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sylvia55_gw

Washing Lines Banned???Brit in Shock!!!!!

sylvia55
16 years ago

I find if almost impossible to believe that American people seem to have such a problem with hanging washing outide. This seems to spring from a bizzare mix of snobbishnes, prudery and sheer laziness. The use of a little fabric softener will prevent any stiffness of fabric & sunshine is a natural germ killer.Lifting washing out of a basket is a lot more fun than the boring gym on a lovely day.come on you guys - get your act together on this matter. I cannot believe a cousin of ours living in sunny Georgia is actually BANNED from using a line in her development - friends in the UK really could not believe their ears when I told them - and I am lucky enough to live in the most affluent part of our lovely country - so cut out the snobbery & cut the carbon the easy way.

Comments (15)

  • mikie_gw
    16 years ago

    Yaotta see some of the rules in my neighborhood.
    Park a gray, white or black rolls in your drive it is ok.
    Park a red one and you get served noticed that all vehicles must be stored overnight in an enclosed garage.

  • davidandkasie
    16 years ago

    that is EXACTLY why i won't live in a house governed by a HOA. HOA's are like communism, great on paper, but the worst thing possible when you factor in the human element.

  • kitchendetective
    16 years ago

    I live in a rural area where some people still routinely dry clothes outside because 1) they like sunlight as a disinfectant; 2) they think clothes smell better that way; and 3) they save on energy bills. However, I tried it and because of blowing dust and dirt, which occurred while I was out running errands in my agricultural area, I had to rewash all the clothes. Haven't tried it since.

  • southernsurfergirl
    16 years ago

    I live in the South, and I considered hanging my laundry outside. But I can't because I am allergic to grass and grass would inevitably get on my clothes as it dried. So I dry my clothes indoors.

  • davidandkasie
    16 years ago

    i feel sorry for you with a grass allergy living in the south. my cousin spends 9 months of the year on allergy meds for a grass allergy!

    we use a clothes line to hang some of our clothes. but first we make sure the farmer is not working in the fields nearby! it is amazing how much mud can accumulate on a wet comforter in a short period of time!

  • sylvia55
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Sorry you guys have such problems with allergies and dust etc. I know that hanging out washing not always possible or ideal, its just the idea of a blanket (excuse pun) ban seems a bit strange to me in these days of trying to cut pollution etc from power stations. Not to mention the cost to the householder. I do use a dryer when weather not good for drying as believe to dry laundry indoors lowers temperature in house therefore making heating system work harder & use more energy. However when the weather is warm and or windy I am out there with my rotary dryer, plastic pegs (no marks on fabric), along with my neighbours. Its all a matter of common sense!!

  • plllog
    16 years ago

    I'm new in this forum, but I have to say I agree with Sylvia55 in principle and I'm 100% American :) I hang my clothes indoors (warm climate, bad allergies), but it's awfully silly to ban hanging clothes to dry outside. If you must impose on the neighbors, I suppose laundry could be banished to the backyard :)

    Twenty years ago I lived in Israel, also a warm climate, and few people had dryers. Almost all apartments had laundry porches, usually opening off the bathroom, with about five wash lines across the width (over the edge) and a screen built in front of them to cover the clothes. It was a very handy arrangement. Rarely is the laundry sopping enough to drip onto the downstairs neighbor's clothes, and though in the beginning I was a little apprehensive I never lost any laundry from the fourth floor. In the dead of winter, because of rain and cold, I splurged on a folding laundry rack for indoors.

    I must admit, though, I do use a dryer for linens and yardage.

  • veggrljo
    16 years ago

    If you live in an HOA that bans clotheslines as I do check your state laws. On another board I found out that in the State of Florida it is illegal to ban items that conserve energy or are used for conservation in general. I.e. Clotheslines, rain barrels or compost bins. I have 2 of the three and am waiting for the HOA warning.:)

  • solargary
    16 years ago

    Way to go veggrlgo!!

  • little_lost_gardener
    16 years ago

    I routinely hang my clothes to dry out on our line. Almost every one of my neighbors has lines as well and uses them. I recently purchased a stacked washer/dryer unit for only a few reasons, when i need to dry something that cannot wait for decent weather, and partially for the resale of the home should I chose to sell it at a later date.

    I had never used lines to dry before until I bought this house (my first house). I was excited about the lines which provided a chance for me to reduce my energy usage and in turn my energy bill.

    I suppose one of the benefits of more underpriveledged or less-rich/affluent communities is that they are in fact more concerned with saving electricity (if not for the environment then from a financial standpoint) than the general american middle and upper class.

  • JXBrown (Sunset 24, N San Diego County)
    16 years ago

    I have a very nice drying rack. It's waist high and much easier for hanging clothes. It folds up and I can put it away when I'm done. And best of all, no one can see it from outside my house. I also have a retractable line for drying sheets and duvet covers, but in deference to my neighbors' views, I remove the sheets promptly when they are dry and roll up the line. I live in an older area and the HOA, if there ever was one, is no longer active.

  • loverofpeaches
    16 years ago

    I think non-Americans have a faulty opinion of how much individual freedom we Amerians have. In many, many cases (increasingly and rapidly more true every day now) we have very little on more and more issues.
    Our recent losses range from not only whether or not we can hang laundry outdoors and such as the game of Tag being banned in at least one school (as "to dangerous") to legislated bans being considered such as the total elimination of all trans fats to even being forbidden to smoke in one's own home. I personally avoid trans fat and have not only have never smoked in my entire life but am made ill by it within seconds of contact even in 'smoking allowed areas' one must pass through to enter buildings, etc. However, in a nation where guns are perhaps as omnipresent as autos in some areas, where the homeless are more omnipresent than dandelions, where in some groups more babies are born outside of marriage than in, etc. etc. I am perplexed over bans such as hanging one's laundry outdoors. The meaninglessness of that ban seems to be shades of The Emperor's Clothes.
    I would love to hang my laundry out but would be unable to bring it in without rewashing everything afterwards as the pollution is so dense it is sometimes difficult to see across the street...and I too live in an 'upper crust' neighborhood. Sociologically speaking, I think the 'no laundry drying outdoors' ban is a reflection of one result of the boom in America, going back roughly to only the end of WWII. Many, many people reject anything that reminds them of familial more modest roots....one example of which is backyards full of laundry one day a week.

  • sylvia55
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Interesting item in the UK "Times" - perhaps our most prestigious and fairly "conservative" newspapers. In the Modern Manners column a person wrote in asking what to do about an "annoying" neighbout who hangs out laundry at front of house. The reply was that in these days of global warming the complainee was the annoying neighbour and should be thinking more about saving energy & the environment and should put up with it!!

  • veggrljo
    16 years ago

    YAY to the UK Times. Don't think the NY Times would follow suit though. Hopefully others will get the message soon!

  • kren_pa
    16 years ago

    used to do this when i lived in california. i had a pole with a pulley (heavy duty) so that the clothesline could be reeled in and out and i could stand in one place, right next to the washer. this made all the difference! the only problem for me was the black clothes, which got lighter in the harsh CA sun. now the laundry room is in the basement and i will not be lugging wet laundry up the narrow stairs. but i still hang some items.... kren