Washing line props

[PlasticAcrobat]

I don't care if they make my washing dry any quicker or not. Everyone should use them because they make washing on a line look so much more lovely. A saggy sad line looks slatternly, but shove it up with a prop and it instantly looks like something from a Ladybird Book childhood.

It even reminds me of my own, actual childhood. My mother was, in fact, a slattern but she did an ace washing line, boosted with an old grey wooden prop which, in my memory, was about 20 feet tall.

YANBU: Yes, props should be mandatory

YABU: Saggy and proud

Where oh where can I get a wooden clothes prop? Anyone know? I did have a metal one, but it got rusty and broke.
I've lately been thinking about going back to old school powder detergent. 🤔 Somehow they smelled like proper soap. Liquid just smells a bit meh.
My mum used Daz, perhaps I'll try that.

Nope...I take my prop very seriously!

Lifting the prop into place is a joy. It punctuates the pleasurable task of pegging out. I love the look of washing hung neatly on a long line, particularly mens' office shirts and white bedding. My wooden prop is ancient, it was made by my long deceased Dad for my even longer deceased Mum. Woe betide the unwary who don't slide it halfway down the line first as the line runs through it. People only make that mistake once.

I still do!!! My mam used to use them when howking washing out of the twin tub but also when she was boiling dishcloths in a big aluminium pan on top of the cooker

Very appetising!

I have to say what luxury the move from single tub and mangle to twin tub was!

The worst thing though was pulling the machine out so it could be drained into the sink. It took over a lot of floor space so had to be finished well before tea time. I think we had leftovers for tea on a Monday, rissoles or shepherd's pie.

There was an art to judging the falling temperature...whites first, other stuff added as the water cooled. My Mum would have had a fit about a four hour wash cycle! Yes there was a sequence to pegging out, 3 pegs per two items seemed to be the norm, except for sheets which needed extra pegs so they didn't slide.
I can remember the rough feel (and splinters!) of the wooden clothes prop, but am I imagining it, or were there extending ones? I'm sure we had one that extended like a ladder, but maybe my memory is playing tricks?

I do rember my Grandma had a boiler in an outhouse and I felt very proud to be allowed to "work the dolly peg" in the dolly tub.

I have washing line prop envy 🤢

My in-laws have a house right on the Atlantic coast in county Kerry and I remember my husband and I were driving down fresh off the ferry from Dublin and going past this lovely remote old house with a beautiful washing line full of white sheets and towels, all propped up and billowing in the coastal wind. My husband was very perplexed by my enthusiasm for it!

Yes!

Same here. DM was in 7th heaven when she got her twintub despite other women getting automatic washers around the same time. However she kept her little spin dryer (because the mangle was bent) for years as it was far better than the twintubs spinner. It wasn't until she got divorced that she finally got an automatic.

DM had three props as she had 6 ppls washing and bedding so 3 massive wash lines stretched across the garden. I really don't know how she coped tbh.

I can remember when my mum first got an automatic. She used to put a chair in front of it so she could sit and watch it moving through its cycles, she found it so amazing!

So it was a labour saver but not a time saver/

I loved the twin tub, though, because my mum would lift me up and let me sit on it when it was spinning. It practically rattled the teeth out of me and felt as exciting as a fairground ride.

because my mum would lift me up and let me sit on it when it was spinning.

That was to stop it walking across the floor. I had to do that too many times as an adult 😂

Haha, well it looks glorious in that photo you posted. I use a decrepit metal obstrosity!

Hahaha. All this time I thought my mum was being kind and fun, but perhaps I was just ballast

Picture of my prop! Clean sheets tonight - bliss.

My prop sends love to your prop

We used to have one of those washing lines on really tall poles, so that when you were finished pegging out, you winched it up high into the air to be blown dry and your washing doesn't get in the way of the enjoyment of your garden. You don't see many of those now, but they always give me nostalgia. I have a nice tall washing line pole now, which I got dp to custom make for me so it keeps the washing nice and high, I even painted it the same colour as the fencing.

I absolutely hate rotary lines.

Ah, childhood memory unlocked! Hazy summer days, my mums 2 inch thick clothes prop which definitely gave me splinters, drying my 80’s duvet in warm breeze. Back in the day when the six weeks holiday felt like it was forever and we played outside until the street lamps came on….
Suddenly have new found hate for my stupid metal prop from Wilko’s 😡

I'm.emarrassed to admit I'm a metal proper. Twice over as our line is very long and needs two props.

But I've now got wooden prop envy

This is genius! I hate a saggy line and I love a line prop but my metal pole makes me sad.

Modern props are rubbish. I must have broken 3 in the last 4 years.

But they are essential for a non-slovenly and actually off the ground washing line 😀

I’ve completely turned into my Glaswegian granny and judge all my neighbours’ washing lines.

not a single one of them hangs out a neat washing. I’d be mortified if mine wasn’t in size order, with matching pegs and a prop

Magrit from the Steamie is my idol

I didn’t know you could buy these (as I didn’t know the name for them). I use a repurposed thick white plastic pole, with a notch on one end for the line to sit in. It doesn’t look pretty, but it’s bloody strong and it does the job :)

Here it is, complete with washing 😀

Oh yes had to pop into next doors garden more than once tocollect a full sailed duvet cover 😀