Solar clothes drying

[Macfrommichigan]

The Wall St. Journal just ran a story on the old fashioned practice of drying clothes on a line in the yard. More popular in Europe than here in the states, tho a drive in the country might reveal sheets on a line.

Gosh, sure remember how good clothes smelled from being in the sun.

Pretty sure my condo association has a rule against it, however.

 

[Toothpick]

A rule against drying your clothes on a clothes line??

Reason #967 I will never live anywhere with a HOA.

 

[Joshua223]

A rule against drying your clothes on a clothes line??

Reason #967 I will never live anywhere with a HOA.

I want a house with at least 10 acres someday. City is way too crowded. I live near Atlanta now and unfortunately most places have an HOA unless it is an older house.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

A rule against drying your clothes on a clothes line??

Reason #967 I will never live anywhere with a HOA.

LOL. Typical condo is the unit, maybe a patio or balcony. Everything else is common areas. Hence, no clotheslines. You also can't jack your car up, change the oil. If you have a deck, it probably needs to be stained or painted in an approved color. You can't open your door and send Rover out to take care of business; you need to take him out on a leash, pick up after. OTOH, someone else will clean the gutters, cut the grass, shovel the snow.

 

[davent]

A harbinger of great days ahead, clothes drying outside on a warm day at the end of winter. Nothing better after a hot shower then drying off with a fresh nubby towel smelling of the great outdoors.

Even in winter the only things that go in our clothes dryer are bedding and bath towels, everything else gets hung to dry on lines strung in the basement.
dave

 

[Lightcs1776]

That used to be all we did. Now we are in too much of a hurry. Sometimes progress really isnt very much progress.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Macfrommichigan]

A clothesline today says you are too poor to afford a dryer, I guess.

 

[njpaddy]

My mom in the 1950's/60's always hung clothes outside. I remember them being stiff as a board and she had to iron everything. When my wife and I moved into our current house (1/4 acre lots), the neighbor behind me used to clean & oil his guns and hang them on the clothesline. Weird looking out the back door and seeing 10+ rifles hanging on a clothesline, but we couldn't ask for a better neighbor.

 

[FarmerTan]

The War Department and I have our biggest battles over the proper way of hanging out clothes. Fun times.
As to having 10 acres: I have 10 acres, and I'm usually so busy taming 10 acres (at least when I feel good) that I don't enjoy the 10 acres. I almost look forward to arguing with a HOA.
And I too dry most of the clothes on drying racks in the winter around the wood stove.
I'm just too stinking cheap.

 

[Tanuki]

I grew up with clotheslines, getting a dryer was a big step up for our family. Like getting our first seatbelts installed on the family station wagon!

I largely stopped burning hydrocarbons to bring clothes to equilibrium with normal atmospheric humidity when the house emptied of children. I usually hang clothes up on racks (wooden and metal) in the yard during the summer. Rainy season, the racks move into the basement. I’m spoiled, so I often tumble cotton items, no heat, in the dryer. Softens them up. I have to be in a big hurry to dry something in the dryer.

 

[Tanuki]

The War Department and I have our biggest battles over the proper way of hanging out clothes. Fun times.
As to having 10 acres: I have 10 acres, and I'm usually so busy taming 10 acres (at least when I feel good) that I don't enjoy the 10 acres. I almost look forward to arguing with a HOA.
And I too dry most of the clothes on drying racks in the winter around the wood stove.
I'm just too stinking cheap.

Yeah, I’m too stinking cheap. Where I live I can just pass it off as being green, and suddenly my virtue is signaled to everybody. Plus I don’t have to buy a new car. Just more razors.

 

[FarmerTan]

Yeah, I’m too stinking cheap. Where I live I can just pass it off as being green, and suddenly my virtue is signaled to everybody. Plus I don’t have to buy a new car. Just more razors.

Yep. My new car is an '07 Toyota Yaris. It was cheap, but I don't mind people thinking I care about the planet, I suppose. I guess it's the only one fit to live on in this solar system, so if making my neighbors look at my holey underwear, Batman, I'm cool with that! Saving the world and lowering home values at the same time.

 

[davent]

As chief launderer there was a laundry list of my wife and daughter's as to which pairs of jeans can go in the dryer, which pairs no dryer, this shirt this sweater, dryer, these no dryer, these things cold water, these hot water, i can't even tell which clothes belong to (grammar help?) whom. The easy way out... everything cold water washed and hung to dry.
dave

 

[FarmerTan]

As chief launderer there was a laundry list of my wife and daughter's as to which pairs of jeans can go in the dryer, which pairs no dryer, this shirt this sweater, dryer, these no dryer, these things cold water, these hot water, i can't even tell which clothes belong to (grammar help?) whom. The easy way out... everything cold water washed and hung to dry.
dave

Smart man. My wife always "fluffs" stuff for "just a minute" and then forgets. My stuff then shrinks, and the police end up getting called.... So now I say leave my stuff wrinkly!

 

[T.Orso]

I have a small urban yard. I love the simple task of putting clothes on the line, listening to the birds and squirrels and neighbours.

I don’t think a dryer saves much time. Clothes are easier to fold coming off the line.

And a towel off the line smells so much better than out of the dryer.

Plus the dryer is busted, actually. But it's glorious summer, so who cares?

 

[cleanshaved]

A cloths line beats a dryer hands down......unless it's raining.
We use both but hanging the washing on the line is first choice. I'm no greenie or a meanie (ok maybe a little bit), it's just better results.

 

[John Rose]

My mom used a clothesline until thy moved into a condo. Even "freeze drying" in the winter worked. Kinda' funny to see a pair of jeans leaning against the wall.

Of course you can't just hang the clothes out in any old order. Stuff has to match, or be in some logical sequence. Otherwise, people might gossip about how lazy or careless you are. There are resources to help you figure it all out.
See clothesline etiquette - Google Search

When we lived in the Arctic, we noted that people never hung out underwear on the line. Only indoors on a rack.

 

[ajkel64]

We use the Hills Hoist (clothes line) all the time. Nothing better than sun dried/air dried clothes etc. Still use the clothes line in Winter when you sometimes have to finish clothes off in the dryer if they are required to wear such as work clothes. I do my laundry and LOTH does hers. No arguments then about turning things inside out to stop fading and how to hang what, which way.

 

[FarmerTan]

My mom used a clothesline until thy moved into a condo. Even "freeze drying" in the winter worked. Kinda' funny to see a pair of jeans leaning against the wall.

Of course you can't just hang the clothes out in any old order. Stuff has to match, or be in some logical sequence. Otherwise, people might gossip about how lazy or careless you are. There are resources to help you figure it all out.
See clothesline etiquette - Google Search

When we lived in the Arctic, we noted that people never hung out underwear on the line. Only indoors on a rack.

My in laws lived in Colorado. My MIL said it was so dry she could dry clothes on the line faster than a dryer.

 

[John Rose]

My in laws lived in Colorado. My MIL said it was so dry she could dry clothes on the line faster than a dryer.

That does not surprise me.
Plus you have the (antibacterial?) benefit of the ultraviolet radiation.