Drying clothes outside

[mhsjax]

I'm not low class by any means but I always hang clothes out to dry in the summer. (well maybe that makes me low class then )We do NOT hang under wear though..that is just too much. Saves me money on the gas and electricity needed to run the dryer. In the winter my clothes hang on the lines in the basement. My clothes last forever, do not fade or shrink and look new even 5 years later. I had 3 kids that shared lots of clothes and when I sold them at a yard sale I had comments made about how the clothes looked brand new and my kids must have never worn them...trust me they were worn but never thrown in a dryer.

Same here, only I use a dryer, you just use the gentle cycle. People who dry their clothes in a dryer and have them tear up and shrink, don't know how to properly dry them. I have never had anything shrink, unless my hubby got a hold of it and tried to do me a favor by doing the laundry. lol

 

[DawnCt1]

I think drying clothes outside is not something I want to see, and in my neighborhood, most people don't have fences and there is no way I would want to walk outside and see someone's laundry hanging up.

On a side note, my mother did it for years and as soon as she got a dryer, she quit that "nonsense" she wanted nothing to do with it.

I think that there is a 'front yard" appearance, and a far less formal "back yard appearance. If I saw my neighbor's laundry in the backyard, it wouldn't bother me at all. If she strung up her clothesline across the front lawn, then that's another matter.

 

[Mickey527]

I hang my clothes outside for most of the year, I usually stop around mid October and start up again in April depending on the weather.
As a matter of fact, today was such a nice day that I washed my bedspread and hung it outside for the day. It is folded and put in a plastic bag because I have my Christmas one on the bed and I hope I can keep that fresh smell till I put it back on in January.
My boss used to ask me what I use to do my laundry because my scrubs always smelled so fresh. I told her Tide, Downy and the clothes line.
I love getting into a bed with fresh sheets off the line after a nice relaxing bath. Nothing smells as good except a clean baby.

 

[powellrj]

This was actually our lesson is Sunday School today! We use a program called The Wired Word, and this what we discussed!

 

[OhMari]

Same here, only I use a dryer, you just use the gentle cycle. People who dry their clothes in a dryer and have them tear up and shrink, don't know how to properly dry them. I have never had anything shrink, unless my hubby got a hold of it and tried to do me a favor by doing the laundry. lol

When my kids were growing up, I averaged 4 loads a day, and at least 10 on Saturday. I hang out almost year round. If I had to run a dryer on a gentle cycle, the clothes would take almost all day to dry. Permenant Press takes 2 hours to dry anything without shrinking it. Gotta love winter, when you I bring blue jeans in and they stand by themselves, because they are frozen. Surprisingly, they are almost dried when they thaw out.

My neighbors think there is something wrong if they don't see clothes on my line at least once a week. I was sick once for 2 weeks, and someone knocked on my door to check that I was okay. They told me, they didn't see me under my wash line.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

This is the first I have ever heard that drying clothes on a line is considered low class. Again, learn something new on the CB

 

[3boymthr]

This is the first I have ever heard that drying clothes on a line is considered low class. Again, learn something new on the CB

yeah, me too.

I grew up drying my clothes on the line, my DM still does it. I have a line in the basement and DH hangs his clothes on it. I don't have a line outside but that's because 90% of the trees in my yard are pines and the pitch is just horrible. If it weren't for those trees you bet your bippy I'd be drying my clothes out in the back yard.

 

[deva]

In our neighborhood, you are not supposed to have one (can't have a shed either). I think lots of people think it will make the neighborhood look cluttered and "trashy".

 

[PaulaSB12]

When I was growing up we had a clothes line, I was so embrassed by them

Why would you be embrassed by the more economical way of drying clothes?

 

[bavaria]

Wow - this amazes me!!

Amazing isn't it, that something so common sense and good for the environment can be considered 'embarassing'. I have used a dryer for my clothes maybe a handful my entire life. I am definitely not ashamed of the fact that I am being environmentally concious, and that my clothes last longer as a result.

As someone else pointed out, most of the rest of the world does not own dryers in their homes as a usual item. We make do perfectly fine.

 

[supercarrie]

I'm not low class by any means but I always hang clothes out to dry in the summer. (well maybe that makes me low class then )We do NOT hang under wear though..that is just too much. Saves me money on the gas and electricity needed to run the dryer. In the winter my clothes hang on the lines in the basement. My clothes last forever, do not fade or shrink and look new even 5 years later. I had 3 kids that shared lots of clothes and when I sold them at a yard sale I had comments made about how the clothes looked brand new and my kids must have never worn them...trust me they were worn but never thrown in a dryer.

When I eventually move back to the US, I plan on continuing to line dry my clothes. I guess that will make me "low-class" in front of my OC neighbors! Personally, I have no problem with it (obviously, since I do it!) but I grew up in a very upper middle class area and it was seen as offensive to do so.

At the moment (since it is November in London and therefore raining every day!) we are drying the clothes in the house on an indoor clothes airer. You are right, the clothes do last longer - I do miss the softness of towels dried in a tumble dryer, though!

 

[Boxley]

I don't dry my family's underwear outside, just a weird thing I guess, but I do dry the rest of the clothes. My grandma always told me to dry the white shirts outside because she said the sun bleached the whites better then any chemical bleach. She was right. Besides, nothing could beat fresh sheets dried from the sun.

 

[clgwli]

Our city does not allow for clothes to be dried outside on a line. I do have a line inside in our basement though that I use often.

 

[Cruisin]

I wonder why everyone is so embarassed, or upset to see underwear hanging on a line?

Everyone (or most everyone ) wears underwear of some sort.

It's not like we don't see it everyday of our lives.

Why the taboo in seeing it on a clothes line flapping in the wind?

I had a friend who used to hang her underwear inside of a shirt or pillowcase or sheet on her line so that her husbands grandfather who lived next door wouldn't see it.

 

[mhsjax]

I wonder why everyone is so embarassed, or upset to see underwear hanging on a line?

Everyone (or most everyone ) wears underwear of some sort.

It's not like we don't see it everyday of our lives.

Why the taboo in seeing it on a clothes line flapping in the wind?

I had a friend who used to hang her underwear inside of a shirt or pillowcase or sheet on her line so that her husbands grandfather who lived next door wouldn't see it.

Because it is tacky, sorry but seeing underwear flapping in the breeze isn't something that I want to see, and really it just makes the neighborhood look tacky. Sorry, but that is the way I feel.

 

[Alphabetsoup]

I loved having a clothesline when I was living in Australia...actually we had one of the umbrella style lines (called a Hill's Hoist if anyone is interested). I plan to have my hubby build me one when we finally can get to move to a small town in NC... This is just another reason we want to get away from living in the city or even in town. I want an acre or so in a mountain valley, where my nearest neighbor is a 1/2 mile across the valley floor!! Let my undies flap in the breeze and who cares who complains!

 

[tzolkin]

There is only one house in our area that does it.........it is the trashed house. Trash everywhere, broken screens, porch filled with old toys, multiple grills in yard (some on there side), bikes lying around....you name it, it is not high on upkeep. So, in addition, when I see the laundry swinging in the wind, it does look unappealing due to all the other stuff around.

We're really the only ones in our neighborhood who use a clothes line and we have the nicest yard. (Quite a few are like the one you describe, but I've never seen clothes on their lines.) We have the only fenced in yard, a matching cedar playset, beautiful raised bed gardens, and a 4-string clothes line (matching wood ) It's behind the garage (along the fence line). Personally, I think it looks nice out there, but I'm also the nut who organizes the clothes neatly as I hang them.

We have a dryer (gas), but I do not use it at all in the summer. The amount we save on our propane bill is significant and it's the one chore that I actually enjoy doing.

 

[OhMari]

My dryer officially died after 11 years.
Remember I hang out clothes all year long.
The salesman at Sears said an average dryer last 4 years.
I remember my mom's dryer was almost 20 years old. My first dryer lasted 15 years.
My new dryer that is 3 years old is so cheaply made. The hinges on the door are about the slimmest hinges I have ever seen. When my dryer starts up, it sounds like an old person grumbling away. I probably do 10 loads a week, with 1/2 that going in the dryer, I can see buying another dryer soon.

 

[aprilgail2]

We have a dryer (gas), but I do not use it at all in the summer. The amount we save on our propane bill is significant and it's the one chore that I actually enjoy doing.

We have a gas dryer and I use it for drying every load of wash I do- my gas bill is 13.00 a month- doesn't seem worth it to me to do all the work of hanging clothes, getting pollen all over them to save me the 13.00 a month- I will dry them everytime!

 

[mhsjax]

We have a gas dryer and I use it for drying every load of wash I do- my gas bill is 13.00 a month- doesn't seem worth it to me to do all the work of hanging clothes, getting pollen all over them to save me the 13.00 a month- I will dry them everytime!

Not to mention bird poop, which is one of the many reasons my mom started drying everything, plus not having to iron as much.