Do you line dry your laundry?

[Dazi]

I hang up my clothes on hangers and then put them on the shower rod. I do try not to weigh it down too much (mostly because of the PITA factor should it ever fall), but things like shirts typically take less than 24 hours to dry that way if I keep a few inches of airflow space between each one. I live in a pretty humid area (PNW) and have no windows or really any airflow in my bathroom.

I'd love a place to hang up my clothes that didn't require moving them to shower, but it works well enough for now if we plan when we do our laundry a little bit strategically.

I found getting a cheap little fan can help a lot when you dry stuff like this. Even one of the tiny 6-7" desktop ones.  Just pointing in a corner or at the ceiling to move the air around will usually get your stuff dry overnight.

I live in Florida and can't hang stuff outside due to the pollen, not to mention the humidity,  but found this method does work.  Now I have a similar setup in my laundry room, with a utility pole that is about the same size as a shower curtain. It takes almost 24 hrs if I don't use the fan, but only about 6 if I do.

[Octavia]

I grew up in a rural area in Midwest USA, and most of my relatives and neighbors line dried their clothes. Most of the places I've lived since then have had rules against clothes lines so I used drying racks and hung clothes on the shower curtain rod in the guest bathroom. Now I have a home with no rules but noticed none of my neighbors hang their clothes out to dry. So I'm still using the sweater racks and shower curtain rod in the bathroom for clothes that cannot go into the clothes dryer.

[Cherry91]

We line dry when the weather cooperates, but that's sadly not very often.

I love the smell of fresh air in clean clothing. Nothing can beat it, and nothing can recreate it!

[amandaelizabeth]

We managed to line dry almost everything.  I think there were four or five days last year when I had to use the dryer.  Somedays it seems that I get a gym workout, rushing outside to bring the washing in as it starts to rain, and then putting it out again.  As someone posted, there is nothing, but nothing that beats the smell of clean sheets dried out side

[katycoo]

I grew up in a rural area in Midwest USA, and most of my relatives and neighbors line dried their clothes. Most of the places I've lived since then have had rules against clothes lines so I used drying racks and hung clothes on the shower curtain rod in the guest bathroom. Now I have a home with no rules but noticed none of my neighbors hang their clothes out to dry. So I'm still using the sweater racks and shower curtain rod in the bathroom for clothes that cannot go into the clothes dryer.

Why do you care what the neighbours do?

[Ceallach]

I grew up in a rural area in Midwest USA, and most of my relatives and neighbors line dried their clothes. Most of the places I've lived since then have had rules against clothes lines so I used drying racks and hung clothes on the shower curtain rod in the guest bathroom. Now I have a home with no rules but noticed none of my neighbors hang their clothes out to dry. So I'm still using the sweater racks and shower curtain rod in the bathroom for clothes that cannot go into the clothes dryer.

Why do you care what the neighbours do?

I thought it was inferred because in the past she lived places with rules against it, so she's used to following the established norm where she's living e.g. where everybody dries their laundry the same way.    Even with no official rules she's following the example set by her neighbours in this regard.   (Not necessary, but understandable).

[miranova]

I really think most of this is just what you grew up doing which becomes your normal.  I really don't know anyone who line dries their clothes, but I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that I live in suburbia, everyone has dryers and I live in a very humid climate.  I would not be opposed to seeing a neighbor's clothes hung to dry; I've just never seen it. 

Personally if I tried to do this, I would never get the laundry done.  I have 7 people in my house.  I'm already doing an average of 15 loads a week.  My backyard is quite far from the laundry room.  It would be an awful lot of work and I don't feel like I'd have nearly enough room to hang everything.  Also where I live we get summer storms just about every afternoon.  It's just not practical.

[TootsNYC]

I think I was the first one that mentioned it being illegal.  I don't live in an HOA.  It is actually the city that has banned it.  I think that this city is a tad bit ... pretentious.   I think it is just one of those local things.  They also have a rule that all new houses have to be at least X% brick exterior.  I would guess around 70%.  Some places, none of the houses are brick and they look fine.  But, in this city, people would think about a new wood house, "Why didn't you save up a little more money and buy a real house?" 

Of course, when our drier died while we were cloth diapering our baby, the law didn't stop us from stringing twine ALL over the backyard.  I actually think the neighbors would not worry if you put a clothes line in your fenced back yard.  Houses are single-story in my neighborhood.   If you did not have a fence (rare), and a clothes line they would probably complain.  But more because the clothes line would give them an excuse to complain since you aren't required to have a fence.  Although, I have figured out that the garbage guys get bonuses for reporting people with too long grass.  We have an alley so the garbage truck goes down it.  They might report a clothes line in a fenced backyard hoping to get a bonus.  Nobody said anything about the twine all over our backyard.  Although, seeing about a 100 old-fashioned white cloth diapers hanging from twine strung from the frame of the bench swing to a tree branch to the fence to another tree branch, etc.  anyone would know that our drier died and that was a temporary fix. 

The drier is such a tiny part of my electric bill, cost is not a consideration.  I hang my clothes on a hanger because it is better for them, and I'll be hanging them eventually anyway, so no extra work.  We are remodeling an old house and when I saw that the laundry room and the master closet shared a wall, I insisted on a hole between them and a clothes rod through the hole.  I can hang up my clothes in the laundry room, and then dry, just shove them into the closet.

I would imagine that it's considered to be a bit of a fire hazard. (not that dryers aren't!).

I love your through-the-wall closet rod! How brilliant! You need to put that up on Pinterest.


The gas is out in our building, so the dryers in the laundry area don't work. And won't for a while. So I bought one of these to use int he living room (so that our showers can be operational even while clothes are drying): 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Z91A88/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's so much sturdier than I expected! I hung something off one of the lower arms (while it was otherwise empty), and it didn't tip over! And the double-decker part keeps the footprint small.

[Margo]

I hang up my clothes on hangers and then put them on the shower rod. I do try not to weigh it down too much (mostly because of the PITA factor should it ever fall), but things like shirts typically take less than 24 hours to dry that way if I keep a few inches of airflow space between each one. I live in a pretty humid area (PNW) and have no windows or really any airflow in my bathroom.

I'd love a place to hang up my clothes that didn't require moving them to shower, but it works well enough for now if we plan when we do our laundry a little bit strategically.

I found getting a cheap little fan can help a lot when you dry stuff like this. Even one of the tiny 6-7" desktop ones.  Just pointing in a corner or at the ceiling to move the air around will usually get your stuff dry overnight.

I live in Florida and can't hang stuff outside due to the pollen, not to mention the humidity,  but found this method does work.  Now I have a similar setup in my laundry room, with a utility pole that is about the same size as a shower curtain. It takes almost 24 hrs if I don't use the fan, but only about 6 if I do.

Yes, a small fan speeds up the drying process, and if you can also open a window a little in the relevant room it reduces the problems of condensation you can get with hanging clothes indoors to dry.

[cattlekid]

I remember 12 years ago when we bought our first home, after looking at the backyard, I casually mentioned to the Realtor that there seemed to be a lot of room and that I might put up a laundry line. 

He was horrified at the thought, even though our home is not in a neighborhood with a homeowner's association or any restrictive covenants of any kind other than city code enforcement.  To this day, I'm not sure if his reaction was due to the fact that we live on a corner lot and our laundry would be visible to everyone coming and going in our neighborhood or just a general dislike of laundry lines.  Based on the fact that he normally sold homes in a much fancier neighborhood than ours, I'm going with the latter.

I grew up in a rural area in Midwest USA, and most of my relatives and neighbors line dried their clothes. Most of the places I've lived since then have had rules against clothes lines so I used drying racks and hung clothes on the shower curtain rod in the guest bathroom. Now I have a home with no rules but noticed none of my neighbors hang their clothes out to dry. So I'm still using the sweater racks and shower curtain rod in the bathroom for clothes that cannot go into the clothes dryer.

Why do you care what the neighbours do?

[Golden Phoenix]

We live in a tiny (no really, tiiiiny) house with no room for a washer or drier, at least, not if we ant to be able to fit our bed in here.

As such, i hand-wash our laundry in the bathroom sink and on good days I dry our stuff on a line outside. Unmentionables are dried inside on one of the two radiators we have.

I have to admit though, it's a pain in the rump, i'm seriously at the point where i would sleep across the top of the washer/drier if it meant i could get some washing done easily.

Also, our front door opens into a kind of car park, with no garden or yard of any kind. We had a discussion with our upstairs neigbour and the walkway that connects our two doors is now where the line goes. She uses it too.

The problem with this is our washing is visible to anyone who walks past and any Joe Public could walk right up to our line, grab something off it and be round the corner before we react. I tend to get up early and sit by the window all day as it dries just to be sure. Luckily i can get plenty done from there.

[Cherry91]

I wonder if there's a cultural thing at play here, because in my experience in England (having lived in Oxford, London, the Midlands, the South and visited many other parts), everyone here line dries if the weather will cooperate. Houses with gardens, houses with terraces, flats with balconies, anywhere you can hang a line or place a device. I was quite surprised to hear there are places that object to it.

[Sharnita]

Line drying, particularly bed linens,  is not a great idea if you have certain allergies.

[Dazi]

Line drying, particularly bed linens,  is not a great idea if you have certain allergies.

That's why I don't line dry outside. I have terrible allergies to a number of tree and grass pollens. I do have a rack in my laundry room, but it's only big enough to hang shirts, a couple of pants, and underwear.

[Free Range Hippy Chick]

We managed to line dry almost everything.  I think there were four or five days last year when I had to use the dryer.  Somedays it seems that I get a gym workout, rushing outside to bring the washing in as it starts to rain, and then putting it out again.  As someone posted, there is nothing, but nothing that beats the smell of clean sheets dried out side

I put things out when I can because sunshine is cheaper than electricity, but it's not unusual for sheets to come in smelling of next door's barbecue...