time to hang out all that laundry?” she asked. “It gets the girls outside,” was my reply of the moment. But as I thought about her question later, I realized that I look forward to that time hanging out the laundry. Yes,…

Hanging Out the Washing

Ah, springtime… Geese flying, calling across the morning sky; brighter sunshine; longer days; balmy winds; mud underfoot; little rivers running down, down, down, carrying winter away with them. Two days ago, I was walking across the pasture bareheaded, my two small boys tagging along and my baby on my back, watching the creek run. That…

Laundry Day

Mondays are usually laundry day here on our corner of the farm. Unless we’ve used our day off from tending the store to go to town, I usually tackle sorting the loads of laundry as soon as Merritt’s off to do his day’s projects. It’s the kind of thing one wants first-of-the-week energy for. Especially…

The Clothesline by Irene Rawlings

…is a book I would leave on my coffee table all the year round—if I didn’t have three little children who would remove the dustcover in a heartbeat. I love the quotes and sayings and stories it contains. It’s like Laundry Week, in a book. And I know that if you love doing laundry, you’ll love this book.