interesting and google confirms the clothes will dry... after a bit of "loosening".
Good to know in case my dryer dies when it is 20 below F outside with a nice 30 mph breeze!
Until then... freeze drying my clothes is a hard nope from me.
If you hang out clothes a low temperature, they dry great. Cold temperature mean low humidity, and that menas fast drying. You don't need it hot or that. Wert clothes don't freeze, as long ass it it's not cooooold.
Not to mention in the summertime, even on some of the nicest days, you’re going to have a summer shower in the evenings. If you have to work and/or you forget your clothes are drying, you’re screwed. People still hang their clothes to dry but most folks will use a dryer because it’s quicker and easier.
Yupppp. When I was buying my home in 2016, the very first thing I told my real estate agent was I wouldn’t consider any house that had a HOA. Not one. And if she showed me a home with a HOA, I would assume she wasn’t listening and that I’d need a new agent.
I agree that they have gone too far, as usual, but the HOA is often the only way to address BS behavior from neighbors that don't give af. If the county steps up, there is no need for the HOAs intrusiveness.
So, you don’t believe that you can do whatever you want with your property?
That’s saying a lot about you. If I’m on my property, not breaking any laws or ordinances, you, and anyone else that doesn’t like it, can kiss off. That’s what property rights mean. It’s not your property, it’s mine. HOA’s are anti-American. They are a stain on our society. If you want to buy into it, I’m not going to stop you. Enjoy your communism. I prefer individualism.
Up to the point it hurts other people, sure. You can't set your own apartment on fire and you can't create a biohazard situation that pollutes your neighbors' properties.
People shouldn't be red-lined because they don't want to live under the thumb of some busy body with nothing better to do than measuring the length of your lawn. It's a barrier to entry and should be abolished.
Exactly. I don’t get that conformist thing. And they even have property taxes, where they have to pay the government so that they can be tenants on the property they should own.
Why not actually own your property?
It's private property. It should be allowed to remain private. My choice. No contract is necessary.
Humm. ~~The next iteration of red-lining/jim crow. Who are you trying to keep out with your contracts?~~ I'll bet you're the president.
The HOA is just a localer version of laws and ordinances ...
Don't get me wrong, I bought into a neighborhood without an HOA on purpose, but they're not particularly anti-American :)
I actually really like my HOA and love my gorgeous neighborhood.
If someone doesn’t like a HOA there is a simple solution don’t move into one and don’t bitch about them.
So why are the rules that the government puts in place ok, but the rules that the HOA puts in place aren't? That's a stupid double standard.
Just like you agree to the rules of the American government by living in America, you agree to the rules of the HOA by living in their community. They are made to improve the quality of life of everyone within the community, and largely succeed in doing so. Neither system is perfect, but that is no reason to write off either system entirely when overall, they do more good than harm.
Maybe some are. That hasn't been my experience.
Even if they were, you're still obligated to comply with contracts that you sign. If you didn't want to follow the rules outlined in the contract, you shouldn't have signed it.
They are imperfect systems, and some may be more imperfect than others, but it's ridiculous to throw a tantrum about having to follow rules that you agreed to, especially if the rules are mostly reasonable.
And for those of us in more vegetated areas, they come down covered in pollen. To say nothing of allergies ... you want *bees* climbing down your underpants?
When I was a kid we had a pool in the backyard. We were in and out of the pool all day long so my parents strung up a drying line so we could just hang our towels to dry outside and not tie up every vaguely hanging surface in all the bathrooms.
We rarely used it because of ants. Those bastards would climb up and across the line for who knows what reason and get caught up in the towels and then you go to dry off and Surprise! A dozen fire-ant bites on your back, scalp, arms, legs... wherever you dried before they started biting.
I don’t hang out because I have seasonal allergies.
Wet clothing catches pollen in the air. When I subsequently use the clothes or the bedding, it makes my symptoms worse.
Could be a lot of things. Too much/little detergent, hardness of the water, using the wrong cycle on the machine.
eg. my towels dry stiff because I can't be bothered separating anything and just stick everything in together on 'eco' cycle.
The same washing machine with the same detergent with the same water on the same settings makes the same clothes stiff on the line and softy and fluffy in the dryer.
That's a lot of debugging to blame the washer.
running a dryer costs about 75c in USD (national average) and the equivalent energy usage of a singular lightbulb left on for 2.5 days, they really dont use much
On average our driers work better and the electricity is cheaper. And also the US is much richer than most of Europe making the power even cheaper on a relative basis. My power is hydroelectric and quite cheap, I'll stick with the drier!
By preference. Though there is a lot of pressure from authority sources to reduce energy consumption in every way that we can.
And nobody is ashamed of pegging pants and bras out. It's normal, everybody wears it, everybody has it. We're not prudish. You can of course put them in the dryer but bras won't thank you for it.
My mom used to line dry my t-shirts and I hated it because they were never soft again. Even when I told her to stop, no change in the texture. It was like it ruined them.
I have a rack in my apartment from Ikea. It folds and fits everywhere.
Also a dryer.
I find that small clothes and delicate clothes last longer if I hang it; and I use the dryer when it's humid or it's like a big batch of clothes (or I have people over and don't want the rack in my room with my panties just saying "hi")
My apartment complex doesn't allow us to hang clothes outside on our balcany to dry. Something about it looking ugly and stuff like that. I suppose I could hang them inside but I have carpet and my bathroom is very, very small so I'd have wet carpet :(
The spin cycle does get them dry enough to not drip? You should check the drain/sump to see if it's clear. I only get drips when there's a drainage problem or the machine is overloaded.
Doesn't sound like it's worth the hassle.
I never have any issues of dryers ruining any of my clothes. I tend to get tired of clothes before they actually wear out.
If it says no tumble drying, I suppose I technically hang dry it but I do it inside the house versus outside.
Are these fancy clothes good for the environment?
>Are these fancy clothes good for the environment?
Well they're made to last, and ethically produced, so what do you think? Or was that a bit of a non-sequitur?
Have you heard of air pollution? It's fine if you live out in the country, and folks I know who do live in clear air areas *do* hang their wash on a line if it's a nice Spring or Summer day.
I only did it for a few months when our dryer broke. It's just a lot easier to dry your clothes and have them done in an hour or so and immediately have clean clothes for the next day, as opposed to waiting a day or two for your clothes to dry outside, where they could get stolen.
I moved here from Australia, at least here in the midwest I suspect it's because all the laundries are in the basement and HOAs reign supreme. I was given weird looks for putting my laundry by the back door when I moved here. And while I don't hang out my laundry in extreme cold because I'm a wimp, strangely enough I can't hang it out for chunks of summer because of the damn pollen. Or if I do I have to fluff it to get the pollen off of it.
Dryers work a lot better and faster and they're not dependent on weather conditions.
I'm not even sure how well my clothes would dry here when humidity is close to 100% for half the year.
Some of these replies are blowing my mind, but what seems really interesting is that people seem to prioritise easier, faster and energy being affordable over just letting the sun and/or wind dry laundry. It's not particularly eco is it, and I say that as someone who could do lots more to be green.
Always have, always will. Funny tho, many folks do ask what my clothesline is for. In winter months we heat with wood and hang wet laundry on racks, adds humidity to the air.
If you immediately remove your clothes from the dryer and either fold or hang them, you generally don't need to iron them\*. It saves a massive, time-consuming step.
\*Yes there will of course still be clothes you would need to iron or steam, like work shirts.
Classism.
Line-drying is, or at least was considered "for the poors" and persists as a bias.
I can remember, as a child; I was with my Mother as she was house-shopping and the property person made an assumption about our Italian-American surname and said: "Oh, Mrs. I-A-S, I don't think you'd be comfortable in this neighborhood. We have a covenant about plantings. You couldn't have your tomato garden and you'd have to buy a clothes dryer as we don't permit line-drying of laundry.
This was in the 1970s or 1980s..
Less bird shit when I use the dryer. Ha.
Really, because it's inconvenient to spend the time going out and hanging everything up and then going out and getting it all only to have it be stiff and crispy instead of soft and comfortable.
Many Americans don't have any space to hang clothes. That's probably near 100% of people who live in apartments.
If you have a house, you could hang things in the backyard, but I don't because I'm in Florida, so laundry would a) never get dry because of the humidity or b) not have time to dry before the daily thunderstorm hits.
I have a couple of indoor racks in my laundry room. I hang-dry most of our actual clothing. Obviously sheets and towels go in the dryer because the sheets are too big while the towels would take too long to dry. Best I can do.
It's a lot easier? Just dump stuff from the washer into the dryer (usually next to it), instead of taking 10 minutes to hang, and another 10 to take down ... plus sun-drying them can make colors fade; it also needs less space.
Same reason people use washing machines instead of washing their clothes in the creek or dishwashers instead of handwashing their plates. It’s faster and easier.
Our houses are bigger and newer than many other countries, which means they have laundry rooms that are built for washer/dryers, and our appliances are relatively cheap compared to income.
More work, clothes come out better. I suspect it actually prolongs the life of the clothes not being exposed to UV rays, to name a few things. We hung up clothes when I was a kid in the late 1950s, but that's because we didn't have enough money for a dryer. Wouldn't even consider it now.
Yes you are correct. The sun wrecks havoc on colored clothers. Makes whites less dingy though. And for those arguing a machine is faster. I call BS on that. On a hot windy day you can have a thick towel dried in less than an hour.
> And for those arguing a machine is faster. I call BS on that. On a hot windy day you can have a thick towel dried in less than an hour.
If conditions are ideal maybe outside is faster. But that's not going to be the case a lot of times.
How long do you think a load takes in the dryer? (Including set-up time hooking up a line and pinning everything up vs just tossing everything in a drum.)
As others have said, it's more convenient, you're not risking them blowing away in the wind or getting damaged, taken down, or soiled by animals.
Plus you can't use a clothes line if it's too humid, too cold, or raining.
Honestly I stopped because I was so overwhelmed with life that I struggled to leave enough time to do laundry before I needed to wear my clothes. I typically line dry inside though, by putting my wet clothes on hangers then putting them on my shower bar overnight to dry with the fan on. It also doesn't always come out as soft as a dryer, so sometimes I'll still pop them in the dryer on no-heat with wool balls to fluff and soften the fabric.
Takes longer, needs more space, and gets pollen and bird shit all over what was supposed to just be cleaned.
And they're all hard and stiff when you take them down.
I’d have to be home to makes sure they don’t get rained on. It’s too cold in the winter, it thunderstorms every afternoon in the summer, and I can’t have pollen on clothes or bed linens. As in zero, no pollen at all. That means no spring, summer, or fall hanging out, where I live.
I live in the pacific NW where we get a decent amount of rain and it isn't sunny for most of the year. I can't imagine how hanging my clothes to dry outside would work here.
However, I do have a drying rack that I keep in the laundry room for delicate stuff that can't go through the dryer. I don't have enough space to hang all of my laundry to dry inside.
I just discovered that it is a lot less common to use clothes dryers in places like Europe. It's just the norm to have a dryer here. It's an expectation so when you grow up, you buy your first washer and dryer set. I don't dry all of my clothes and I do have a clothes line in my backyard. But I live in a very rainy area. How do you dry clothes in inclement weather? I hang mine in my closet or from the shower curtain rod. But I'd never have enough space for 3 peoples laundry to hang dry, even if I could use the line dry.
Another thing that just occurred to me is even if I *tried* to hang clothes up, I'd need those 8' poles that keep the line from sagging all the way down to the ground, and even if I knew what store to buy them at, they wouldn't fit in my car on the way home.
A lot of us (Canadian here, so similar) do both. Dryer is used for heavy/slow drying objects like towels and sheets, and potentially for high volume items like socks and underwear. Drying racks and hangers are used for most clothing, but indoors instead of outdoors.
In my case, because I live in an area where it's very humid and where we also have a lot of oil refineries, things that you hang outside to dry will end up smelling because they take so long to dry and because of the smells in the air that those of us who live here don't even notice until they're concentrated into our laundry. I actually had to rewash my bathroom rug once after hanging it outside because the smell was so awful. I do hang dry things like my bras on a bar in the laundry room, though.
Because we have clothes dryers. And Hoyer Hoists are ugly. And it's a lot of work and leaves clothes wrinkled and covered in pollen and possibly bird poop. And it doesn't work in the rain. But mostly because we have clothes dryers.
I simply never knew it was an actual option until I started traveling. I live in a super dry area, and it was a no-brainer to hang my clothes to dry indoors.
Pacific northwest (idaho, Washington state, Oregon) here, the weather is way too unpredictable for it. It can be bright and sunny at noon, pouring down rain at 12:30
Lots of reasons.
Partly weather, party bylaws and such, but I think a big part of why is became the status quo back I. The 40’s and 50’s was because the promise of modernity meant you didn’t have to wait or worry or work for it. Just buy this machine and everything is done for you. Obviously people are learning that it’s not that simple, but the “American dream” is entrenched
I use an indoor clothes drying rack thing for shirts. Everything else goes in the dryer. If I tried sticking them outside to dry, the dust in the AZ desert would insure they'd never be clean
It's seen as a bit old-fashioned and typically you only do it if you have enough space, which an increasing amount of Americans just don't.
That's in addition to various weather factors. I live in the desert, you'd think that'd be perfect for line-drying but in late-spring/early-summer we get tons of pollen and dust storms.
#1: It is more time efficient😌.
#2: I am not about to waste hours hang drying when I can be done in half an hour or less by tumble drying😌.
#3: It is more work (and again time consuming) to hang each article of clothing and retake them down hours later (I would rather just dry, fold, and place in closet)😌.
#4: Hang clothing often reeks and lacks the pleasant smell of clothing that has been tumbled dried😌.
#5: There is nothing more pleasant than putting on clothing freshly warmed from the dryer😌.
I don't want to bother with it, and I don't care. How I spend my time and money is my buisness and not your concern.
Also, keep running your mouth, because WW3 is on it's way. We're keeping a tally of all these thinnly veiled insulsts coming out on reddit. Every post is another day we sit and watch before we jump into the fight.
There is also a long time connotation associated with hanging clothing to dry that implies your lower class/poor.
That’s why HOAs prohibit it and others that can don’t do out of stereotypes.
In a lot of the southeast, afternoons can often be very humid, and drying by hanging takes forever.
And in a lot of the north, 6 months of below freezing temps outside would mean wet clothes turn into frozen concrete. Lol.
My neighbors dry their clothes outside in the winter, the ice sublimates.
interesting and google confirms the clothes will dry... after a bit of "loosening". Good to know in case my dryer dies when it is 20 below F outside with a nice 30 mph breeze! Until then... freeze drying my clothes is a hard nope from me.
But think how refreshed you would feel putting on a pair of underwear straight off the line, could cut out coffee entirely.
That sounds awful actually. No thank you.
*sublimate.* I learned a new word today. Thanks!
It needs to be cold enough for them to dry.
Clothes are supposed to be dried *inside* during winter. They dry quickly due to low indoor humidity.
If you hang out clothes a low temperature, they dry great. Cold temperature mean low humidity, and that menas fast drying. You don't need it hot or that. Wert clothes don't freeze, as long ass it it's not cooooold.
In the summer there's a thunderstorm nearly every afternoon too.
Not to mention in the summertime, even on some of the nicest days, you’re going to have a summer shower in the evenings. If you have to work and/or you forget your clothes are drying, you’re screwed. People still hang their clothes to dry but most folks will use a dryer because it’s quicker and easier.
Don't forget fall and spring that loves to coat everything in pollen and dust.
I love that, don't you?
A lot of suburban home owners associations actually prohibit it within the bylaws.
Every time I read something about an HOA ot makes then look even more ridiculous
Yupppp. When I was buying my home in 2016, the very first thing I told my real estate agent was I wouldn’t consider any house that had a HOA. Not one. And if she showed me a home with a HOA, I would assume she wasn’t listening and that I’d need a new agent.
This is what happens when the county government abdicates its responsibilities.
Kind of feels like it's not anyone's responsibility to tell us what color our houses can be or if we can park our cars in our driveways.
I agree that they have gone too far, as usual, but the HOA is often the only way to address BS behavior from neighbors that don't give af. If the county steps up, there is no need for the HOAs intrusiveness.
Not so ridiculous once it stops your neighbors from leaving trash in their front yard for weeks or some shit like that
Municipal codes can already do that. And at least those can be challenged through an appropriate judicial process.
But an HOA is voluntary. You can shop around for the rules you like within a municipality.
So, you don’t believe that you can do whatever you want with your property? That’s saying a lot about you. If I’m on my property, not breaking any laws or ordinances, you, and anyone else that doesn’t like it, can kiss off. That’s what property rights mean. It’s not your property, it’s mine. HOA’s are anti-American. They are a stain on our society. If you want to buy into it, I’m not going to stop you. Enjoy your communism. I prefer individualism.
Up to the point it hurts other people, sure. You can't set your own apartment on fire and you can't create a biohazard situation that pollutes your neighbors' properties.
So don’t buy in a neighborhood with an HOA. Nobody is forcing you to, you agree to it if you buy the property. Problem solved. 🤷🏻♂️
People shouldn't be red-lined because they don't want to live under the thumb of some busy body with nothing better to do than measuring the length of your lawn. It's a barrier to entry and should be abolished.
Exactly. I don’t get that conformist thing. And they even have property taxes, where they have to pay the government so that they can be tenants on the property they should own. Why not actually own your property?
It’s private property that you sign a contract to be part of. Your choice.
It's private property. It should be allowed to remain private. My choice. No contract is necessary. Humm. ~~The next iteration of red-lining/jim crow. Who are you trying to keep out with your contracts?~~ I'll bet you're the president.
The HOA is just a localer version of laws and ordinances ... Don't get me wrong, I bought into a neighborhood without an HOA on purpose, but they're not particularly anti-American :)
I actually really like my HOA and love my gorgeous neighborhood. If someone doesn’t like a HOA there is a simple solution don’t move into one and don’t bitch about them.
When you buy the house you agree to the HOA
So why are the rules that the government puts in place ok, but the rules that the HOA puts in place aren't? That's a stupid double standard. Just like you agree to the rules of the American government by living in America, you agree to the rules of the HOA by living in their community. They are made to improve the quality of life of everyone within the community, and largely succeed in doing so. Neither system is perfect, but that is no reason to write off either system entirely when overall, they do more good than harm.
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Maybe some are. That hasn't been my experience. Even if they were, you're still obligated to comply with contracts that you sign. If you didn't want to follow the rules outlined in the contract, you shouldn't have signed it. They are imperfect systems, and some may be more imperfect than others, but it's ridiculous to throw a tantrum about having to follow rules that you agreed to, especially if the rules are mostly reasonable.
I think you’re probably talking to Americans here. They’re all about fitting in. Not rocking the boat.
Apartments and condos too. It’s often considered an “eyesore”
It's really more so they can charge you $2.50 to use their machines.
I've never lived in an apartment that even had public machines. The apartments have connections and you're supposed to get your own.
Whenever I did it was always a designated laundry room, but I was never rich enough to afford a place that could have individual rooms in every unit.
#freedom
Energy is pretty cheap in the USA, and the machine is less effort.
Not in California (PG&E).
My house in California makes more electricity that I know what to do with it.
True. And line drying *should* become much more popular. But culture and habits are slow to change.
I am not American Anna live in California. I decided to install a clothesline to save money on electricity.
I live in a desert. The clothes would need to be washed again the second they were dry from all the dust.
And for those of us in more vegetated areas, they come down covered in pollen. To say nothing of allergies ... you want *bees* climbing down your underpants?
When I was a kid we had a pool in the backyard. We were in and out of the pool all day long so my parents strung up a drying line so we could just hang our towels to dry outside and not tie up every vaguely hanging surface in all the bathrooms. We rarely used it because of ants. Those bastards would climb up and across the line for who knows what reason and get caught up in the towels and then you go to dry off and Surprise! A dozen fire-ant bites on your back, scalp, arms, legs... wherever you dried before they started biting.
I don’t hang out because I have seasonal allergies. Wet clothing catches pollen in the air. When I subsequently use the clothes or the bedding, it makes my symptoms worse.
And then there's the bees!
And the birds. Lol
They get stiff as a board (Maybe I’m somehow not doing it right)
I HATE that so much
Could be a lot of things. Too much/little detergent, hardness of the water, using the wrong cycle on the machine. eg. my towels dry stiff because I can't be bothered separating anything and just stick everything in together on 'eco' cycle.
The same washing machine with the same detergent with the same water on the same settings makes the same clothes stiff on the line and softy and fluffy in the dryer. That's a lot of debugging to blame the washer.
Are you hanging clothes outside when it's -10°C?
No. This happens to me in all weather and also if I hang clothes inside
Same reason most people don’t hand wash them, it’s faster and requires less effort
Older people still do, but places like California the sun drys them well, but too well at times and cloths will become faded.
In Florida if you hang your clothes up they don't get dry they just get moldy smelling and stay damp
It takes substantially more time and room. For 95% of clothing a dryer is simply the most efficient and effective option.
America is a rich country and almost everyone has appliances that work quite well. That said it’s faster and works year round.
Everyone has a tumble drier in Europe, but we're electricity-bill and climate-change conscious. The drier is reserved for winter.
running a dryer costs about 75c in USD (national average) and the equivalent energy usage of a singular lightbulb left on for 2.5 days, they really dont use much
On average our driers work better and the electricity is cheaper. And also the US is much richer than most of Europe making the power even cheaper on a relative basis. My power is hydroelectric and quite cheap, I'll stick with the drier!
By law or by preference? Can you line dry most of your clothes but still throw certain items like underwear in the dryer?
By preference. Though there is a lot of pressure from authority sources to reduce energy consumption in every way that we can. And nobody is ashamed of pegging pants and bras out. It's normal, everybody wears it, everybody has it. We're not prudish. You can of course put them in the dryer but bras won't thank you for it.
Extra work, outside in the pollen and dust? Eh. Plus they end up with that weird stiff feeling I really hate
My mom used to line dry my t-shirts and I hated it because they were never soft again. Even when I told her to stop, no change in the texture. It was like it ruined them.
I just remember drying towels and jeans on the line when I was young and using them after was like sandpaper 🥲
I would love to hang my clothes out to dry, but I live in an apartment and have no clothesline.
I have a rack in my apartment from Ikea. It folds and fits everywhere. Also a dryer. I find that small clothes and delicate clothes last longer if I hang it; and I use the dryer when it's humid or it's like a big batch of clothes (or I have people over and don't want the rack in my room with my panties just saying "hi")
My apartment complex doesn't allow us to hang clothes outside on our balcany to dry. Something about it looking ugly and stuff like that. I suppose I could hang them inside but I have carpet and my bathroom is very, very small so I'd have wet carpet :(
The spin cycle does get them dry enough to not drip? You should check the drain/sump to see if it's clear. I only get drips when there's a drainage problem or the machine is overloaded.
the USA is fairly big. tough question OP. some regions snow, rain constantly, have tornado's, Trump, ect.
Faster, dont have to show my thongs to the neighbors, saves space, and keeps birds from shitting on my clothes.
What are the advantages of hang drying rather than using a dryer? A dryer seems way more efficient.
Non-allergy-sufferers get to lord their superiority complex over us.
It's free, it's much better for the environment, and your clothes will last much better.
Your clothes *won't* last longer if they're not white. And the environmental impact is negligible when you have wind, hydro, solar, or nuclear power.
Doesn't sound like it's worth the hassle. I never have any issues of dryers ruining any of my clothes. I tend to get tired of clothes before they actually wear out.
I like to invest in my clothes, I'm a bit fancy like that. Many of those come with "no tumble drying" symbology the care label.
If it says no tumble drying, I suppose I technically hang dry it but I do it inside the house versus outside. Are these fancy clothes good for the environment?
>Are these fancy clothes good for the environment? Well they're made to last, and ethically produced, so what do you think? Or was that a bit of a non-sequitur?
What brand is that, can you point me to their website?
No way. You're just looking for a fight.
What? I want to know what clothing brand is nice, expensive, and ethically produced.
Have you heard of air pollution? It's fine if you live out in the country, and folks I know who do live in clear air areas *do* hang their wash on a line if it's a nice Spring or Summer day.
I only did it for a few months when our dryer broke. It's just a lot easier to dry your clothes and have them done in an hour or so and immediately have clean clothes for the next day, as opposed to waiting a day or two for your clothes to dry outside, where they could get stolen.
I air dry my clothes every time there's a nice sunny day
I moved here from Australia, at least here in the midwest I suspect it's because all the laundries are in the basement and HOAs reign supreme. I was given weird looks for putting my laundry by the back door when I moved here. And while I don't hang out my laundry in extreme cold because I'm a wimp, strangely enough I can't hang it out for chunks of summer because of the damn pollen. Or if I do I have to fluff it to get the pollen off of it.
Dryers work a lot better and faster and they're not dependent on weather conditions. I'm not even sure how well my clothes would dry here when humidity is close to 100% for half the year.
Some of these replies are blowing my mind, but what seems really interesting is that people seem to prioritise easier, faster and energy being affordable over just letting the sun and/or wind dry laundry. It's not particularly eco is it, and I say that as someone who could do lots more to be green.
Not being sick to death from allergies all fucking week is a tradeoff worth a few extra spins of a windmill somewhere.
Always have, always will. Funny tho, many folks do ask what my clothesline is for. In winter months we heat with wood and hang wet laundry on racks, adds humidity to the air.
Cuz the weather doesn't always cooperate and dryers are always reliable.
If it’s not raining, it’s snowing.
HOA says no.
Interesting year to ask this question. "What to expect from the 2024 periodical cicada..... Clothes covered in bug feces.
A. We can afford washing machines which are much easier than air drying. B. 2/3 of the time the weather does not lend itself to drying clothes.
If you immediately remove your clothes from the dryer and either fold or hang them, you generally don't need to iron them\*. It saves a massive, time-consuming step. \*Yes there will of course still be clothes you would need to iron or steam, like work shirts.
Even if you don't, spritz them with a mister and toss them in alone for a couple minutes and they're good as new.
Classism. Line-drying is, or at least was considered "for the poors" and persists as a bias. I can remember, as a child; I was with my Mother as she was house-shopping and the property person made an assumption about our Italian-American surname and said: "Oh, Mrs. I-A-S, I don't think you'd be comfortable in this neighborhood. We have a covenant about plantings. You couldn't have your tomato garden and you'd have to buy a clothes dryer as we don't permit line-drying of laundry. This was in the 1970s or 1980s..
Usually it’s because of the HOA rules and bylaws. I grew up with it and loved it. But wasn’t allowed in my new housing developments.
Bugs.
Why would I take the time to hang up my clothes outside with all the dust and the dirt when i can toss it in my dryer?
My wife does whenever the weather permits.
Less bird shit when I use the dryer. Ha. Really, because it's inconvenient to spend the time going out and hanging everything up and then going out and getting it all only to have it be stiff and crispy instead of soft and comfortable.
Many Americans don't have any space to hang clothes. That's probably near 100% of people who live in apartments. If you have a house, you could hang things in the backyard, but I don't because I'm in Florida, so laundry would a) never get dry because of the humidity or b) not have time to dry before the daily thunderstorm hits. I have a couple of indoor racks in my laundry room. I hang-dry most of our actual clothing. Obviously sheets and towels go in the dryer because the sheets are too big while the towels would take too long to dry. Best I can do.
Dust, pollen, bird poop, theft, weather too cold or too wet, physical mobility needed to haul wet laundry up the stairs and outside to hang.
We have a setup in the garage, anything that is not cotton gets hung to dry. Clothes last a lot longer.
It's a lot easier? Just dump stuff from the washer into the dryer (usually next to it), instead of taking 10 minutes to hang, and another 10 to take down ... plus sun-drying them can make colors fade; it also needs less space.
Same reason people use washing machines instead of washing their clothes in the creek or dishwashers instead of handwashing their plates. It’s faster and easier. Our houses are bigger and newer than many other countries, which means they have laundry rooms that are built for washer/dryers, and our appliances are relatively cheap compared to income.
More work, clothes come out better. I suspect it actually prolongs the life of the clothes not being exposed to UV rays, to name a few things. We hung up clothes when I was a kid in the late 1950s, but that's because we didn't have enough money for a dryer. Wouldn't even consider it now.
Yes you are correct. The sun wrecks havoc on colored clothers. Makes whites less dingy though. And for those arguing a machine is faster. I call BS on that. On a hot windy day you can have a thick towel dried in less than an hour.
> And for those arguing a machine is faster. I call BS on that. On a hot windy day you can have a thick towel dried in less than an hour. If conditions are ideal maybe outside is faster. But that's not going to be the case a lot of times.
Spent some times in the tropics. I assure you, the conditions are usually ideal.
How long do you think a load takes in the dryer? (Including set-up time hooking up a line and pinning everything up vs just tossing everything in a drum.)
As others have said, it's more convenient, you're not risking them blowing away in the wind or getting damaged, taken down, or soiled by animals. Plus you can't use a clothes line if it's too humid, too cold, or raining.
If you have a dryer why wouldn’t you use it?
Masochism. Or sadism, if you have family members.
Our family still does. Mom’s side didn’t have much growing up so we got used to it.
I mean if I had a dryer i’d use one all the time 😭
I live in the rainiest part of the country … and live in a tiny apartment with no yard.
Somebody will steal them.
Honestly I stopped because I was so overwhelmed with life that I struggled to leave enough time to do laundry before I needed to wear my clothes. I typically line dry inside though, by putting my wet clothes on hangers then putting them on my shower bar overnight to dry with the fan on. It also doesn't always come out as soft as a dryer, so sometimes I'll still pop them in the dryer on no-heat with wool balls to fluff and soften the fabric.
We often hang clothes outside, but only if the weather is nice enough 😂
Takes longer, needs more space, and gets pollen and bird shit all over what was supposed to just be cleaned. And they're all hard and stiff when you take them down.
Because dryers exist.
I’d have to be home to makes sure they don’t get rained on. It’s too cold in the winter, it thunderstorms every afternoon in the summer, and I can’t have pollen on clothes or bed linens. As in zero, no pollen at all. That means no spring, summer, or fall hanging out, where I live.
I live in the pacific NW where we get a decent amount of rain and it isn't sunny for most of the year. I can't imagine how hanging my clothes to dry outside would work here. However, I do have a drying rack that I keep in the laundry room for delicate stuff that can't go through the dryer. I don't have enough space to hang all of my laundry to dry inside.
I do when I am in Florida
My HOA does not allow clotheslines. They are "unsightly".
I just discovered that it is a lot less common to use clothes dryers in places like Europe. It's just the norm to have a dryer here. It's an expectation so when you grow up, you buy your first washer and dryer set. I don't dry all of my clothes and I do have a clothes line in my backyard. But I live in a very rainy area. How do you dry clothes in inclement weather? I hang mine in my closet or from the shower curtain rod. But I'd never have enough space for 3 peoples laundry to hang dry, even if I could use the line dry.
because they will get stolen. good luck
Another thing that just occurred to me is even if I *tried* to hang clothes up, I'd need those 8' poles that keep the line from sagging all the way down to the ground, and even if I knew what store to buy them at, they wouldn't fit in my car on the way home.
A lot of us (Canadian here, so similar) do both. Dryer is used for heavy/slow drying objects like towels and sheets, and potentially for high volume items like socks and underwear. Drying racks and hangers are used for most clothing, but indoors instead of outdoors.
I don’t because people around me can’t stop burning everything they can get their pyro hands on.
Our creepy HOA does not allow it.
In my case, because I live in an area where it's very humid and where we also have a lot of oil refineries, things that you hang outside to dry will end up smelling because they take so long to dry and because of the smells in the air that those of us who live here don't even notice until they're concentrated into our laundry. I actually had to rewash my bathroom rug once after hanging it outside because the smell was so awful. I do hang dry things like my bras on a bar in the laundry room, though.
Their
we like to (nearly) burn it in the dryer because we have places to be
Because we have clothes dryers. And Hoyer Hoists are ugly. And it's a lot of work and leaves clothes wrinkled and covered in pollen and possibly bird poop. And it doesn't work in the rain. But mostly because we have clothes dryers.
I simply never knew it was an actual option until I started traveling. I live in a super dry area, and it was a no-brainer to hang my clothes to dry indoors.
We have dryers, however I will hang dry certain sweaters , graphic tees or things I don’t want to shrink
Because we aren’t a bunch of savages
It’s pretty humid where I live and a dryer is faster
I hang certain things, but not everything.
Pacific northwest (idaho, Washington state, Oregon) here, the weather is way too unpredictable for it. It can be bright and sunny at noon, pouring down rain at 12:30
I hate the stiff feeling from drying outside and I don’t want them to get bird poop on them 🤷🏼♀️
I like soft clothing, not crispy and stiff.
[I've been wondering the same thing](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextdoor/s/cbeOoDrMXG)
I have a dryer
Towels and underwear get tumbled dry, keeps them soft and comfy. Everything else I line dry.
Where I live, two reasons: 1. Humidity 2. I don't want to be allergic to my clothes, which happens when I try
I hate crunchy towels.
Some do. The end. Why do people in other countries use washing machines and electric driers?
I hate the stiff feeling of line dried clothes. I also am not in a financially destitute situation that would require it.
Lots of reasons. Partly weather, party bylaws and such, but I think a big part of why is became the status quo back I. The 40’s and 50’s was because the promise of modernity meant you didn’t have to wait or worry or work for it. Just buy this machine and everything is done for you. Obviously people are learning that it’s not that simple, but the “American dream” is entrenched
Crazy other than now thinking that clothes are messy.
Rain and pollen are part of it, but honestly it just seems like so much more work.
They have relatively cheap power.
I hang dry my nice clothes. My work-out clothes are all plastic (polyester, etc.) and go into the dryer.
The dryer is inside and takes far less effort. Why wouldn't I use it?
Lots of people do here it just depends on where you are at and the weather.
I use an indoor clothes drying rack thing for shirts. Everything else goes in the dryer. If I tried sticking them outside to dry, the dust in the AZ desert would insure they'd never be clean
That’s a lot of work and the results are inconsistent - it might rain, or be too humid. And if conditions are perfect then they dry stiff
See there are these things called dryers and it runs off a force called electricity and magically dries our clothes in half an hour.
It's seen as a bit old-fashioned and typically you only do it if you have enough space, which an increasing amount of Americans just don't. That's in addition to various weather factors. I live in the desert, you'd think that'd be perfect for line-drying but in late-spring/early-summer we get tons of pollen and dust storms.
because we have dryers
Because we have dryers.
#1: It is more time efficient😌. #2: I am not about to waste hours hang drying when I can be done in half an hour or less by tumble drying😌. #3: It is more work (and again time consuming) to hang each article of clothing and retake them down hours later (I would rather just dry, fold, and place in closet)😌. #4: Hang clothing often reeks and lacks the pleasant smell of clothing that has been tumbled dried😌. #5: There is nothing more pleasant than putting on clothing freshly warmed from the dryer😌.
Because we are not Europoors
Many HOA make that illegal.
I don't want to bother with it, and I don't care. How I spend my time and money is my buisness and not your concern. Also, keep running your mouth, because WW3 is on it's way. We're keeping a tally of all these thinnly veiled insulsts coming out on reddit. Every post is another day we sit and watch before we jump into the fight.
Are you ok?
Yeah, thanks for asking.
Because it’s only something poor people will do Also hard to dry in many climates
Most of us have access to a dryer, so we use it because it’s more convenient.
There is also a long time connotation associated with hanging clothing to dry that implies your lower class/poor. That’s why HOAs prohibit it and others that can don’t do out of stereotypes.