Here we had the clothes hanging out on the line this morning. There’s enough wind to dry them so you absolutely must use it. Electricity is so expensive here that no one who wasn’t Lord Moneybags would disdain a clothes line.
I live in Tucson and I dry everything on the line (the sheets are out there right now). It’s dry and sunny most of the time, so it doesn’t take much longer to dry them outside as it does to dry them in the dryer.
They don’t get stiff and rough. I don’t really notice any difference in the quality of the clothes.
I have a family of 6 and only two clothes lines, and we manage just fine.
Exactly - same in the UK. Why would you hang washing out the front of your house? Are back gardens not common in the States or what?
BTW, this type of rotary clothes line is the most common round these parts, as it means you don’t have lines strung around your garden. They fold up when not in use.
From what I’ve seen of the Midwest at least, enclosed back yards seem to be uncommon.
The anti-clothesline phase of US society seems to be part of a general (though hopefully temporary) death of low-tech. There are probably whole elementary schools full of American kids who have no idea what a clothespin is or what it’s used for. Same with hand-cranked pencil sharpeners and whisk brooms.
I’m from New York and we had that type of clothes rack back in the late 1960’s - they are not new to this country. The electrics/natural gas fueled dryers took over.
However where we live, we happen to have the 2nd highest electricity rates in the nation, so even though we are upper middle class, we still take advantage of a rather lengthy clothes line in our back yard to reduce our electric bill. The clothes definitely come out nicer and much less wrinkled.
And yes, you cannot see our clothes line from the street, but I believe our next door neighbors can see it from their backyards. Never a word of complaint.
My drier broke a couple years ago. For a short time I hung clothes in the back yard. I had forgotten how much better clothes smell after drying outside. Since then, I use the clothes line quite often.
I have one of those too.
No idea why that woman is hanging laundry in her front yard, it seems totally nonsensical to me.
My clothing and especially towels are definitely crunchy and stiff when I line dry; it is worse when there is no wind. I don’t use any fabric softners, and I also use very little soap, less than half whatever the box recommends. I’ll have to try the vinegar trick, and see if that helps.
The woman drying out front might not have space to tdry in back, or no trees, or not have the funds to get and install a drying rack in back. Or maybe the sun is better out front. But I agree it is more usual to dry in the back of the house.
And just asking for trouble from the local Arnold Layne and his strange hobby! 
Because whenever I hand wash something I then hang it in the bathroom to dry, and it ends up stiff & uncomfortable. Maybe it’s different outside if it’s a windy day, but whenever I’ve done it indoors it comes out stiff.
Uh, yeah. Because otherwise the fabric will practically stand up by itself after drying in the same position for hours.
We simply can’t do it here - we have pollen issues and my youngest son has severe reactions to some kinds of it. If it was in his clothing he would be done for.
We have done a lot to make our home more energy efficient in the last few years, such that our energy bills are far lower than those of most of my neighbors. We have a brand new heat pump, new windows, and a high-efficiency washer. Given all of this I will run my dryer and not feel an ounce of guilt.
dryers are better for those with allergies. as mentioned above pollen is an issue. also the heat of the dryer helps with dust mites.
San Diego reporting in - we have a ridiculous amount of days of perfect sunny weather (probably 350+a year) and only the very poor use clothlines. My community has Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&R) we had to sign when moving in that specifically says you cannot dry clothes outside, along with rules for what plants you are allowed to plant in the front of your house, ability to paint, park cars, etc. And these HOA people mean business.
My neighbors painted their shutters a nice dark red and the HOA people told them within 24 hrs they either had to select one of the pre-approved colors and re-paint, or go through a lengthy amendment process to the CC&Rs to get their new color approved. They did the amendment process just to screw with them, which literally involved getting signature from the entire street saying we were o.k. with the color. :rolleyes:
All that said, I still don’t think I’d ever hand dry my clothes because 1) too easy for someone to steal them 2) takes too long and if I forget and leave them overnight, they get wet again with dew 3) too easy for them to get dirty again from falling off the line, bird shitting on them, dirt/dust getting on them, etc. Even with sweaters and things of that nature, we dry them on a stand in our spare shower inside the house
The ham radio community has big problems with HOAs. Many have a total ban on any sort of outdoor antennas. We’re not necessarily talking about big towers or anything here. Often anything above roof level is banned so not even the thinnest near invisible vertical whip on the side of a house or a wire up a tree is permitted.
In discussions on ham forums there are usually people who will say “you knew what you were agreeing to when you bought the place” which may well be true but apparently in many areas it’s almost impossible to buy anything not controlled by an HOA and most take the easy way out and have standard “you can’t do anything” type rules.
Some towns or cities make it mandatory for new developments to have an HOA. The cities like this because the more things that they can push onto the HOAs the fewer local laws and general hassles the city needs to deal with and enforce.
Heck, my buddy got a note on his truck reminding him that he was violating HOA rules by leaving the ladders on his truck overnight. Imagine if he’d had underwear flapping around, visible.
Here’s my old house in suburban St. Louis. I think I could have run through back yards down the whole block. If there were fences, they were chain link, or our back yard had a split rail fence that was no barrier to anyone. The kids went through and the adults went over.
If you put wet clothes out in below-freezing weather, they won’t freeze? How does this work?
Probably even an unheated attic laundry room in a heated house doesn’t actually get below freezing, or at least that’s my guess at the explanation. What with hot air rising and all.
I posted this link on Facebook when the article came out and it provoked several comments. Europeans and Antipodeans found it hard to believe that people in the US, even those who live in sunnier and drier climates, always used dryers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/us/11clothesline.html?_r=1