Ten laundry hanging methods

One doesn't simply "hang" laundry

Even before moving to Europe, we used drying racks extensively. It’s not that we were particularly eco-conscious. Rather, we lived in a carriage house, and the laundry room was a small, dirty closet of a room, around the back of the house, behind the garages and a huge pain to use. Also, as I’m a cyclist and my wife’s a runner, we have lots of sport clothes that shouldn’t be dried.

So it’s only to be expected that I consider myself a champ when it comes to hanging laundry. I can pack a drying rack full, while still leaving plenty of room for the clothes to breathe. I know which things dry better inside-out, and I load the drying rack with an eye on having to later unload it. Do I group the socks, and match them up? You bet I do.

Frequently all of this work comes to naught, when Drakula (our youngest cat) decides to use the drying rack for his parkour activities, and hunting practice. We’ll hear a little “tap tap tap” of kitten toes, and see Drak running down the hall with a sock in his mouth. Repeat. And repeat.

The Foto

Train bridge, S-Bahn bridge, and car bridge over the Teltow Kanal, Berlin.

The Liste

1. By color

2. By garment type

3. By length

4. By material

5. So as to provide Hugo with the most interesting obstacle course

6. For maximum drying in the minimum time

7. Each item in a different room (rooms would obviously repeat), so as to balance ambient Luftfeuchtigkeit

8. Dump it on the drying rack and walk away

9. Screw the drying racks, just drape the wet clothes over all the furniture

10. By most-recently worn, to least-recently worn