Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

the best way to peg your washing out

116 replies

fruitful · 09/05/2007 20:29

I'm inspired by the AIBU thread (honest).

I've only had an outside washing line for a month and am therefore a pegging-out novice.

Please tell me your methods for pegging your laundry out so it dries quickly, and doesn't need ironing, and is easy to sort and put away.

And what do you do if it gets rained on (in the absence of helpful neighbours)? Wash it again? Leave it? Spin it and hang out again?

And my neighbours don't seem to wash their knickers ... None on their lines, anyway.

OP posts:
Gameboy · 09/05/2007 21:15

Ooh _ like WWW's idea about hanging on hangers - what sort do you use though? Plastic? Metal/wire?

Othersideofthechannel · 09/05/2007 21:17

Tried the hangers outside thing but it's so blowy where we live they got blown all over the garden. But I do this inside in winter, hangers over a curtain rail in a sunny window.

Othersideofthechannel · 09/05/2007 21:18

Can't believe how much this thread has taken off!

FiveFingeredFiend · 09/05/2007 21:19

Dear Lord. how very sad

Wotzsaname · 09/05/2007 21:20

FFF whats it like up there looking down on use poor simple folk?

Zofloyya · 09/05/2007 21:21

'if you wear it on the top, you peg it by the bottom, if you wear it on the bottom you peg it by the top'. OK - but WHY????

FiveFingeredFiend · 09/05/2007 21:22

You look unsurprisingly small.

popmum · 09/05/2007 21:23

My tip would be if you're short of pegs and hanging out baby vests or anything with poppers, use the poppers as a peg!

I also collect in and fold according to whose is whose, pair socks and try to bring in at night.

ravenAK · 09/05/2007 21:24

I peg socks in pairs so I can roll them as I take them in. & try not to leave stuff out in the rain except nappies - it seems to agree with them!

Actually, was agreeing the other day with next door neighbour that it IS rather sad to get a bit anxious if pj top & bottom end up at opposite ends. She's worse than me - she hangs pants of her dh & ds1 - 3 in SIZE ORDER!

Lilymaid · 09/05/2007 21:29

I will re-peg out things my DH has put up on the whirligig. I don't like the way he does it as it doesn't follow my system. I am a very sad individual.

Othersideofthechannel · 09/05/2007 21:30

I forgot my top tips. Get your kids to help (DD age 2 passes the pegs, DS age 4 pegs small items on a very low bit of line) and train your husband to bring in any 'forgotten' washing as part of his nighttime locking up routine.
Of course, if the kids help, you can't be too anal about the order.

badelaide · 09/05/2007 21:38

Not hang socks by the toes, oh no oh no.
How will the toe bit get dry? No, you hang them by one edge of the top bit so the wind can blow through them.
Wind sock see?

MrsBadger · 09/05/2007 21:44

ah but badelaide then eventually the peg stretches the elastic and the sock falls down when yuo wear it...

badelaide · 09/05/2007 21:47

Naaah, not had that.
I think I buy crappy cheap socks that get holes before that happens.

ravenAK · 09/05/2007 21:51

I do get annoyed at dh's habit of buying packs of socks from Next that are superficially identical but have slightly different blues on toe & cuff.

I have now instituted the Sock Sin Bin for everyone's sock drawers - a ziplock bag in which all unpaired socks are placed. & then I sit & solemnly go through the Sin Bin once a month, matching up infinitesimally different black socks.

...it's not just sad, it's bloody tragic!

snowwonder · 09/05/2007 21:56

pretty much the same as everyone here,

dont bring pegs in i did buy the most gorgeous spooty peg tim that hangs on line but it is far to nice... so now store cat food in it!!!

i also have one of those round plastic things that hangs from the washing line, with 20 small pegs on (99p from wilkinsons) and its great for socks and pants and i can hide my pant on the middle 4 pegs to spare my blushes

MrsBadger · 09/05/2007 21:58

my peg bag was made by my grandma as my first school shoebag, then did a stint as a plate bag for Guide camp.
I do like a pegbag with history...

(And I bring the pegs in and reel in the line after taking washing down)

DanielAndOmi · 09/05/2007 22:13

ooh, I'd love a peg bag with history! Really do need to clear out my peg bag though, I keep picking out these pegs that MIL bought. I think they're supposed to be extra strong, but you need a blowtorch to get them off

maisemor · 09/05/2007 22:26

Here is a thought, you don't hang your knickers on your washing line because you don't like people seeing what kind of knickers you wear. What if they then think that because you never have any knickers on your washing line, then you must be going commando . Which is worse?

Panth · 09/05/2007 22:26

Love this thread! I get annoyed when dh hangs washing out (rarely) because I claim he doesn't do it right (probably on purpose)! The T shirts are all kind of thrown over and pegged in the middle, makes ironing more of a nightmare. I did though just get some new pegs from Lakeland, soft grip so that they don't leave much marks!

lizziemun · 09/05/2007 22:36

My mum always told me to peg tops from the bottom and bottoms from the top.

Peg t-shirts and shirts from the bottom along the stems, so if your get peg marks they don't notice.

Trousers peg along the waist band at the back so the wind can get inside. Pillow cases the same. Sheets and duvet cover i peg out using 2 lines so you don't get creases.

I have a rotary washing line, i always peg our underwear on the inside so no one can be seen and use every other line so the air gets all around.

brimfull · 09/05/2007 22:47

I don't bother hanging out socks on a sunny day,I just hang them over the garden furniture,saves all that pegging and unpegging.

I have also ceased to pull socks the right way out if the are inside out.I just pair them up regardless...how wanton am I.Frees up loads of time!!

laundrylover · 09/05/2007 22:58

Obviously I am an expert in this matter but I see some very consistent pegging already on the thread. I am with the tops by the bottom and trousers by the waistband approach. Socks however go up in pairs from the top, toes down.

Now - pegs on the line...plastic are OK but wooden pegs (which last longer and don't ping apart and fly into your flowerbeds) must NEVER be left out as they will go mouldy.

That said I do leave my washing out in the rain (once for 3 days) and as another poster said nappies are all the softer for it.

My top tips are....turn the spin down to say 800 on hot days and for clothes in general. Less creases you see but always spin nappies on high.Put all your knickers and undergruds over your arm (through the leg see?) and then you can peg away in one seamless movement....bliss. I am never happier than after a good pegging session!!!

brimfull · 09/05/2007 23:01

fab idea about looping your kaks on your arm!

laundrylover · 09/05/2007 23:09

Why thanks you ggirl. BTW I do that with socks too - put them round the top of the basket ona garden chair (in pairs obviously).