When I went on a rant about laundry rooms earlier this year, telling you how I hate when they’re in an inconvenient spot near the garage or kitchen, some of my readers from Australia commented that they wouldn’t want them anywhere else. They don’t use dryers as much as we do in the States, so they need their laundry as close to the back door–and clotheslines–as possible. My second-floor laundry room wouldn’t work for them.
Hanging clothes out to dry isn’t even an option for me. My neighborhood has a strict Home Owner’s Association (HOA) that will send you unpleasant letters, followed by a fine. A lot of communities believe that a neighborhood filled with clotheslines will look so bad, it’ll affect their real estate values.
Look how much fun this couple has with their clothesline!
The LA Times’ article “Is Your Clothesline Illegal?” reports that some homeowners, calling themselves “right-to-dry” activists, are fighting back. They point out that clothes dryers hog 6% of the electricity used by U.S. households, which isn’t great for the environment or utility bills. Do you use clotheslines? Do your neighbors?
{ 67 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
I don’t have room for one anymore. We are all pool and crowded deck now! But I would love to have one!
I think laundry hanging out on the line looks beautiful! It gives me such a feeling of nostalgia.
And I love the scent of line-dried, sun-dried, fresh air-dried laundry!
Great post!
All the best,
Eileen
Eileen´s last blog ..Thanksgiving Gift Basket Ideas
I didn’t vote because you didn’t have the option of “I would love one, but I’m too lazy.” My neighbors have one and think it’s awesome.
That couple does look like they’re having fun. They remind me of the couples painting and doing house projects in their JCrew outfits. Yea right…I paint in my oldest clothes and believe me…I rarely smile.
Nikki´s last blog ..Flashback Friday: How to embarrass your Husband
yes I sure do have a clothesline.. as a matter of fact I have two… It is hard to believe in these days of the green movement and environmental concerns that everyone would not be allowed to have one.. most people use them here…
one of my favourite scents… fresh laundry from the clothesline…
your blog is amazing!!! Thanks!!!
gwen´s last blog ..Study of a Dragonfly
Oh my Julia….we had one when I was a kid I was the oldest of 5…..so a lot of times my Mum would ask me to get the clothes, if a summer storm popped up we all made the mad dash !! We had a dryer but my Mother liked to hang her clothes out. We had a neighbor that had one on a pulley and she’d hang out her window to bring in her clothes…I ALWAYS wanted one of those
So now I am the Mommy and when my kids played football, cheering, softball , baseball etc….the team colors were red and white….so I always put their uniforms out on a and I mean A just one line…..hubby ran one from the deck to a tree. We also used it to hang the pool towels. But that puppy came down real quick…..once there were no more uniforms….Not a fan can you tell LOL !!! I don’t like shaking the clothes for bugs….yuck !!
I think I am going to go into my laundry room after this comment and HUG my dryer LOL
Great post Julia….
Have a wonderful week-end…..by the way did the Little Lamb clean up candy wise ???
Kathy
Clotheslines are not banned in my neighborhood but I don’t have one. If I did, I would definitely use it. I know some think they are an eyesore but they kind of remind me of simpler times. I kind of like that.
Christi
Christi at A Southern Life´s last blog ..Southern Fall Colors
I absolutely love my clothesline. We live in a century home in Northern Ontario and our laundry room is right at the back of the house, just off the kitchen. When we moved in I found a skinny, long doorway that was blocked off. It didn’t take long for me to realize that it was the doorway that the original owners had for hanging their laundry out on. I don’t have to walk out of the house. The line comes right into the house and it attached on the opposite wall from my washer and dryer. It is lovely in the spring, summer and fall – of course I don’t do winter – I don’t like ice on my delicates
I’m an Aussie here, and can’t imagine being without my rotary hoist. (Like in the picture above) There is a family of kookaburras that live in the gum trees near my line, and I regularly look out my kitchen window with my breakfast cup of tea, and see them keeping watch over my yard from the top of my hoist.
I’m australian and have never used a dryer in my life, I saw my mother use one once and never again, it seemed very unatural and a bit lazy, my clothes came out burning hot and felt like i’d microwaved them.There is nothing like fresh aired clean sheets off a line.Even in my sisters apartmebt block in the city, everyone in the block takes the stairs or lift to the roof and hangs out their clothes
I didn’t vote because you didn’t have the option: they are banned in my neighborhood and I use it anyway. The neighbor who overlooks that part of my backyard has one as well. I was thrilled when I saw hers and told her so.
I like so much to see clothes lines. I think it’s beautiful and a sign of life.
Here we have a lot of tall buildings with a lot of families in them and it’s so nice to see all those colours on several layers untill the bottom. A proibition on hanging clothes here would be a disaster for the person who would have such idea!
I couldn’t do without mine.
paula´s last blog ..Apple season
Ah, the Hill’s Hoist!
My parents moved to Australia from the north of England, and hanging the clothes outside to dry was one of my mother’s delights, especially when she could immediately take in the first items which had dried while she hung the last.
In England I had a thing called a Sheila-maid, a rack on pulleys which hung in the laundry room, for use on wet days. When I had an Aga I could ‘iron’ sheets and linens by folding them carefully and putting them on the shiny lids over the hotplates – it worked beautifully. I still hanker after an Aga, but not while I’m living in California!
I have a clothesline here, but my neighbour sometimes asks me to take things in if she is having guests – I am very fond of her so I do. More and more I just use a little Ikea folding metal rack, with underwear hung on the inner rungs ( I seem to have become respectable). It is a real pleasure to dry washing the natural way – maybe if my children were still at home it would be too much work! It smells so fresh out in the open air.
Tricia Rose´s last blog ..Fisherman’s Cottage
I live in a neighborhood that has strict HOA policies, so I am a closet closeline person. I started last summer with a clothesline that closes up when not in use and it is hidden with my privacy fence. I would like to add that my electricity bill has dropped $30 a month!!!
Carole´s last blog ..Another Give Away
Wow, I’m in shock that there are area’s in the world where it is forbidden to dry your clothes outside. Never thought that was possible. Sometimes we live in a strange world
The moment the sun is shining in spring and I can put my clothes outside for the first time that year, is always a very happy moment. I love to see them hanging in the sun, moving a little bit in the wind. Also your wash smells so much better, and feels softer.
To see great photo’s of clotheslines around the world: http://balkonsmetwasgoed.web-log.nl/
They are definitely frowned upon in my neighborhood (HOA) although I think if somehow you can keep it out of site then you’d get away with it.
Clearly it makes great environmental and economic sense to dry clothes outside. But I remember when we lived in the UK, the somewhat iffy weather made for many interrupted meals when we’d be part way through lunch, notice it had started to rain, and would then hare outside to gather everything in. Then an hour later the sun would be out… it did get to be kind of a pain!
I sense that HOAs will come under increasing pressure in coming years to bend on this rule. The same goes for solar roof panels – we are not currently allowed to install those either, which, given the worldwide energy situation and availability of sunshine in California, is absolutely nuts!
Struggler´s last blog ..What are your Organizing Essentials?
I didn’t vote because there wasn’t an option for me. I want a clothesline and they’re allowed, but Rich thinks I’m nuts LOL
rue´s last blog ..Birthday trip~ part two
I took baby steps. First, I had a drying rack on the deck for pool towels. Then, after noticing that things dried quicker on the rack than in the dryer, started with small clothing items. Then I ran a line across the yard and just hung sheets. Loved the smell and the kids noticed it too. So, I started looking for a folding, umbrella-style dryer and bought a lovely Brabantia (made in Holland). It’s marvelous. You can hang four loads on it one after the other and then take everything down and do your folding outside with the birds and the dogs at the end of the day. I now check the weather and do my washing when I can hang it out.
If the neighbors are a little freaked out by a clothesline (a permanent addition to the yard) perhaps they could be gently conditioned to the idea by seeing a nice laundry drying rack like this one we got being used on the patio or deck during the warm months?
Then after awhile of getting used to the concept they would be OK with the permanent clothesline and neighborhood peace would be maintained…
← Previous Comments