Filed under: Your Home, Storage & Cleaning, Storage & Organization, Cleaning
The clothesline is still creating controversy, even today when energy prices are skyrocketing, the practice is banned. Photo: Erix!, Flickr
Is it still a stigma to use a clothesline or is air-drying making a comeback?
The simple clothesline is getting a lot of press lately: People either love it or hate it, and that controversy is heating up now that it's warm outside. Many private communities have banned the use of clotheslines because they believe it makes an area appear to be poor, according to an article on Time magazine's Money blog. Another article in The New York Times reported that even a trailer park forbid one of its residents from hanging her laundry.
However, now that frugality rules, clotheslines are gaining the upper hand. There's even a documentary film in the making about the right-to-dry movement, which is called Drying for Freedom, to be released in late 2010. (You can see the trailer here.)
We researched the reasons why people love or hate the clothesline, and here are some answers:
Pro-clothesline folks love air drying because it shaves significant money off of electric bills (in fact, according to Time, dryers account for about 15% of domestic energy). Clothesline fans also say clothing smells fresher and does not wear out as fast. Plus, whites are brighter when dried in the sun.
On the other hand, anti-clothesline activists say outdoor drying makes allergies worse by capturing dander on fabric. They also claim air drying is a hassle, complaining it takes too much time to hang clothing, that clothes fall off line and need to be rewashed, that garments feels "crunchy" after it dries a line and that the line itself is difficult to install. Plus, they're worried their neighbors will think a clothesline is an eyesore and that clothesline users can't afford an electric dryer. Lastly both clothesline haters and those of us who love clotheslines are not too fond of the love affair that bugs and birds have with hanging clothing.
So, if you want to put up a clothesline, but you're still stuck on any lingering stigma, there are a couple of options. You can find some streamlined products, such as the aesthetically-pleasing retractable clothesline. Or, you can just tell any neighbors who are giving you the hairy eyeball that you are installing a solar clothes dryer. Who can argue with that?