Using a Clothesline

[ysabetwordsmith]

... saves electricity and therefore money. It uses renewable energy, so it's good for the environment. Of course, it works better in some areas than others.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Clothes lines, great idea. Not so useful during winter in Britain when it's either too cold,or too damp.. or both. Also, they work best in a south-facing garden, when aligned side on to the sun, and where they'll catch the breeze. [line props are a good idea too.]

[jeshyr]

I was really super shocked when I discovered that there are places in the USA where it's not allowed to line-dry stuff outside. In a country mostly full of Hills Hoists it's hard to imagine that! I only once lived in a place where there was no washing line available, and that was a high-rise in the middle of the city where I was on the 8th floor.

I do own a dryer now - it was gifted to me free a bunch of years back. We run it if it's raining when we do the laundry, because line-drying inside in a fairly small apartment is a pain in the ass… Probably 80% of the wash is dried outside though

[elf]

The clotheslines bans are pure classism; they're about preventing "unsightly views."

California overrides HOA etc. bans in backyards only - wouldn't want people's towels and underwear to be seen in front yards!

Pro and con discussions show what people are concerned about:
* clotheslines will have a minuscule effect, if any at all, on global warming. Certainly there are more important things to spend time on addressing. 2. Clotheslines can make a development really look trashy.
* Forcing our association to allow the use of external clothes lines will inevitably reduce the value of our properties as the aesthetic quality will be diminished.
* Even if the clotheslines are NOT visible from the front of the residence, in other words does not pose an unsightly nuisance most people just don't want to look at others laundry.
* One more step DOWN the ladder. Let's all prepare to live in the slums. NO WAY!!! Have some class!
* we have people..(100% of the one's I speak of are renters I might add... go figure…what do they care about what follows next)…that hang clothes on their front and back balconies that makes our otherwise pretty community look like a refugee camp...

I don't want to dry clothes on a line, but wow some of those responses make me wish it were feasible for me.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

You also don't have a right to grow food, even if you own arable land.

Honestly, I think homeowner's associations should just be banned. They're all about telling other people what to do, and that's a problem. We can't stop global warming if people are forbidden to do things like using a clothesline, growing food, installing solar panels, etc.

[fyreharper]

For fun bonus points - we’re not supposed to have any visible laundry hung outside, AND we’re not supposed to air-dry laundry indoors (“because the increased moisture might promote mold growth” LOOK THIS IS NOT A WET CLIMATE IT’S FINE)

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Then basically they don't want people to buy wool, silk, or anything else fancy that says "hand wash and ..." "hang to dry" or "lay flat and block to dry."

Get fucked, busybodies.

[snippy]

It would be another piece of home design, to have an airy room where you could hang laundry to dry in any weather--and that would work even for people like me, whose allergies are so bad I'm not supposed to dry things outside or even have the windows open.

[elf]

I like the idea of line drying. But there are a lot of reasons people switched, and the time saved by not having to pin and unpin everything is only one of them.

* In urban settings, a lot of us don't have yards, or don't have one that's large enough or has the right features to use a clothesline or drying rack. (One of those features is "direct sunlight.")
* Line drying doesn't take notably more time to dry... in warm, reasonably dry daytime hours. The hours best used for drying clothes are also the hours best used for a job away from home.
* Clothes from the dryer are usually softer; they don't dry stiff because they're kept moving. (This has pros and cons; some clothes are better dried on a line.)
* The person whose time is being saved by a dryer is almost always a woman. (Author does not mention her husband being involved in the line-drying. If it's such a great refresher )

The article points out: The average U. S. household spends about $100 a year in electricity drying clothes (though cost varies widely depending on the local price of electricity and the number of loads a family racks up each week).

The time I save by not attaching and detaching clothes from a line several times a week is worth more than $8.50 a month.

I would love to dry at least some of our clothes on a line. The UV has value (and would've been very useful when I had small children); some delicates are much better dried on a line; I could dry shirts and socks together and not worry about the shirts getting damaged by the time the socks are dry.

But I don't have a space for it (inner-city warehouse loft), and even if I did, I'm leery of spending my often-overbooked weekend time on traditional "women serve men" household tasks. I get twitchy about "simple living" articles that seem to focus on, "ladies, reclaim the lifestyle you could've had in 1952."

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

There is nothing wrong with preferring a dryer. I do myself. What I object to is the requirement for people to use a dryer when they prefer a clothesline. I want people to have options.

[readera]

I used a clothesline when we didn't have the budget to go to the laundrymat for clean clothes every week. It worked well for me since we live in a Hot place.

[ayebydan]

Clothesline actually have a lot of privilege where I live now. They rely on someone to be at home ready to spring for the washing if the rain comes or the wind starts taking clothes off the line. Even Summer is not safe in Scotland and like another commentor said, the Winter ect is too cold and damp. Air drying in the house has risks and needs space. Radiator airers carry less risks of damp air but need heat. It is a toss up of finding your way.