Do you have washing lines in the US?

[cultcross]

We aren't allowed to have them here; part of the HOA rules. But I have never used a clothesline in my life. We always had a dryer; it was just far more convenient. I could do laundry at any time of the day, or in any weather. Plus, where I live now is horrendously humid. If you hung your clothes out to dry, you would have a very, very long wait.

I have a drier built into my washing machine, and if I need something in a hurry, I'll use it, but it is the biggest power hog in the house, it costs a fortune to run. 99% of the time, I'll just hang my clothes to dry.

 

[Jadzia]

I don't have a drier, and I only use the line for larger stuff. I prefer to dry things indoors. That's what bannisters are for.

 

[Joshua Howard]

As a child, we had T-Shaped clothes lines cemented into the backyard. They were seldom if ever used.

Basically, folks who live in apartment buildings usually have access to a laundry room, and don't have enough/any room for a clothes line. When you get into the suburbs or regular homes with yards, all of the costs associated with taking care of a home dwarf the cost of running home appliances. Unless I am mistaken, few people really think about how much it costs to run the dryer.

Usually clothes lines appear in areas populated by ethnic minorities - and I am thinking of Asian communities in my area - which seem to prefer line-drying their clothing out of tradition.

I believe that, as a whole, line-drying is becoming a thing of the past in the States.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I have a linear clothesline at home, which is interesting as it's directly accessible by my neighbours who have to walk past my back garden in order to get to their own home. No one has dared steal any clothes yet. [No-one would want to wear your clothes - everyone]

In a previous home we used to have a rotary clothes line which only got in the way of our back garden playing.

Nowadays I prefer the simplicity of a clothes airer. Frees up the radiators and is cheaper than a tumble drier that can break down. Plus it helps humidify the dry air.

 

[Kirby]

I live in a townhouse right now so there is no yard for a clothes line, but I do have a clothes rack in my basement with my washer and dryer. I like to air dry my shirts. Growing up, everyone had a clothes line like the one in the picture above in addition to a dryer. I think they're great.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Arnold Layne
had a strange
hobby

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Many people have clotheslines in the US.

I use a dryer though, so do most people I know. Lots of people here live in apartment buildings with communal dryers that are either free, or cost like 2 or 3 bucks. So if you are in a situation like that, money isn't a big issue.

I think most people who own houses here use dryers as well. I figure if you own a house, you probably have the extra $$$ to own and operate a dryer, at least in most cases. Maybe with the bad economy we will see more people going back to the lines to save a few bucks though.

 

[propita]

I've read that it IS true that white clothes and sheets come out whiter when hung out on the line. For Hubby's t-shirts alone, I'd like a clothesline. But we have too much dust here, I think. Agricultural area; Fresno's surrounded by dirt.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think clothes last longer if they are hung out on the line rather than being put in the dryer.

i just read that 75% of Australians use the clothesline rather than the dryer whenever it is possible to do so.

I don't own a dryer. I have my rotary clothesline. I have one line strung up under the carport to use if it is raining, and if it raining a I have more washing than can fit on that line I will take my little clothes hoist out to the carport.

 

[Rii]

She should ask her neighbours to raise money for a dryer if they don't like looking at her underwear.

 

[John Picard]

Pennsylvania Residents Fight for Right to Hang Laundry

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania — Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.
"They said it made the place look like trailer trash," she said, in her yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. "They said they didn't want to look at my 'unmentionables.'"
Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The effervescent 54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that frowns on it.
Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using their electric or gas dryers, according to the group's executive director, Alexander Lee.

More at the website.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Pennsylvania Residents Fight for Right to Hang Laundry

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania — Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.
"They said it made the place look like trailer trash," she said, in her yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. "They said they didn't want to look at my 'unmentionables.'"
Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The effervescent 54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that frowns on it.
Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using their electric or gas dryers, according to the group's executive director, Alexander Lee.

More at the website.

This is a major pet peeve of mine, HOA's and just nosy neighbors in general dictating what people can do on what is supposedly their own property.
Here in Oklahoma City we have a bulk trash day once a month. I have a really nosy neighbor across the street, and when we remodeled our bathroom, I'd torn out the sink and counter and put it on the curb to be picked up. She came over immediately and said she had some people coming over and didn't want them to see that, and asked that I move it to the side of my house. I told her to knock herself out, and stood there and watched as she dragged it over there all by herself.

 

[ITL]

I don't have a drier, and I only use the line for larger stuff. I prefer to dry things indoors. That's what bannisters are for.

I use the massive radiator I have in my living room. Mind you, I don't have a garden or access to a line, so I have little choice. It works out fine for me.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

I accidently left my washing out on the line overnight once. It's a communal area and a neighbour's estranged boyfriend set alight to it in order to attract her attention. He was caught running away with my pegs in his pocket ~ DOH! I'm still owed the £50 compensation.

I don't have a dryer and in winter dry clothes on the radiators ~ it's like a lovely smelling sauna .

 

[Rii]

Here in Oklahoma City we have a bulk trash day once a month. I have a really nosy neighbor across the street, and when we remodeled our bathroom, I'd torn out the sink and counter and put it on the curb to be picked up. She came over immediately and said she had some people coming over and didn't want them to see that, and asked that I move it to the side of my house. I told her to knock herself out, and stood there and watched as she dragged it over there all by herself.

In this case I'm torn between my disdain for her concern and presumption, and respect for the fact that she was actually willing to get her hands dirty.

 

[Jenee]

So, you can hang your laundry anywhere in the house? Doesn't the floor get wet?

 

[bigdaddy]

Almost everyone I know uses cloths lines unless they have medical issues, or the weather sucks.

Even still my mom and grandma have lines in the basement for bad weather days.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Here in Oklahoma City we have a bulk trash day once a month. I have a really nosy neighbor across the street, and when we remodeled our bathroom, I'd torn out the sink and counter and put it on the curb to be picked up. She came over immediately and said she had some people coming over and didn't want them to see that, and asked that I move it to the side of my house. I told her to knock herself out, and stood there and watched as she dragged it over there all by herself.

In this case I'm torn between my disdain for her concern and presumption, and respect for the fact that she was actually willing to get her hands dirty.

This woman also comes over and asks if she can clip some of my roses every year. I let her have them, plenty to go around. I do think it's odd, though. She came over once asking if she could borrow a dvd to see if her new dvd player worked, and if not for my wife's intervention it would have been one of three porn dvds that we own.

 

[RoJoHen]

So, you can hang your laundry anywhere in the house? Doesn't the floor get wet?

That's why washers have a spin cycle.

 

[Miss Chicken]

So, you can hang your laundry anywhere in the house? Doesn't the floor get wet?

No, the floor doesn't get wet. My clothes aren't dripping wet when they come out of the washing machine.

However the only time I dry my clothes in the house is if there is something I need dried for the next day and if so I will dry in on my clothes hoist in fromt of the heater.