(no subject)

[low_delta]

My recent post about hanging laundry was inspired by a coworker who said his girlfriend would never hang her underwear out in the yard where people could see. I thought that was a little odd, but then I decided it probably wasn’t a very rare opinion after all. Especially because I know how common it is for neighborhoods or communities to ban it altogether.

I don’t know why people get so upset about clothes on the line. Oh, it’s so ugly. It makes people think we’re trashy. It drives down property values. Get over it, people! It’s clothing. Everybody has it. Everybody washes it. Everybody dries it. Why should it look bad? What are you, the fashion police?

No, you’d rather force people to burn coal to dry their clothing. Yeah, it’s also about resources. City ordinances to prohibit people from using renewable resources to go about their daily business? There’s something wrong with that picture too. And what’s uglier? Laundry drying, or a strip mine? I guess it doesn’t matter as long as neither one is in your back yard, huh?

People are too uptight. And the fewer people hang their clothes outside, the more people think it’s rare, and unecessary. Wash your damn clothes and hang them on the line.

Comments

[eyelid.livejournal.com]

In MN, it's only feasible for about 3 months a year :) I remember my grandma doing it during those months, though.

[vlinker.livejournal.com]

in winter, the stuff freezes........and then the moisture sublimates into the dry air.......then, the stuff is just cold.....it prolly never really gets "dry", but i'd bet that it's lost 90% of the water that was in it when it was hung up.......

of course, many folk are just too busy to deal with this....but where the cost of energy is very high and the income is very low, time is cheap

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Here in the midwest, our winters are too damp for that trick.

[vlinker.livejournal.com]

damp makes it too cold.......brrrrrrrr

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Sure does. :-(

[vyoma.livejournal.com]

Living where we do, we could no doubt hang our clothes out without problems with the neighbors. On the other hand, this is Florida, where nothing ever dries out. Not to mention what would probably be living in our clothes by the time we brought it back inside!

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

I hear you. I wash my hair when I'm in Florida, and it doesn't dry until I head north.

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

i think it's fine and dandy,
but in condos such as ours,
there is no outdoor space to do such a thing~

i love fresh sheets off the line~

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

What do you mean? You've got those nice black metal clotheslines out front.

[sirreal13.livejournal.com]

Our neighbor had some of her underwear stolen off the line; apparenlty by a seldom seen recluse nicknamed "the mole." He may not have been involved, but he was blamed, or he would have been if anyone could have found him.

M'Luv refuses to get our drier hooked up to propane and dries by the sun and wind whenever possible, which is easily 7-8 months out of the year

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Ostensibly, we go May thru September. What it comes down to is how often our laundry days line up with the weekends and how often the weekends are not rainy.

ok, one more time...

[i.livejournal.com]

Re: ok, one more time...

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

IT'S A FORT!!!

Re: ok, one more time...

[i.livejournal.com]

hah! that brought back memories :)

Re: ok, one more time...

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

*grin* for me as well, thanks!

Re: ok, one more time...

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

He heh. Thanks!

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

When I'm home, I always hang my sweaters and air dry only things out. I kind of like the homey look of clothing on the line.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Clothes on the line says, "people live here."

[specificocean.livejournal.com]

You're right.

[hinterland.livejournal.com]

I hang just about anything and everything out on my clothes line, or over the verandah railings, chairs, tables, anything in sight that looks handy. Except for my knickers, they are private. I don't want some weirdo peeking at my most intimate wear, and then looking at me KNOWING I wear one of the things he has seen on the line. Just the though of it would make me feel a bit... urhH.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Seems while most people who commented said they don't have anything against hanging their laundry out, about half said they didn't display their underwear.

[lister-of-smeg.livejournal.com]

My motivation for line drying my laundry is simply a matter of economics: It costs $1.50 or so to dry each load in the dryers here. I bought a five-line retractable clothes line and mounted it above my back bedroom's patio. That assembly cost me only $40, so after about 25 loads it paid for itself. I'm well beyond that number of line dried loads of laundry now. I just wish that the weather permitted line drying more often. Here on the Central California Coast, and especially in the town I live in, the fog comes in and often it doesn't work out to line dry. But still, conditions work out often enough to make it feasible.

I don't give a crap what people think about me doing my drying on a line. In fact, I've convinced a couple of them to do the same. I've never had a problem with the management about line drying because I don't hang them all over the balcony railings. I'm tasteful in how I hang my laundry. Sure, I keep my "trick or treat" boxers, the others with take-out chinese food with noodles all over the place and various other ones with skulls or martini drinks closer to the door and thus don't advertise them to the general public: There's only one woman I'll show those to. Not that I'm a prude, but still, who really needs to see them aside from someone I'm close to? Gotta have 'some' respect for fellow tenants, ya know...

I believe in the natural wind and sun heating to dry laundry out. I love the feeling of putting nice crispy line dried clothes on! After only 5-10 minutes they've softened out and feel damned good! Who needs that crappy fabric softener? That shit feels greasy for some time. Another cost I don't need.