The Debate Over Clotheslines

MSN Money:

If you live in an older neighborhood in most cities, you can hang your wet clothes out to dry with impunity. But if, like 60 million Americans, you live in a homeowner association or other private development, your community's rules probably ban clotheslines.

Read the whole story: MSN Money

Comments

[Corey Tournet]

Another trick is to use a spin dryer such as at http://www.laundry-alternative.com/drying.htm
It'll cut 30-35 minutes off your drying time and uses almost no energy. So, that way people who can't or don't wish to use clotheslines can be much more environmentally conscious without giving up the benefits of a tumble dryer.

[KIVPossum]

We have a dryer which is used very seldom, only during extended rainy periods. Otherwise we do as everyone here does, use the balcony.

[WindowDry]

Don't use your dryer during the rain. Check this out www.windowdry.com I live in Seattle so "extended rainy periods" equals about 9 months of the year. This rack easily holds a full load of laundry +

[invirginia]

Why is it so easy to ban clotheslines, yet so difficult to ban guns.

[TimLB]

Here in Southern California, it's so dry, I put some things on a drying rack on my covered outdoor patio. Kept out of the sun, the items don't fade and they dry quickly. Plus I don't have to use my dryer as much. Too long outside and the clothes become covered with notorious SoCal dust.

Otherwise, I gotta say I see both sides of the equation. Clotheslines look very 'My Name is Earl'. Very trashy. Condos and associated costs are NOT cheap. If I lived in a condo, I'd be p.o.'d too.

[emily00011]

We have a rack in our bathroom that pulls down over the tub. We use it all times of the year with no risk of offending anyone, not that anyone around here cares about that.

[NWBrunette]

My friend just bought a house and there's an old umbrella-style clothesline in the back yard she's offered to me. I can't wait to get it set up in my side yard and start drying the old fashioned way. Yipee!

[LiberalBuzz]

When the weather is warm or hot enough we hang a lot of things out to dry and then throw them in the dryer for five minutes to get the stiffness out. Saves energy and we get both benefits.

Towels are the worst for air drying if you don't use a few minutes in a dryer to soften them. Stiff as boards.

[NWBrunette]

Try folding the towels in half before hanging. They'll dry slower and softer.

[Katzencats]

HOAs are real big in Texas. It's why zoning laws are repeatedly voted down in Houston - the argument is the HOAs will keep everything pretty enough (or some such BS).

Where I live, there are restrictions against not only clotheslines, but you have to get permission from the HOA before you install a swingset, make an addition or build a deck - "even if it can't be seen from the street", as the contract states. You have to get permission to paint your house, "even if it's the same color". Shingles, windows, plantings, younameit - all require written permission from the HOA, or they can take your house. No kidding.

Another neat trick they have is if you don't pay (or are just late) HOA payments (generally a couple hundred a year), they can take your house. A few years ago, there was a big uproar & threats to do away with HOAs, but it never happened. A widow owned her home outright in a better area of Houston (Champion Forest, for those who know the city/suburbs). Her HOA pmt. was a few days late, so the HOA foreclosed on her house. She took a check to the office ($850.00, as I recall), but they refused it because they had already started legal proceedings.

She lost the house & the HOA auctioned it off for $5,000.00. I believe she did get it back eventually, but it illustrates how ridiculous the HOAs are, as well as how much power they

[aliceautumn]

Here in the South 6 months out of the year it is too humid to dry anything outdoors and the sun fades everything out fast. Besides, I dont want my clothes covered in chemicals from smog, lawn care chmeicals , pollen and dirt swirling around in the wind. Clothes are cleaner and allergen free when you dry them in a dryer.

[Octoberluna]

It has become (to some) a sign of poverty if you dare to air dry your laundry in the land of an appliance for everything. How drying laundry can bring down property values is a concept I cannot grasp. Nothing smells as awesome as outside! Air dry everything everywhere!!!!

[NWBrunette]

Right on! Love it, and agree wholeheartedly.

[janeycat]

if you hang your clothes out side on a windy day the wind softens them and the sheets are wonderful when put on the bed that day...some­times i miss hearing mom yelling at me to come hand her clothes pins or hold up one end of the sheets so she could pin the other end to the line.. she was just teaching me how to pin clothes in the right spots to keep most of the wrinkles out and not to stretch
the knit things... just tricks women pass down to their daughters , then how to fold laundry because there is a good way to do it for the clothes not to wrinkle.

but i will always miss waiting until she got back in the house and then go smell and feel the towels and sheets....­.

AAAHHHHH Laundry the old way ....does not fit into our lives today ...

[tlgeiger62]

I grew up in Glendale Queens in a 'railroad' apartment (means the rooms are in a straight line from one end to the other). We always had to hang our clothes on the line. It was a pain when it rained but the smell of those clothes was heaven. You could tell a lot about the people when you looked at the clothese on the line...wor­k clothes, baby stuff, even the not so pretty stuff like ripped boxers.

Each clothesline was a story book.

[quindy]

I don't know if drying the laundry on the clothesline saves any energy, since once dry, the clothes are not as soft as when they come out of a dryer. You will need to iron some of the items to make them flat and soft. On the other hand, nothing smells so good as air dried laundry, not to mention the sun as a natural stain remover and disinfectant.

[Montanagramma]

I dry clothes on the line, then toss in the dryer for about 10 minutes on no heat/fluff. No wrinkles, lint or ironing. Saves energy for sure. They really dry quicker, too. And they smell great!

[Sarijj]

Thanks for this tip. I tried drying my cloths on a line this summer, but was disappointed by the stiffness and no my towels did not smell great. No matter what kind of soap I used, everything turned out stiff.
I will try your dryer trick, because I do like the idea of air drying my laundry.