My Hill Billy Clothesline

One of my favorite things about spring is that I can hang my laundry outside,again! I have had to get creative with a clothesline, though. We do not have any trees in our back yard to tie a rope between, and our lot is not huge, so I don't have a place to create a permanent clothes line. So, once again, I had to put on my thinking cap.

Because of the way our house sits on our lot, it is necessary to put a Quick Shade awning on our back deck to shade the French doors (which saves my poor family from roasting alive inside the house, and to keep the air conditioner from running 24/7). About every second year the canvas top on the awning begins to rip (requiring numerous duct tape repairs). By the third year the top is not salvageable. After some research I realized that it is more expensive to buy a replacement awning than to buy a whole new Quick Shade on sale. This leaves me with a supply of roofless awnings.

By now, you should know it causes me great stress to throw anything away that may have even a tiny bit of use left in it. So, I started thinking of ways I could reuse the awning frame. That's when I had my AH-HA moment!

I ran to the Dollar Store and grabbed some supplies:




Then I set the old Quick Shade frame up in the back yard:



Tied the clothesline in five sections across the frame (make sure you pull it tight and wrap it around several times. Then tie it with a triple square knot):


Add some laundry:





I made a quickie clothespin bag by sewing the bottom of one of the old kids cotton T shirts and hanging it on a hanger:


How's that for recycling? My family calls it my Hill Billy clothes line, but I call it pure genius. With the money that I save hanging laundry out to dry all summer (electric clothes dryers are one of the most expensive appliances to use); I can justify using our air conditioning (Bless modern appliances. I become very cranky when I am hot and sweaty!).

P.S. Here is a great POST from Living On A Dime.com on the proper way to hang laundry.