2/27/10 POD

[gowest84]

Is it just me or is it so bad to want to hang some of your laundry outside?

Living in Phoenix, the last thing I like doing on a 110 degree day is drying clothes inside when they'd be done faster outside. Not everything, mind you, just things like blankets, sheets, and maybe a few shirts.

I don't do it because of the HOA restrictions for my Condo, but if I could, it would save me a fortune in the summer trying to dry some of the heavy clothes.

I understand when this ad was put out, dryers were still not a part of every household and that hanging your laundry outside in a city like New York could cause you to lose your drawers to a bird or a drawer thief.

Just wondering?

 

[polkanut]

HOA's are slowly being challenged regarding member's being allowed to hang laundry out. I see nothing wrong with someone wanting to put a few items on a drying rack, especially if space is limited for erecting clotheslines. Maybe you could put a drying rack in a concealed location. When this ad was published, having a dryer was considered quite a status symbol.

 

[appnut]

I loathe the thought of hanging laundry outside. I could care less whether it supposedly smells fresh and yada yada yada. give me a dryer any day of the week thank you very much!!!

 

[ronhic]

Restrictons are...

....here too when it comes to apartments and multistory buildings.

Having owned and rented in Sydney, Melbourne, Queanbeyan and Canberra, much depends on the owners corportation/body corporate as to what is allowed or not allowed....

Generally speaking though, clothes airers must be kept away from the front of the balcony so they are less likely to be seen from the street and they should not exceed the height of the balcony rail....

...but it all depends on what he owners corporation decides....my Aunts building in East Balmain completely banned them until about 1990...she had always used one though. As she would say to you 'who can see it 7 story's up and behind all my plants?....Good point....

 

[spiceman1957]

Gowet84,

I'm with you on this. I like using my clothes line, especially in the Spring/Summer. I see no reason to run an electric dryer when you have warm sunshine. I don't mean to sound anti this and that, but think of the savings and the environment. If I lived in your area, OH yes, I would be in trouble with the HOA.
John

 

[aldspinboy]

Bob are you serious lol ... I love to hang out clothes it is Zen to me.
I learned a new technique from ( Laundress ) my towels go into the dryer on Damp dry and then i will hang them outside to finish drying so the are soft and
S M E L L' S SO G O O D !
I have seen a very nice reduction in my electric bill in the spring & summer, so the money i save i can run the air conditioners longer for me not bad for the labor of hanging clothes.

And my family where hangers so that is why i am so use to it , I look at it as another art Form I like to see the dancing of fabrics swaying in the air.
There is a big difference in clothes coming out of the dryer verses natural air drying T-shirt's are almost if like you iron them when you take them of the line where the dryer just want give that same texture.

Phil do you have a yard own your property ? I would challenge to hang, or just like Tim said a nice drying rack would be nice.

Here is my line... and i love Mike's ( Mickeyd ) line how beautiful those clothes own your deck with the water in the background... Sweet man.

 

[aldspinboy]

Pic 2. A marathon of wash in media Pa. where my friends just moved to they said come over we got something for you and they made this line.. so i did all there laundry from 7 am to after 2 pm that is what they had when unpacked, they just got me up there for that to wash very slick of them lol.
That was a fun day.

 

[aldspinboy]

Mikes line.
Nice.

Darren k.

 

[appnut]

Yep I am. My mom did it occassionally when I was about 10 or 11. Hated doing it. Hated not using the dryer. Hated how towels and sheets felt. And this was on a covered patio so no worries about birds, ...

the ONLY time I've done it was when I was out of work for 18 months and was largely weraing jersey shorts and t-shirts. Hung those on hangers to save money. That's the only time.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

I do not see why to hang the laundry when you can easily use the dryer!!!... it is not true that laundry dried in a dryer is less fresh or soft....
if one has the opportunity, (economical i mean), to use the dryer is good to do it, unless did not like to draw like Darren (aldspinboy).

but the initial question was different ....Phil, try to put a small rack on the balcony, in a hidden part of it, and if they give you troubles send them to hell!
and tell them that they should think of something more serious and constructive rather than thinking about stupid things and give trouble to the people who is only trying to save a little money in these economically difficult times.
However I do not think that will happen ..

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Mistake: "unless you like to hang "
Excuse me!

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Mistake: "unless do you like to hang clothes"
Excuse me!

 

[kenmoreguy89]

People do not attend to these my last post .... I'm not drunk!
it is my computer that is having some problems.

 

[lordkenmore]

One point worth considering with the POD is that it is an ad intended to sell people dryers.

I currently have two wood racks that I use to air dry, and I air dry year round. I use a dryer for some things, but, overall, my feeling is why machine dry? Stuff gets just as dry on the rack. It takes longer, but uses no electricity and requires no supervision.

 

[bmgilk]

Hanging sheets out

I love the smell of sheets after they have been hung out all day!!!
Mike

 

[tomturbomatic]

It might be helpful to remember that when this ad ran in the late 40s and early 50s, much of the population lived in what we today call the Rust Belt where winters were cold and wet. I remember my mother bringing in laundry off the line that was literally freeze dried when we lived in Illinois. Babies did not wear disposable diapers and many men worked in heavy industries requiring lots of laundering of work clothes. Families were large. Wet cotton is heavy and takes a long time to dry. While many houses in the north had basements in which to hang laundry, most only had line space for a load or two at most. Many homes in the south were built without basements so cold rainy rainy weather meant hanging the laundry on drying racks over floor furnaces or taking baskets of damp dried laundry to the coin laundry to be dried. The population of the sunbelt states was miniscule compared to today so fewer households were able to take advantage of year around fair drying weather. Having the option of hanging out the wash instead of using the dryer is nice. Having no alternative is not nice.

 

[spiceman1957]

Aldspinboy,

Well, you certainly have no shame hanging out your laundry lol
The only thing I have a problem is with hanging out towels. They always stiff. I tried using an extra rinse with Downey but with little success. So, the dryer has to be used in this situation.
John

 

[tomturbomatic]

gowest84, does your condo have a balcony or terrace? If so, it might be possible to get a little 115 volt portable dryer to use out there, covered with a tablecloth, of course. You could either disconnect the wire from the heating element and see how fast it would dry using the heat outdoors or leave the heating element connected and supplement the outdoor heat with the electric heat. I'll bet that if you either paint the cabinet black or keep a black covering over it, the dryer will get so hot from the sun that it would not use much electric heat anyway. If you kept stuff on top of it like a plant or something, it would easily pass for a table when not in use. You could have the outside air dry your clothes, but not have to actually hang laundry and save money.

 

[rapunzel]

When some pinches your unmentionables from your clothes line

we call that 'snowdropping' here in Oz.