Wooden Drying Rack
DOES ANYONE STILL USE THESE WOODEN CLOTHES DRYING RACKS? WHEN THE WEATHER’S TO BLUSTERY OUTSIDE AND THE SNOW IF FALLING THESE MAKE THE PERFECT ALTERNATIVE TO LINE DRYED CLOTHES!
CHORES
Ah, the simple pleasures in life still seem like chores right? For me laundry is my favorite chore and it’s one I don’t mind doing and believe me we have a lot of it in our home. With hubby and boys working dirty jobs it seems like the washer is always going.
Several years ago I took down our beautiful old-fashioned clothesline. We live on a dirt road and have a dirt driveway and all I could see while rocking on the front porch was the dirt cloud passing over and settling on our clean clothes. So the need for it was still present but thinking about all that dust in our clean clothes wasn’t very appealing. Why go to all that hard work of washing them only to have them full of dust aging?
DRYING RACK
As an alternative to line dried clothes I purchased two of these huge Amish made wooden drying racks. They do the trick in winters and summers, indoors and out. I have several items of my own that don’t see the gas dryer at all so these racks come in handy.
I’m smart enough now to manipulate the laundry schedule and the placement of the drying racks in the summer months. Something I couldn’t do before with a stationary clothesline. I can move them around to the backside of the house (where the fire pit area is) and where the cabin blocks the dust. I’m even able to put them up on the covered porch to dry things and keep the sun from fading them.
WINTER DRYING
The winter months are when I enjoy using them the most. Each bedroom in our house has one in it. I’ll load them with wet clothes, let them air dry, and take care of them straight from the rack. I don’t know why but it just seems calming to me to see the clothes drying on the racks. A bonus in the winter is the moisture in the clothes helps add humidity to the dry winter air.
I think of the pioneers, what they’d have given to have such a simple item to dry their things on. Although they probably wouldn’t have needed anything so large since they didn’t own many articles of clothing. All I can picture is a clothes line stretched over the cook stove with dishrags ands socks hanging from it.
Are you a line dryer or machine dryer?
SOURCES
I am with you Dawn, I never minded doing the laundry and would pick it over dishes anyday. I have a wooden rack but just for the things that I don’t want in the dryer. I never realized they made such big racks.. I do usually 3-5 loads a day with my gang. Some of my kids are getting ready to leave the nest so now would be a good time to get a bigger rack or 2 . Thanks for sharing !
Cheryl, Same here I hate doing dishes and would never be without a dishwasher. My 99 year old Gram’s chores is dishes. Just think having to do dishes for all those years. I swear my washer is always going too. Our oldest sons house is almost done so he’ll be moving out but he youngest is getting transferred and looks like he’ll be back home for a while again. Just when I thought the laundry pile was going to get smaller life throws me a curve ball. Oh well I guess I’d rather have more laundry and my kids around.
I have my Mom’s big old wooden drying rack which must be older than dirt but it still does the job well!! I also have her old wooden ironing board propped up in my laundry room just for looks!! Memories are good…
Jeanie, Aw what sweet memories and I bet those items were made to last a lifetime and beyond. Ah, the good old days.
We had nothing but clotheslines and drying racks when I was growing up – clotheslines in good weather, drying racks in bad weather, and everything washed in a wringer washer and rinsed in tubs. We lived in a small house with 6 people, so it was crowded even before drying racks went up. I swore to never have to live with wet clothes hanging everywhere all winter – and I haven’t. Nostalgia is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
Pat, I have a client that still uses a wringer washer to this day and swears they get clothes cleaner. She had to have a new one a few years back and had to special order to get one.
Whoa. Not me. The struggles were real and I have no desire to live like in “the good old days.” Give me a modern washer and dryer any day – but each to their own. We each should stick with what makes it feel “right.”
Pat, LOL I’m sure it all sounds like fun but to actually have to do without all we’re used to would be devastating for sure. I love my washer too, but I don’t mind line drying.
I use the dryer for a lot, but there are quite a few of my clothes that I don’t dry. I have a spot in the garage where they hang in winter, but the rest of the year they hang in the garden and dry so quickly.
Carol I don’t dry many of my clothes either. Not sure if the clothes shrink or I grow LOL. You’re lucky to have nice weather to dry in. I could freeze dry our clothes I guess.
I adore my clothesline in the warmer months, but these days it’s not an option, unfortunately, as it’s just too frigid on my mountain top. I do have one of these in plastic, not wood, and it gets used both in winter and summer. In winter, it’s used for anything that doesn’t go into the dryer. In summer, it gets used on the deck along with the clothesline, for the smaller items such as socks and linen napkins. Fortunately my clothesline is in between the garage and the house, over a stone patio, so no dust!
Debbie, So you don’t freeze dry your clothes? Your luck no dust. It would cost us a fortune (more than the cost of the house) to have a concrete driveway. I live way off the road and we have twisty turny drive.
I also have my mom’s old wooden drying rack and I love it! HAve also passed on to my daughters.
Debbie I bet it’s a well made one. The old ones and the Amish made seem to last forever. What a treat for your daughters.