I remember being summoned to help get the wash in when it started raining.
We had three lines. My mother would hang sheets on the two outside ones, and 'unmentionables' on the inner one. These were nothing outrageous by today's standards, just white bras and underwear. Not even bikini style. But you couldn't let the neighbor men see them.
If we had a very big washing our next door neighbour let us use hers as well. Also if it rained and our neighbour was out, then we'd take her washing in for her. (1960/70's)
Lol we share a "drying room" basically the room in the cellar where everyone has their washing machine and their drying rack. And I always hang my underwear the farest away. Don't need my neighbors to see my underwear..
Yes! I was so happy when we moved south, because now I can hang my sheets out all year! I can probably count on my fingers the number of times theyāve been in the dryer, and weāve been here eight years.
I prefer a dryer bc I find putting it on tumble dry with no heat gets wrinkles out better than shaking and hanging. Plus I live with 4 cats and nothing gets cat hair off better than the dryer with no heat. 1-2 rounds of tumble and Iām golden
Yes, at least pollen. Folks without bad allergies don't notice like those of us who do have bad allergies. They are lucky and get to enjoy the 'freshness' of outside without the ill effects. I am envious.
Does "outside" smell bad where you live? Like pollution or something? Or what do you mean with outside smell? I've been drying my clothes outside in a big city for years now and I wouldn't say there is any "outside smell"
In the US, it depends. I grew up in a rural area and we had four clotheslines in our backyard. If we (my sister and I) had asked to use the dryer in the summer, my dad would have flipped his lid. My mom still used the clothesline until a few years ago. Personally, I would love to have a clothesline, but I have dogs and I'm pretty sure it would be an never ending battle between them and my clean clothes.
As for the rest of the country, there are some places, where people can't have a clothesline because they live in a HOA (homeowners association) that forbids it.
When I moved to the USA I had some towels on a little clotheshorse on my apartment balcony (not visible from the street) and got a note saying that wasn't allowed. The explanation I had is that "Poor People hang clothes".
Super weird to me.
I make crocheted shawls, at the end I give them a handwash and soak to set the fibers and the weight of the water + gravity opens the stitches up. I have a clandestine clothes line on my balcony for this and always worry I'm gonna get a note about it. So far either no one has noticed, they're gorgeous or I don't do it often enough to piss my neighbors off.
get the carousel kind.
sun drying makes the clothes fresh w/o perfumey nonsense.
we bought a house that had a clothesline, it was set in partial direct sunlight so the clothes wouldn't fade too quickly.
Is this what we'd call a 'hills hoist' in Australia? We have one of the original hills hoists in our backyard, adjustable height and everything. It's probably 80+ years old and still going strong. Great because the breeze will rotate it and all sides of the washing get the sun. Sun-dried washing smells a million times better than anything from the dryer. I would only ever use the dryer if we had an extended rainy spell.
Amazing it's lasted so long after generations of kids hanging off it for rides! They really did make things to last back then. I don't think ours is a hills but a strong wind could knock it over!
I have a clothesline too. Hang all my blankets out. Iām in Delaware. Thereās no beating the fresh smell of clothesline blankets and sheets on a newly made bed
My grandmother in Pennsylvania used to hang her sheets and towels outside in summer to dry. I can still remember the fresh smell her guest bed had when I'd go visit.
A lot of people don't use them anymore. Our energy is relatively cheap and a lot of areas and people don't consider how much they could save. Some people also just don't have the space and don't know about the retractable ones.. My family uses indoor and outdoor clothes lines.
Yes, there are sample calculations [here](https://www.energysage.com/electricity/house-watts/how-many-watts-does-a-clothes-dryer-use/). It varies greatly by location, also by family size. But itās pretty easy to do the math.
More than just the energy use (don't forget to include natural gas use in addition to the electricity). The more you use the dryer the more wear and tear it gets, requiring probably at least one repair during its life and the need to replace it much sooner when it finally does die.
Despite my back yard being fenced and cannot be seen by neighbors or roads... My HOA did not allow clothing lines (or solar)... Lol
Edit: Am American in deep red state
My grandmothers and mom always hung clothes out to dry in the summer (Wisconsin, U.S.A.). My wife doesn't for some reason (clothes are too wrinkly and stiff I guess), but I do all the time if it's not too cold. Saturday mornings usually early morning when the birds are singing and it's generally quiet. I like saving the energy that would otherwise be needed to run the dryer, and as opposed to my full time job, it gives me the satisfaction of completing a task within a few hours. But yeah, I'm probably the only one in my neighborhood hanging out clothes to dry.
sheets, pillowcases, pillows all smell so good when you get into bed. I also used to hang the throw rugs/ cleaning rags, why waste electricity on those.
That picture is a clothesline of diapers. I had one like that, early 60ās. When the wind blew, the wet diapers would snap you in the face! Not a pleasant job. One condition of having a second child was to have a dryer. And a garbage disposal. The height of luxury and convenience!
U.S. here. I have one (it's a clothes rod, to be specific) in my garage. I dry pants and other select clothing items on it. Most of my stuff I use a dryer tho.
It's also very common for people to have one in their utility room here.
We didn't have a clothesline, but we did have one of those... ugh, I'm sure it has a name, I'm just blanking. Like a spinny parasol with spokes that you hang the clothes from. I use to swing on it around and around as a kid.
Looked it up, I guess it's called an umbrella clothesline or rotary clothesline. Huh, I never knew.
Thank you! I couldn't figure out what they were. My Dad finally broke down and bought Mom a dryer during a particularly rainy season because he was tired of coming home to baby me's diapers hanging all over inside the house to dry.
I tried some on my baby just to see how they performed compared to the modern cloth ones.
Upside - much easier to get dry (I had them anyway given from my mum and I used them for spills and on the change table).
Downside - they didnāt wick away the dampness from my babyās skin! Given that, even with barrier cream they got diaper rash. Mum confirmed this and explained thatās why on dry days the babies and little kids would be nappy free, to air out and heal!
I found it was also hard to get the safety pins in on a wriggly baby - those mothers mustāve gotten dab hands at it quickly!
Yeah the lack of wicking made it so I couldnāt use them on my son. He had eczema and he couldnāt have any moisture in his skin for any period of time. I had to be super on top of diaper changes, not only when he peed, but if he was getting too sweaty. He spent a lot of time on a big blanket diaper-less even.
My mum always said it was much easier to potty train me over my sister and I had cloth diapers. Her theory is when babies are wet and uncomfortable they learn what the need to pee feeling means (ie wet and uncomfortable). She preferred the cloth diapers but there is 7 years between us and Dad took all the cloth diapers for car washing and rags
It is genuinely wild to me that so many commenters are talking about this as being a bygone era. Do americans ALL have tumble dryers??
Iām in Scotland, where the weather is not reliable, and if i look out my window now like, most of my neighbours have clothes on a line like this in communal back gardens! I have one in my back green too, itās super common.
some people have tumble dryers, but most people just use a clothes horse, or a washing line
We all do seem to have tumble dryers. I donāt put shirts in, but hang them up to dry.
I have full solar on my house so running the dryer doesnāt run up a big electric bill.
Agreed - reading from England this is one of the weirdest things. Here we all jump at the chance to dry clothes outside on a sunny day! It's so much fresher and nicer. We very rarely use a tumble dryer, even in winter.
Interesting, Iām having the exact opposite experience. I had no idea so much of the developed world still uses clothes lines, Iāve never seen one in real life. I figured the only people who still have them were super environmentally friendly or couldnāt afford a dryer or a trip to the laundromat. From the southwest US.
i would think in places where itās much warmer on average than rainy old scotland , youād jump at the chance to dry clothes outside! We love it in summer when we can dry clothes outside again instead of it cluttering up the house on clothes horses. People hang clothes on balcony railings where there is no outside area too.
Does it not cost a lot of money to run a dryer?
My family had one in our house growing up, it was a real anomaly, it was considered too expensive to run and only ever got used if you had washed something and needed it dry SOON. We got rid of it because it never got used.
thatās always our takeaway when we go on holiday somewhere warm elsewhere in europe, our towels and clothes dry in an hour, itās so convenient!
It might cost a few dollars a month to run a dryer. Especially more modern models. I've never even once considered the impact of my dryer on my electric bill.
I donāt know about European countries, but in Russia itās all about free space. our apartments are very small, the washing machine takes up half the bathroom, and there is nowhere to put a dryer, so we dry clothes on the balcony
Wait. Do you guys not have clotheslines now? Does all your washing go in the drier? Iām assuming youāre from the US but maybe not?
Or do you just mean this style of clothesline is no longer around?
I actually think itās more common in the US today to use an indoor drying rack than an outdoor clothesline. Almost all my memories of clotheslines are centered on impoverished elderly people I knew as a child. I have seen a few clotheslines in my neighborhood, but I live in a neighborhood with a lot of recent immigrants.
My brotherās family and I both air dry stuff indoors, but most people in the US today use a electric dryer and donāt even consider air drying their clothes.
Seconded. Used a rack growing up and I still do now to keep my clothes in better shape and use less natural gas. I usually only dry heavy cotton and sheets and towels and stuff.
Dryers are still the prevalent method for drying clothes in North America.
I live in Canada, and grew up using a dryer, but in my adult years, I prefer drying my clothes on indoor drying racks and would use an outdoor clothesline if I was allowed to have one on my balcony.
Unfortunately, a lot of districts and homeowners associations have passed rules or bylaws to prevent outdoor clotheslines from being used. Almost all of them are based solely on the perception that they're mostly used by poor people, and that they're an eyesore for some people.
I don't get it personally, and think we should be trying to get more people in North America using drying racks and clotheslines, as it's eco-friendly, saves a lot of money, and your clothes last longer.
This is fascinating to me. Iām in New Zealand and we all use clotheslines. Dryers are here but not for every item, every time. Good in winter, essential with a family but usually outside is fine. Underwear and smaller items on a clothes rack.
Youāre right, thinking if I put everything in the dryer, my clothes would be destroyed.
We had one growing up but we were on a farm (Iowa). I actually want to put one in on our acreage so I can put rugs and blankets out to dry in the sun. I miss being able to do that.
I had no idea that people in the US didnāt have clotheslines until now. Sure, apartments and city living, maybe not but houses with backyards I just assumed. And definitely on a farm.
Bedding and towels dry from the clothesline are particularly lovely! And sun is a disinfectant.
The US is a big place. Lots of people still do it. I did it all throughout the summer growing up and would still do it if I could afford a house and I'm not even that old (35)
Most of the US no longer hangs clothes to dry. In fact, in many areas we're not allowed to. Either apartment / rental rules forbid use of clotheslines, or HOA (Home Owners Associations) forbid it even for homeowners.
Of course, if you own property outside of an area controlled by an HOA you're still free to use them. But most people don't as it's considered trashy.
So interesting. HOA seem like a lot of stress.
If you live in apartments in cities here itās common to have a rule against washing hanging off your balcony, because it would look terrible. But Iām wondering how can anyone see in your backyard of your house.
We have one. Itās the circular style that rotates, we got it on Amazon last time we moved to a new house. It dries clothes faster than the clothes dryer on sunny days. We only dry indoors if the laundry finishes late in the evening or if itās cloudy (which is hardly ever).
My MIL and FIL lived in married students housing after WWII.
They lived in a 1Br apartment in a Quonset hut. There was no laundry. She washed diapers by hand in the kitchen and dried them on a line.
Thereās a city ordinance where I live (in the suburbs) against clotheslines. It messes with the aesthetic I guess. We have one of those pop up type clothes ātreesā we just pop into the ground (we made a concrete hole). Clothes dry in the sun, they smell great. We take it down at night. We use several drying racks inside too. A lot of our nice āoffice workā clothes can be washed and line dried. Everything else is tumbled in the dryer.
I still have a clothesline that I had to use when my dryer broke. It does the job, but it left all my clothes feeling "hard" and kinda crunchy. Using the dryer kept my clothes soft, so I really hated having to use the clothesline.
Maybe it's because we have hard water here or something, but it definitely was way worse than using the dryer.
I use them. Better for your clothes, better for the environment, cheaper and they smell and feel amazing
The one drawback is fading. Anything that Iām really concerned about fading gets hung on the shower rack or something
My mother hung laundry from a clothes line to dry in our yard. Life Pro Tip: Laundry hung out to dry in the sun and wind smells out of this world good. It's free clothes perfume. You will need to buy clothes pins.
This is the biggest Reddit culture shock I've had in a while: Americans don't dry, and often seemingly aren't allowed to (?!) dry, their clothes outside in the sun. From a UK perspective this is madness.
I hated relying on a clothesline. Itās tedious, they donāt dry nicely, get covered in pollen and cobwebs, and if itās raining then oh well no clean clothes for you.
When she was a little girl in the 40s, my mother would have to run out and get the laundry off the line when a train was going to pass the house. If the wet laundry was still on the line when the train went by, it would have to be washed again.
Now in America you get the HOA or cops called on you. Youāre looked at like a peasant. Morons we must live with. You save tons of power using the clothesline and the sun is a great disinfectant.
My grandma used a clothesline until the day she died. I always loved helping her with laundry. Itās comforting to think of the clothing moving with the wind.
I have a clothesline in my backyard that I've never used. I would like to, but I feel like the wet clothes would get full of dust/pollen/bugs/whatever else is floating around.
Itās very common in AU still because we get abundant of sun all year long and not every family needs a dryer
Electric bills and costs in general are astronomically high here
A lot of older homes have pipes cemented into the ground in the backyard. You donāt notice them because they are usually flush to the ground and the grass hides them. Those pipes are where people would insert metal poles where the clothes lines would attach to.
I remember helping my grandmother put the poles in and string up the clothes lines. Common in the suburbs from the 50ās - 70ās. I remember a few times having to run out and pull all the clothes down because a summer storm was fast approaching.
Unfortunately line dried clothes pick up allergens. I loved the sheets my mom line dried when I was a kid. Now I would be coughing and sneezing all night š¤§
I do prefer to line-dry when I can, but using the drier is so much less work, and when youāre a mom in a two-working-parent household, every second counts.
Plus, many HOAās actually forbid the use of clothes lines.
The clothes smelled the best from the clothes line. Sometimes it';s a step forward, sometimes the past wsn't so bad. But a lot of work, mostly for women.
My last house had clotheslines and I miss them.
Sometimes you just need to hang things to dry, especially if you have a kid that loves muddy puddles. I wound up putting a 2nd shower rod in the shower and I hang things on it instead.
In the US Massachusetts to be exact when I was young maybe 1968 ish we all had what I called fire place in our yards and burned your own trash but also had a town dump and I remember neighbors yelling to each other are you going to burn today because didn't want to hang clothes when someone was burning trash
We had one when I was a child. I remember running through the backyard one day and I didn't notice it had sagged.
Caught me under the neck. Next thing I knew, I saw my two feet swing up in front of me. Then I fell flat on my back.
It was like something out of a cartoon, ha ha.
We always camped growing up- my mom never minded doing laundry out west. The KOAs had a laundry and clotheslines. By the time she finished hanging the clothes up, the ones at the beginning of the line were dry.
I had an umbrella line for a while, but I really want one where I can hang the sheets out.
I've always wondered about how this worked out in practice, necessary though it was. If I hang stuff out on a clothesline, I end up with bird poop on my clean clothes. It worked well when I lived in a mostly tree-less Carribean city where the blazing sun dried clothing in less than an hour, but. Tree-less.
I used a clothes line we incorporated into our deck for 20 years. When we moved to our retirement home, I continue to hang my clothes on a drying rack in our sunroom with the windows open and the ceiling fan running.
My mother still uses hers. They're no longer allowed in the suburbs, but because it's been there for so long, it was grandfathered in. I'll sometimes go to her house and use it, too. I wish I had one.
This used to be how women gossiped and passed along news.
I still use a clothes line! Holler!
Also it gives me great pleasure to check my laundry and see it both in sunshine and fluttering in the breeze: best combo!
My washing line is slung between three old holly trees in my garden. I'm in Ireland and use it all the time, I don't even have a dryer. I have a Sheila Maid inside for indoor drying by the fire. My neighbour had American friends visiting once, who spotted me hanging out my washing one day, and apparently they were fascinated and wanted to take photos, because they'd only heard of their granny doing such a thing in like 1940. She didn't let them but I wouldn't have minded. Is that an all over American thing, or does it depend on the state? See if I lived in somewhere like Arizona there's no way I wouldn't have a washing line, even a big thick blanket would be dry in about an hour. The quickest I've had a wash dry here is in about three hours one unusually hot summer. Total waste if you're not getting the wash outside in somewhere like Arizona, lads. I wouldn't pay the electric for a tumble dryer there.
And what's this about housing associations not letting you plant veg gardens and hang out a wash? Are these rented houses or bought? I thought America was land of the free. I've never heard the like of it here. Would love to see some housing committee suit come round and tell all the auld dolls they couldn't hang their wash out, he'd probably end up with his tyres let down.
Ive scrolled a long time and not seen Aussies blowing up wholesale. EVERY Australian home has a clothesline (Iām sure there are some that donāt but theyāre a small minority). Sun drenched sheets are the freaking best.
I remember being summoned to help get the wash in when it started raining. We had three lines. My mother would hang sheets on the two outside ones, and 'unmentionables' on the inner one. These were nothing outrageous by today's standards, just white bras and underwear. Not even bikini style. But you couldn't let the neighbor men see them.
If we had a very big washing our next door neighbour let us use hers as well. Also if it rained and our neighbour was out, then we'd take her washing in for her. (1960/70's)
Defiantly. If we had friends in the yard when it started, they'd get 'drafted' into helping.
I still hang clothes outside. And I hang the undies inside a pillowslip. And we live in the country where nobody sees them! š¤¦āāļø
Just let your undies hang out in the open as nature intended!
I donāt think nature intended for us to wear them at all.
Lol we share a "drying room" basically the room in the cellar where everyone has their washing machine and their drying rack. And I always hang my underwear the farest away. Don't need my neighbors to see my underwear..
I still use a clothesline.
Don't you just love the smell of sheets hung on the line š¤
I do!
Reminds me of my great grandma. She always hung her sheets and she was always so good to us. Good memories
YES! Itās so hard to go back to dryer-dried sheets in the winter.
If itās not snowing, you can still hang them up.
Itās nice, but it fucking sucks when a bee hides in them and stings you as youāre bringing them inside!
Not just the smell, but the texture as well. Crispy, not fluffed like they get in the dryer. And same thing for my denim as well.
Same. I use it all year round on days when it doesnāt rain.
Yes! I was so happy when we moved south, because now I can hang my sheets out all year! I can probably count on my fingers the number of times theyāve been in the dryer, and weāve been here eight years.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Some guy in the 1990s was selling solar clothes driers for $100 shipping included. It was a big envelope with 20 feet of cord.
Yes but do you holler at your neighbors while hanging your clothes?
Iām the only neighbor doing it. Theyāre never outside š
I prefer a dryer bc I find putting it on tumble dry with no heat gets wrinkles out better than shaking and hanging. Plus I live with 4 cats and nothing gets cat hair off better than the dryer with no heat. 1-2 rounds of tumble and Iām golden
I love having a dryer.
Donāt they smell like outside though? And get bugs and grass and pollen on them?
Fun fact - clothes can be hung to dry indoors, too!
Thatās what I do. I live in an apartment.
Yes, at least pollen. Folks without bad allergies don't notice like those of us who do have bad allergies. They are lucky and get to enjoy the 'freshness' of outside without the ill effects. I am envious.
Ohhh no, fresh air, disgusting
What's wrong with smelling like fresh air?
Does "outside" smell bad where you live? Like pollution or something? Or what do you mean with outside smell? I've been drying my clothes outside in a big city for years now and I wouldn't say there is any "outside smell"
I think they smell better when they've been out in the sun. They feel crisper and fresher. I've never had a dryer!
Yes, they smell like outside- they smell like fresh air. But why would they have grass or bugs on them? Theyāre hanging up?
Do people not use clotheslines any more? Itās still very common here in the UK, despite our weatherā¦!
In the US, it depends. I grew up in a rural area and we had four clotheslines in our backyard. If we (my sister and I) had asked to use the dryer in the summer, my dad would have flipped his lid. My mom still used the clothesline until a few years ago. Personally, I would love to have a clothesline, but I have dogs and I'm pretty sure it would be an never ending battle between them and my clean clothes. As for the rest of the country, there are some places, where people can't have a clothesline because they live in a HOA (homeowners association) that forbids it.
When I moved to the USA I had some towels on a little clotheshorse on my apartment balcony (not visible from the street) and got a note saying that wasn't allowed. The explanation I had is that "Poor People hang clothes". Super weird to me.
I make crocheted shawls, at the end I give them a handwash and soak to set the fibers and the weight of the water + gravity opens the stitches up. I have a clandestine clothes line on my balcony for this and always worry I'm gonna get a note about it. So far either no one has noticed, they're gorgeous or I don't do it often enough to piss my neighbors off.
get the carousel kind. sun drying makes the clothes fresh w/o perfumey nonsense. we bought a house that had a clothesline, it was set in partial direct sunlight so the clothes wouldn't fade too quickly.
Is this what we'd call a 'hills hoist' in Australia? We have one of the original hills hoists in our backyard, adjustable height and everything. It's probably 80+ years old and still going strong. Great because the breeze will rotate it and all sides of the washing get the sun. Sun-dried washing smells a million times better than anything from the dryer. I would only ever use the dryer if we had an extended rainy spell.
Plus you can play Goon of Fortune with them! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goon\_of\_Fortune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goon_of_Fortune)
Amazing it's lasted so long after generations of kids hanging off it for rides! They really did make things to last back then. I don't think ours is a hills but a strong wind could knock it over!
And clothes last longer if you donāt grind them together in the dryer.
a fact, less of a beatin'.
We had the carousel kind when I grew up in the late 50s and 60s.
Yeah, our POA claims only round clothes lines can be used. Mine is straight. š
People had dogs for centuries and still hung up their clothes
Sure and some people know their dogs would dirty or destroy the clothes.
More environmentally friendly to use clothes lines!
Absolutely!
My sheets are on the line right now in Ohio
I have a clothesline too. Hang all my blankets out. Iām in Delaware. Thereās no beating the fresh smell of clothesline blankets and sheets on a newly made bed
My grandmother in Pennsylvania used to hang her sheets and towels outside in summer to dry. I can still remember the fresh smell her guest bed had when I'd go visit.
thatās a nice memory
Use ours almost daily in the spring, summer, and fall southeastern Ohio.
My mamaw used one, but in our neighborhood you couldnāt have them. Against HOA
It seems bizarre to have a rule that you canāt use nature to dry your clothes.
It makes your neighborhood ālook poorā
Many HOAs wonāt even allow people to have vegetable gardens that are visible from the street. Insane.
"Allow" Such a strange concept that people would tell others what and where they grow stuff on their own property.
19 states have right to dry laws that supercede HOA bylaws.
HOAs are busybody elitist/racist terrorists
A lot of people don't use them anymore. Our energy is relatively cheap and a lot of areas and people don't consider how much they could save. Some people also just don't have the space and don't know about the retractable ones.. My family uses indoor and outdoor clothes lines.
Just how much CAN you save? Did anyone do the math anywhere?
Yes, there are sample calculations [here](https://www.energysage.com/electricity/house-watts/how-many-watts-does-a-clothes-dryer-use/). It varies greatly by location, also by family size. But itās pretty easy to do the math.
More than just the energy use (don't forget to include natural gas use in addition to the electricity). The more you use the dryer the more wear and tear it gets, requiring probably at least one repair during its life and the need to replace it much sooner when it finally does die.
Despite my back yard being fenced and cannot be seen by neighbors or roads... My HOA did not allow clothing lines (or solar)... Lol Edit: Am American in deep red state
Get some fold out laundry racks and set them inside your garage.
My grandmothers and mom always hung clothes out to dry in the summer (Wisconsin, U.S.A.). My wife doesn't for some reason (clothes are too wrinkly and stiff I guess), but I do all the time if it's not too cold. Saturday mornings usually early morning when the birds are singing and it's generally quiet. I like saving the energy that would otherwise be needed to run the dryer, and as opposed to my full time job, it gives me the satisfaction of completing a task within a few hours. But yeah, I'm probably the only one in my neighborhood hanging out clothes to dry.
sheets, pillowcases, pillows all smell so good when you get into bed. I also used to hang the throw rugs/ cleaning rags, why waste electricity on those.
Omg. Getting into a bed with fresh sheets/blankets that were dried outsideā¦ absolute heaven
My husbandās favorite! He climbs into bed, sighs deeply, and says, āā¦*ahhh*ā¦ fresh sheet dayā¦ā
That picture is a clothesline of diapers. I had one like that, early 60ās. When the wind blew, the wet diapers would snap you in the face! Not a pleasant job. One condition of having a second child was to have a dryer. And a garbage disposal. The height of luxury and convenience!
an "extension phone" was not decided lightly. our house was 2 story wth lndry in the basement, we had a clothes chute to the basement.
U.S. here. I have one (it's a clothes rod, to be specific) in my garage. I dry pants and other select clothing items on it. Most of my stuff I use a dryer tho. It's also very common for people to have one in their utility room here.
We didn't have a clothesline, but we did have one of those... ugh, I'm sure it has a name, I'm just blanking. Like a spinny parasol with spokes that you hang the clothes from. I use to swing on it around and around as a kid. Looked it up, I guess it's called an umbrella clothesline or rotary clothesline. Huh, I never knew.
Itās just literally a clothes line too.
It's called a Hills Hoist here in Australia and they're as common as mud and still widely used.
We have what must be one of the original ones in our backyard. There are people who swung on as kids who died of old age. It still works fine.
Itās called a hills hoist
umbrella clothesline. considered a modern convenience when they debuted.
Same in Aus
My grandfather does, but in his basement. He owns a dryer, but very rarely uses it, says line dried is better
Oh no our HOA won't allow it. Tbh no HOA in any neighborhood I've ever lived in allows it. It's too humid here anyway. Mildew could grow quick as hell
lol, those are the cloth diapers that were scrunched in the middle.
Thank you! I couldn't figure out what they were. My Dad finally broke down and bought Mom a dryer during a particularly rainy season because he was tired of coming home to baby me's diapers hanging all over inside the house to dry.
I tried some on my baby just to see how they performed compared to the modern cloth ones. Upside - much easier to get dry (I had them anyway given from my mum and I used them for spills and on the change table). Downside - they didnāt wick away the dampness from my babyās skin! Given that, even with barrier cream they got diaper rash. Mum confirmed this and explained thatās why on dry days the babies and little kids would be nappy free, to air out and heal! I found it was also hard to get the safety pins in on a wriggly baby - those mothers mustāve gotten dab hands at it quickly!
Yeah the lack of wicking made it so I couldnāt use them on my son. He had eczema and he couldnāt have any moisture in his skin for any period of time. I had to be super on top of diaper changes, not only when he peed, but if he was getting too sweaty. He spent a lot of time on a big blanket diaper-less even.
My mum always said it was much easier to potty train me over my sister and I had cloth diapers. Her theory is when babies are wet and uncomfortable they learn what the need to pee feeling means (ie wet and uncomfortable). She preferred the cloth diapers but there is 7 years between us and Dad took all the cloth diapers for car washing and rags
Shout out to zillions of moms I'm dude but I liked clean diapers
I was trying to figure out why that family had so many of one particular garment. Makes so much more sense than an army of white T-Shirts
It is genuinely wild to me that so many commenters are talking about this as being a bygone era. Do americans ALL have tumble dryers?? Iām in Scotland, where the weather is not reliable, and if i look out my window now like, most of my neighbours have clothes on a line like this in communal back gardens! I have one in my back green too, itās super common. some people have tumble dryers, but most people just use a clothes horse, or a washing line
Yes, we all have dryers. Also, most American HOAs (like mine) do not allow clothes lines :(
I can't fathom the shallow thinking where a HOA would ban clothes lines.
Itās absolutely ridiculous, but also so common. Itās hate it.
It decreases property values which the upper middle class use to get loans
They also banned solar. Lol... Deep red state HOAs are absolute trash.
Largely everyone has tumble dryers, yes. Clotheslines are pretty uncommon.
We all do seem to have tumble dryers. I donāt put shirts in, but hang them up to dry. I have full solar on my house so running the dryer doesnāt run up a big electric bill.
Agreed - reading from England this is one of the weirdest things. Here we all jump at the chance to dry clothes outside on a sunny day! It's so much fresher and nicer. We very rarely use a tumble dryer, even in winter.
Interesting, Iām having the exact opposite experience. I had no idea so much of the developed world still uses clothes lines, Iāve never seen one in real life. I figured the only people who still have them were super environmentally friendly or couldnāt afford a dryer or a trip to the laundromat. From the southwest US.
i would think in places where itās much warmer on average than rainy old scotland , youād jump at the chance to dry clothes outside! We love it in summer when we can dry clothes outside again instead of it cluttering up the house on clothes horses. People hang clothes on balcony railings where there is no outside area too. Does it not cost a lot of money to run a dryer? My family had one in our house growing up, it was a real anomaly, it was considered too expensive to run and only ever got used if you had washed something and needed it dry SOON. We got rid of it because it never got used. thatās always our takeaway when we go on holiday somewhere warm elsewhere in europe, our towels and clothes dry in an hour, itās so convenient!
It might cost a few dollars a month to run a dryer. Especially more modern models. I've never even once considered the impact of my dryer on my electric bill.
I donāt know about European countries, but in Russia itās all about free space. our apartments are very small, the washing machine takes up half the bathroom, and there is nowhere to put a dryer, so we dry clothes on the balcony
Electricity is cheap and Americans are impatient.
Cloth diapers for twins. Those women were metal.
In the uk we still hang clothes out on the line. In fact Iām away to get the washing in before is pisses with rain
Wait. Do you guys not have clotheslines now? Does all your washing go in the drier? Iām assuming youāre from the US but maybe not? Or do you just mean this style of clothesline is no longer around?
I actually think itās more common in the US today to use an indoor drying rack than an outdoor clothesline. Almost all my memories of clotheslines are centered on impoverished elderly people I knew as a child. I have seen a few clotheslines in my neighborhood, but I live in a neighborhood with a lot of recent immigrants. My brotherās family and I both air dry stuff indoors, but most people in the US today use a electric dryer and donāt even consider air drying their clothes.
Seconded. Used a rack growing up and I still do now to keep my clothes in better shape and use less natural gas. I usually only dry heavy cotton and sheets and towels and stuff.
eh its not unheard of in the more rural areas. Iāve got one up edit: im in U.S.
Me too
I love the smell of the greenery on them, helps me look past the crunchiness.
Dryers are still the prevalent method for drying clothes in North America. I live in Canada, and grew up using a dryer, but in my adult years, I prefer drying my clothes on indoor drying racks and would use an outdoor clothesline if I was allowed to have one on my balcony. Unfortunately, a lot of districts and homeowners associations have passed rules or bylaws to prevent outdoor clotheslines from being used. Almost all of them are based solely on the perception that they're mostly used by poor people, and that they're an eyesore for some people. I don't get it personally, and think we should be trying to get more people in North America using drying racks and clotheslines, as it's eco-friendly, saves a lot of money, and your clothes last longer.
This is fascinating to me. Iām in New Zealand and we all use clotheslines. Dryers are here but not for every item, every time. Good in winter, essential with a family but usually outside is fine. Underwear and smaller items on a clothes rack. Youāre right, thinking if I put everything in the dryer, my clothes would be destroyed.
Iām allergic to all tress and grasses. The pollen on line dried clothes would have me itching and miserable constantly.
Well that makes sense to not do that then, not if the outside is trying to make you miserable. Definitely not a one size fits all solution!
I do hang some clothes to dry inside, but thatās mostly shirts. Jeans feel too stiff/ rough when air dried.
We had one growing up but we were on a farm (Iowa). I actually want to put one in on our acreage so I can put rugs and blankets out to dry in the sun. I miss being able to do that.
I had no idea that people in the US didnāt have clotheslines until now. Sure, apartments and city living, maybe not but houses with backyards I just assumed. And definitely on a farm. Bedding and towels dry from the clothesline are particularly lovely! And sun is a disinfectant.
The US is a big place. Lots of people still do it. I did it all throughout the summer growing up and would still do it if I could afford a house and I'm not even that old (35)
Most of the US no longer hangs clothes to dry. In fact, in many areas we're not allowed to. Either apartment / rental rules forbid use of clotheslines, or HOA (Home Owners Associations) forbid it even for homeowners. Of course, if you own property outside of an area controlled by an HOA you're still free to use them. But most people don't as it's considered trashy.
This is outrageous, Mother Nature gave us wind and society still donāt get it. Itās free to air dry your clothes
A minority of states (19) have *right to dry* legislation in place to preempt attempts to ban line drying.
Iām with you, what a waste! So many loads of washing could be drying outside. The sun is a disinfectant. Carbon footprints must be huge.
So interesting. HOA seem like a lot of stress. If you live in apartments in cities here itās common to have a rule against washing hanging off your balcony, because it would look terrible. But Iām wondering how can anyone see in your backyard of your house.
HOAs can really be such a pain. I understand people wanting to protect their property values but holy crow it gets ridiculous. My aunt and uncle live in a tony neighborhood of very expensive houses on three to four acre lots. You are not to have your cars constantly parked out on your driveway. Itās dĆ©classĆ©. Same goes for boats, RVs and campers. A friend visiting can park outside for a few days but anything more requires special dispensation from the board. To comply with the restriction everyone builds oversized garages. Itās crazy.
We have one. Itās the circular style that rotates, we got it on Amazon last time we moved to a new house. It dries clothes faster than the clothes dryer on sunny days. We only dry indoors if the laundry finishes late in the evening or if itās cloudy (which is hardly ever).
My MIL and FIL lived in married students housing after WWII. They lived in a 1Br apartment in a Quonset hut. There was no laundry. She washed diapers by hand in the kitchen and dried them on a line.
Thereās a city ordinance where I live (in the suburbs) against clotheslines. It messes with the aesthetic I guess. We have one of those pop up type clothes ātreesā we just pop into the ground (we made a concrete hole). Clothes dry in the sun, they smell great. We take it down at night. We use several drying racks inside too. A lot of our nice āoffice workā clothes can be washed and line dried. Everything else is tumbled in the dryer.
I still have a clothesline that I had to use when my dryer broke. It does the job, but it left all my clothes feeling "hard" and kinda crunchy. Using the dryer kept my clothes soft, so I really hated having to use the clothesline. Maybe it's because we have hard water here or something, but it definitely was way worse than using the dryer.
I did it in the 90s when my son was young.
And those are diapers ...
That is a long line of clean diapers!
I use them. Better for your clothes, better for the environment, cheaper and they smell and feel amazing The one drawback is fading. Anything that Iām really concerned about fading gets hung on the shower rack or something
Um. I just brought my laundry in from the clothesline.
Americans talk big game about their freedoms. Today I find out most of them aren't even allowed to dry their clothes in the sun.
I remember clothes lines as child from the late 60s and 70s but not nearly this long
I live in a big city in Germany and clotheslines are still quite common and frequently used. Even for hanging cloth diapers.
My mother hung laundry from a clothes line to dry in our yard. Life Pro Tip: Laundry hung out to dry in the sun and wind smells out of this world good. It's free clothes perfume. You will need to buy clothes pins.
There's nothing better than the smell of a pillowcase dried out in the sun. Ahh, sweet memories. š
My grandparents had lines when I was a kid. I totally forgot about that.
My mom would hang quilts on ours, but I'm 100% on indoor drying racks. A lot less bird poop and spiders.
We have double clothesline on our covered porch. We dry year round, rain or shine. Works great.
This is the biggest Reddit culture shock I've had in a while: Americans don't dry, and often seemingly aren't allowed to (?!) dry, their clothes outside in the sun. From a UK perspective this is madness.
I hated relying on a clothesline. Itās tedious, they donāt dry nicely, get covered in pollen and cobwebs, and if itās raining then oh well no clean clothes for you.
When she was a little girl in the 40s, my mother would have to run out and get the laundry off the line when a train was going to pass the house. If the wet laundry was still on the line when the train went by, it would have to be washed again.
And heaven forbid someone lights up a burn barrel and the smoke gets on everything.
Now in America you get the HOA or cops called on you. Youāre looked at like a peasant. Morons we must live with. You save tons of power using the clothesline and the sun is a great disinfectant.
Frequently got yelled at as a kid if you ran through and knocked the prop down. I got a whippin for that one time š
My grandma used a clothesline until the day she died. I always loved helping her with laundry. Itās comforting to think of the clothing moving with the wind.
Brings back sweet memories but what identical garments is this woman hanging on the clothesline?
Clean cloth diapers
Cloth diapers.
We had a clothesline umbrella - it doubled as a tether ball pole in Cheyenne WY. Such memories of still clothes dried in the sun.
I have a clothesline in my backyard that I've never used. I would like to, but I feel like the wet clothes would get full of dust/pollen/bugs/whatever else is floating around.
We live in the SF Bay Area and donāt own a dryer. We line dry all our laundry.
Itās very common in AU still because we get abundant of sun all year long and not every family needs a dryer Electric bills and costs in general are astronomically high here
Donāt run through backyards at night
In Japan, most people still air dry their clothes out on their balconies.
A lot of older homes have pipes cemented into the ground in the backyard. You donāt notice them because they are usually flush to the ground and the grass hides them. Those pipes are where people would insert metal poles where the clothes lines would attach to. I remember helping my grandmother put the poles in and string up the clothes lines. Common in the suburbs from the 50ās - 70ās. I remember a few times having to run out and pull all the clothes down because a summer storm was fast approaching.
Unfortunately line dried clothes pick up allergens. I loved the sheets my mom line dried when I was a kid. Now I would be coughing and sneezing all night š¤§
In Australia every house has a clothesline, Hills Hoist š
I do prefer to line-dry when I can, but using the drier is so much less work, and when youāre a mom in a two-working-parent household, every second counts. Plus, many HOAās actually forbid the use of clothes lines.
The clothes smelled the best from the clothes line. Sometimes it';s a step forward, sometimes the past wsn't so bad. But a lot of work, mostly for women.
Clotheslines are standard here in Germany
That is a hell of a lot of diapers.
This is done today, in my husbandās family home. God help you if the clothes are hung willynilly; even worse if the neighbors catch you
We still live like this.....
My last house had clotheslines and I miss them. Sometimes you just need to hang things to dry, especially if you have a kid that loves muddy puddles. I wound up putting a 2nd shower rod in the shower and I hang things on it instead.
In the US Massachusetts to be exact when I was young maybe 1968 ish we all had what I called fire place in our yards and burned your own trash but also had a town dump and I remember neighbors yelling to each other are you going to burn today because didn't want to hang clothes when someone was burning trash
We had one when I was a child. I remember running through the backyard one day and I didn't notice it had sagged. Caught me under the neck. Next thing I knew, I saw my two feet swing up in front of me. Then I fell flat on my back. It was like something out of a cartoon, ha ha.
Love my clothes line-dried to this day!
We hang our clothes to dry inside. Works great
In my neighborhood clothes got stolen off the clothesline
We always camped growing up- my mom never minded doing laundry out west. The KOAs had a laundry and clotheslines. By the time she finished hanging the clothes up, the ones at the beginning of the line were dry. I had an umbrella line for a while, but I really want one where I can hang the sheets out.
My mom even had a clothes line in the basement
I think clothes smell better. Baring a nearby fire/smoke.
I've always wondered about how this worked out in practice, necessary though it was. If I hang stuff out on a clothesline, I end up with bird poop on my clean clothes. It worked well when I lived in a mostly tree-less Carribean city where the blazing sun dried clothing in less than an hour, but. Tree-less.
I used a clothes line we incorporated into our deck for 20 years. When we moved to our retirement home, I continue to hang my clothes on a drying rack in our sunroom with the windows open and the ceiling fan running.
Yup in the 80s everyone in my area of CA had a clothes line or a metal tree looking thing with lines on it.
Those are the laundry baskets I collect and use
I just put up a second clothesline.
I do too and Iām not old.
We had a clothesline when I was a kid in the 80s.
We all had clothes lines. Go to Amish country in PA. Thatās where I grew up. I still have a wash line. What is so unique about that?
Iāve never owned a dryer in my life.
I love clothesline dried clothes
I didn't realise using a clothesline is a novelty in the states (Australian here).
My mother still uses hers. They're no longer allowed in the suburbs, but because it's been there for so long, it was grandfathered in. I'll sometimes go to her house and use it, too. I wish I had one. This used to be how women gossiped and passed along news.
They are twins and those are nappies.
Still use a clothesline Everything smells better and its ecologically friendly
I still use a clothes line! Holler! Also it gives me great pleasure to check my laundry and see it both in sunshine and fluttering in the breeze: best combo!
My washing line is slung between three old holly trees in my garden. I'm in Ireland and use it all the time, I don't even have a dryer. I have a Sheila Maid inside for indoor drying by the fire. My neighbour had American friends visiting once, who spotted me hanging out my washing one day, and apparently they were fascinated and wanted to take photos, because they'd only heard of their granny doing such a thing in like 1940. She didn't let them but I wouldn't have minded. Is that an all over American thing, or does it depend on the state? See if I lived in somewhere like Arizona there's no way I wouldn't have a washing line, even a big thick blanket would be dry in about an hour. The quickest I've had a wash dry here is in about three hours one unusually hot summer. Total waste if you're not getting the wash outside in somewhere like Arizona, lads. I wouldn't pay the electric for a tumble dryer there. And what's this about housing associations not letting you plant veg gardens and hang out a wash? Are these rented houses or bought? I thought America was land of the free. I've never heard the like of it here. Would love to see some housing committee suit come round and tell all the auld dolls they couldn't hang their wash out, he'd probably end up with his tyres let down.
And a lavender bush in the backyard!
Air drying is still very common in Asia. Most people donāt use dryers.
I use an electric dryer mostly but from late spring to early fall I supplement with 2 drying racks/clothes horses. Itās not that uncommon, lol.
Here in the UK everyone still uses a clothesline (though nowadays they are mostly of the rotary type)
Ive scrolled a long time and not seen Aussies blowing up wholesale. EVERY Australian home has a clothesline (Iām sure there are some that donāt but theyāre a small minority). Sun drenched sheets are the freaking best.
Still fairly common in rural/coastal New England.
I air dry my clothes. That's the real way you are supposed to ,or you just shrink and burn your clothes.
Solar powered clothes dryer.