Question 4 – Should you leave pegs on the clothes line?

Such an innocuous question. Having had many a heated debate with housemates over this exact same question, I knew it would be an important one to answer. What is it that makes this such a contentious topic? Is it that some people have an over the top level of OCD, or is it that they hate having the clothes they’re wearing catch on the pegs as they walk by, because the line is 35 years old and sagging? Or for the alternative, is it more intelligent and time saving to leave them on?

Having lived in both a group situation and alone, I feel I am qualified to settle this once and for all.

Personally I find this whole situation quite easy to figure out. I think we can all agree that washing clothes is generally a massive pain in the ass.

At least we can thank our ancestors for doing away with those stupid corrugated boards and the manual hard labour aspect of washing clothes. Now we can just walk into a room, throw it all in some tub like machine, throw soap in, press a few buttons and then disappear for an hour while it does most of the work for us. Awesome! All those hours spent by our great great-something’s, squashed forever. In with technology, out with effort; a winning strategy and one we can all support.

Given the removal of all that effort, the most labour intensive part left is obviously hanging the damn clothes out. For people who have the compulsion to take the pegs off the line after every use like the neat-freaks they are, their next step is to walk to the peg basket and start getting them out piece by piece to slowly and excruciatingly hang out each piece.

My next step is to just, get the clothes out and hang them because the pegs are already there. How can any reasonable person with plenty of other shit to do in a day, find it acceptable to remove the pegs every time? My days aren’t even that crammed and I’m still too lazy to get rid of them!

Who cares about a few god damn pegs!

In arguments used against leaving pegs on I’ve heard stories like:

• They sometimes fall on the ground and get stepped on/chewed up by animals/lawnmower
• They look neater in the basket
• The Sun makes the colour fade
• Why do you need the basket if they are always on the line?

In my opinion all of these are super-seeded by the fact that it’s just easier to leave them there. And besides, who gives a shit about sun-faded pegs? They have one job! And it’s not like they’re expensive to rebuy!

How is removing them between loads an attempt to “save time”, I ask you. No answer? That’s because it isn’t. You’re adding two more steps to an already excruciating process – putting pegs back on the line, and removing them later. Again and again. There’s pegs on the ground? Well that’s your own damn fault for not picking them up when you saw them hit the ground. The basket is just there to hold the extra ones, not all of them all of the time!

What’s so untidy about a few small UV-discoloured pegs hanging on the line that you just can’t deal? Nothing, that’s what. I leave the pegs on the line because I’m lazy, I hate washing clothes, and it’s just easier. Simple. If I need more, I add more from the basket. If I need less, I just move the unneeded ones aside. This solution is significantly easier, and anyone that says otherwise is just incorrect and trying to hide their overtly obsessive compulsive tendencies. Given that you basically wash the same/similar clothing every week, you can even start to get a pattern going, making the process even faster!

See? By leaving them on the line at all times, the process of hanging out your granny undies is so much easier and faster!

I still remember the days at home where I’d just quickly rip all the clothes off the line and watch the pegs go flying – either all over the place, or up in the guttering. I’m sure Dad really appreciated that. My time was precious then, as a teenager, and it’s certainly precious now as an adult. Just try and give yourself one less complication in life AND LEAVE THE DAMN PEGS ON THE LINE.