Laundry Liberation: Fighting for the Right to Hang Your Clothes Out to Dry

I often get sick and tired of people preaching "go green" on this and that. Pols can put solar panels on their roofs but not more people. I don't expect either Washington or any state or local government to care for people's rights to clothesline or any truly green alternative. As I see it, it's as if the HOA and Big Oil are conspiring business wise. As noted on this site and wiki, the disadvantages of HOA far outweigh the advantages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/Homeowners%27_association#Criticisms

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OMG,can't believe what I'm readin here, though I am aware of the weird American attitude to outdoor clothslines.
I mean let's face it, Americans find such objectionable ? DUH.
Mankind has been hanging it's laundry out in the sun (free) to dry for millenium, but Americans have been sucked into the consumer society and beleive they need electric dryers thereby ensuring the share portfolio returns of electrical companies.
LOL, Crikey, incredible how gullible you folks are. WOW !
I can understand the need for electric dryers in apartment buildings, however, even here, with a bit of ingenuity utilising the air exchange from such buildings they can also be minimised, but in homes with a aback yard....?
Totaly weird.

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Sounds good to me.

But the next question should be: Why are so-called green, free-thinking people living in McCondos and McSubdivisions to begin with?

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my present washing machine doesn't have a hot water line to it.

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I can't believe we're dumb enough to ban clotheslines anywhere in the US. But then, I moved to Bogotá Colombia 3 years ago, so maybe I'm out of touch. Lots of Colombians have dryers, but most don't - because they're gut-shocking expensive and drive up your utility bill. I will never buy one, even though Bogotá is a rainy city. Three years with no dryer- no problem whatsoever! You simply won't believe how low my utilities are, so I won't even bother telling you! In every apartment I've seen here, there's a section near the kitchen for laundry. In that area, just above head height on the wall there's either an accordeon rack for hanging clothes, or a criss-crossing set of clothes lines. Houses have indoor patios, fully or partially covered, so you can hang your clothes to dry without them getting wet in the rain. (BTW, you can also get very small washers here that use a lot less water and take up a lot less space.) Colombia may be "backwards" in comparison to us "enlightened" Americans, but they understand that the whole of society benefits when we design our living spaces to consume less energy and take advantage of older traditions to live more simply and happily. Oh, and BTW, in international surveys of happiness, Colombians are ranked among the happiest people on the planet -- 40 year old civil war notwithstanding. Come to think of it, my pocket book and I are both a lot happier here, too!

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I don´t think there are any HOAs that are conspiring with Big Electric or Big Oil. It is just plain old vanilla snobbery. They don´t want any outward signs of poverty in their neighborhoods. For the same reason, they historically fought against racial integration and have laws against parking your cars on the lawn, against allowing more than a certain number of people to live in a house, etc.... If we could eliminate HOAs we could live much more progressive lifestyles.

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I support this.
I get so damn disgusted with people(customers) whose laundry rooms are full of lint, etc.
They whine about how their dryers take FOREVER to dry.
I look at the lint filter which is invariably packed solid with lint and hold it up to them.
They ALWAYS say, "Oh, I clean it after every load."
BULLSHIT!!
No load of laundry can deposit 1/2 INCH THICK COATING OF LINT ON THE FILTER.
i ALSO ASK WHEN THE LAST TIME ANYONE CLEANED THE EXHAUST all the way to the outside of the house.
"Oh??!!" "wE NEED TO DO that??!!"

There are places and situations where it isn't reasonably feasible to have a clothesline such as in senior apts where the tenants can't physically hang their clothes on a line or there isn't sufficient space.
That said, I find that even the bullshitters who CLAIM to be for helping the ecology secretly don't give a damn and/or are too lazy to bother.

I have ALSO heard remarks such as, "I'm no hausfrau who does THAT. I'm a working woman and NOT my husband's cleaning/laundry woman."

I've heard it all for 35 years in this business.
Some don't think their clothes will get clean if they wash with cold water.
Well, it sure as hell removes MY skidmarks.

I'm only doing this part time anymore.
I don't want to "retire" as, I knew too many guys who retired and croaked.
I still enjoy most of it, even if there are a bunch of lazies out there.

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of the beholder. Everyone has seen quaint pictures of European cities where people hang their laundry off their balconies to dry. Once you come back home though it's a different story. I once lived in an upscale residential area of a western city. My home was situated on the viewpoint of a lake that was encircled by expensive, large houses. Everyone on the lake looked into the backyards of the houses across the lake from them. One wealthy nationally known Italian family had a huge mansion on the lake. They also had their little old grandmother from the old country living with them. Well she was used to hanging her laundry off the balcony at her home in Italy so she did the same thing at the mansion on the lake. Needless to say the neighbours were not amused. I personally thought it was hilarious.

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(... just getting ready to hang up a load of clothes myself, actually)

... I was talking about this with an electrical engineer last summer (small talk) and he said it was just dumb that BC Hydro was paying for tv ads encouraging us to unplug our "vampire appliances" when line drying saves so much energy. I say greenwashing of the highest order - the corporations do not want us to REALLY cut back on our consumption :.?

No one in Europe uses the dryer. Well, hardly ever. Rich people have dryers, they just don't use them. There is a designated space for hanging clothes inside as well. All the tenants in a building will use the attic, for example.

Recently we had a legal precedent right here in Canada that recognized the inanity of forbidding us to reduce our carbon footprint. The US needs a similar legal precedent.
WELCOMING CLOTHESLINES IN ONTARIO

In cases where a clothesline is not practical, there is also the umbrella-style clothes dryer or the humble drying rack (about $15 and holds an entire load of laundry). For those intimidated by the thought of installing the umbrella-style: you dig a big hole, buy a bag of redi-mix cement, open the bag up right beside the hole, add water right into the bag and mix with a shovel to consistency, and then scrape the cement into the hole. Then insert the plastic sleeve that comes with the dryer.

I cheat a bit by putting towels in the dryer but the reality is that line-drying your clothes will greatly extend their life, reducing your footprint even more.

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We found that even conservative neighbors started imitating us when we began using a clothesline. Even the folks who tend to be against anything that appears liberally environmental seemed to find hanging out clothes appealing.

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Until the first time I came down with Asian flu I used to hang my laundry either outside or in the basement of my house. I never thought my oudoor line was an eyesore, nor were my neighbors' lines. Now I live in a POA community where there are no clotheslines allowed and use a lot of electricity instead of sunshine.

The clothes last longer, fade less, towels and sheets are softer, drying is quicker and more convenient. OTOH I used to talk to neighbors, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, and the nice clean smell of the laundry after it dried. Since I had three children, rainy spells were somewhat a problem before they were dry at night, but I managed by buying a lot of sheets.
However, now that I am an "old lady" I am thankful for my automatic washer and dryer. I do what I can by using cold water and buying "no iron" clothing; also I spread towels and sheets out to partially dry overnight after washing, giving them a lot less time in the dryer.

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This would have to be handled on local levels and within communities. The costs of living have risen to the point that people are finding themselves fewer choices on where to move to that the only feasible options left are homes with HOA restrictions. I live in an exurb where condos and townhouses did not exist 10 years ago but after running down rural homes, the overpriced condos, townhouses, and apartments stepped in. I am lucky not to live in a house tied to HOA otherwise I would not be able to grow my own veggie garden, hang clothes, or install solar panels. Why the environmentalists aren't going after HOA is beyond me. Obama cannot and will not control HOA. It's technically outside of his control.

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Hmmm, I would have used sight...

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People that proudly point to the HOA as keeping the neighborhoods uniform are proudly ignorant to exactly how much that HOA costs. Not just because of the fees involved, but to you as a homeowner that cannot line-dry your laundry (because it's unsightly to neighbors), to growing your own produce in your yard (that you do pay for)! The sad truth is that someone has found another way to bilk hardworking homeowners out of their money - and they are doing it legally! Next time that you have a high electric bill, try collecting from the neighbors that force you to burn the extra electrics!!!

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I grew up with the clothesline, but now live in a Detroit subdivision that doesn't allow them.

All homes here back up to beautifully landscaped commons areas with walkways throughout. There is no doubt that clothes flapping in the wind would change the beauty of this place. However, as others have commented, such scenes are common in Europe and travelers such as myself would find it interesting, quaint, and a good subject to photograph.

I believe that people can embrace such change, as we have with other environmental issues. It's really all a matter of perspective and attitude. Just a few years ago who would have thought that our streets would be lined with recycling bins once a week? They're not pretty by anyone's standards, yet we feel proud and environmentally savvy for using them.

Perhaps the day is around the corner where clothes will again flap throughout America's subdivisions. Nothing wrong with airing our "clean" laundry, right?

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One of the questions I asked before we bought our house was whether there was a neighborhood HOA - there was not. YIPPEE!

No way would I buy a home where I could not hang out my laundry to dry, where I could not plant a vegetable garden, where I could not hang wind chimes under my eaves, or where my choices of outdoor paint were limited to three shades of beige.

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We live in the fog, however, I'm willing to try hanging dry since my dryer works so badly. It can't hurt. I love the country feel of hanging clothes, especially adorable little baby clothes and long johns. I guess city folks equate it with country and equate country with beneath them.

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For years, I've wistfully thought about hanging up my family's clothes out behind the patio of my apartment, where there are plenty of trees to tie a clothesline to, and a vast swath of lawn across the entire complex. It is a poor community, and the coin laundry costs about $2.50-$3.00 or more for a single load of laundry. My laundry bill is outrageous! It would serve us all better if we were able to hang out our laundry, but it isn't allowed. I asked for a small plot under my back window to grow vegetables and flowers,and was denied; you wouldn't believe the acres of wasted lawn they have here!
I'm sure there are many, many people out there with similiar predicaments and constraints.

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