The Blonde Diaries

I was about to head to bed tonight when a quirky headline caught my attention on Yahoo News: U.S. Residents fight for the right to hang laundry. The article discusses the growing battle between homeowners who want to hang dry their laundry on clotheslines in their backyards and neighborhood associations and local government officials who want to outlaw the practice because it makes the neighborhood look “trashy”. The argument for hang drying laundry includes lowering electricity bills from not running the dryer which, according to the article, accounts for 6% of your electric bill each month (on average $83!).

I live in an apartment complex and we are not allowed to hang dry outside. I’ve never given it a thought as there is just no space to hang dry outside. My husband and I do hang dry inside of our apartment by hanging our clothes on hangers in every doorway we can find (the shower curtain is not anchored to handle hanging clothes). I find that hang drying keeps our clothes looking new, soft, and the appropriate size whereas drying tends to shrink clothing and fades it fairly fast. So other than the environmental and energy saving reasons, I can see the pros from a clothes usage standpoint.

Growing up, my grandmother hung dry her laundry outside in her backyard. She lived out in the country and the sight of her and my grandfather’s clothing, “flapping in the wind” as the article calls it, was not offensive to anyone. I didn’t mind it when I went to visit and actually found it rather fun to hang the clothes on the line with clothes pins. I will say though that I did not like the feel of the clothes after they dried on the line. For some reason they were always stiff and rough but that is not really part of the argument here.

So what do you think? Are you for or against hanging clothes outside to dry? Do you find the practice offensive or “trashy”? Do you think this is another example of home owner associations and the government overstepping their boundaries and infringing on our rights? I would love to hear some opinions on this topic.

Tags: budget, clothes, dry, hang, hang dry, laundry, line dry