Interesting article in the Boston Globe, HERE, about how clothes dryers don't sell in China. Chinese people simply won't buy them and don't want them. Various reasons, but, the main one was tradition. They believe hanging laundry in the Sun kills bacteria and is natural. It was good enough for their great great grandmothers and all that. The article talks about Shanghai laundry hanging being so prevalent it takes over the city scape and has had to be banned at certain times. It makes me want to look up photos of it, because I am so enamoured of hanging laundry photos that I think it sounds beautiful. For once, I agree with the Chinese. I love hanging laundry out. Not only does it smell better, but, you get a real sense of accomplishment you don't get from dryers. I hate dryers because they make you a slave to their time table. You must hurry to fold the laundry before the wrinkles set..ruining your work. With a line dry you get it in when you're damn well ready to. Unless it rains. I also hate the sound of a dryer because they're expensive and it sounds like money flying out the window to me.Anyhow, it's worth a read and it talks about various drying devices and inconveniences and it had that nice photo. I like that pole system. How come Americans don't use those? I'm stuck with wires. And I love those clips made for the pole. They remind me of those clips sold in catalogs to bundle computer wires. Too bad they'd be too expensive to utilize for hanging clothes.
22 comments:
i always like the old pix of clothes on lines run between buildings in NYC in the 20s and 30s....
the thing with chinese hanging out clothes though---can you imagine the air pollution the clothes are subjected too in some areas??
i'd hang my clothes out to dry if i didn't have such bad allergies....
My mother grew up in Pittsburgh in the days of steel mills belching smoke and flyash into the air 24/7. Remember her saying that the wash was always dirty/gray when they took it off the line.
I agree with every word of your post. When I lived in Ohio I had a huge backyard and a very long laundry drying line. Problem was in the winter it was mostly useless as not enough daytime sun to dry. Now in CA no space to hang laundry -- which is a shame because here I could do it most every day of the year.
This post reminds me of my Mom
hanging out cloths. My Sisters and I would sometimes throw blankets over the line to make a tent--those were the days. I miss the carefree times of my youth.
I hang my laundry out as soon as weather permits. The one thing I am taking with me from this house to the new are my clothes line poles. Good sturdy poles are hard to find anymore.
well, drying in the sun really does kill bacteria.
And dryers are a fucking waste of precious ressources.
Laundry is a ritual for me. I leave it to pile and do it when I absoulutly have to. But, then it fills three lines and I get a kick out of taking it in. I do it in steps. I never use a basket. I fold right at the line, you can't do that with a dryer or the last of it gets ruined with hot wrinkles. I make several trips and take breaks. I hang in winter too and when the clothes freeze, I have drying racks inside near the heat. Line drying in Winter is, well, you can do it, it's just a slightly different process. I just enjoy the drying and folding part, it feels good. I like the smell.
Oh, and I grow special things near the clothes line, it's all connected in my mind.
in france 300-400 years ago they would have a 'laundry garden' where they'd plant lavender in patterns to lay linens on top of to dry and then the linen shirts, delicates, etc would be scented with lavender.....
this sort of carried to the u.s. where in some of my older gardening books they'd suggest a 'clothes line' garden with fragrant plants that in theory the scent would carry to the clothes on the lines....
You also have to understand that the average household in China survives on $200 per month. Why would they spend the money on such a luxury and where would they put it in their tiny flats?
We had a very sturdily made clothes line when we moved here, but after a couple of years I had my husband remove it. I had injured shoulders, and couldn't hang clothes on the line or take them off again. The sun also really faded some of my favorite things. I kind-of wish I had it again, now, as my dryer is still making dying noises, and at least a lot of clothing would dry this way. Towels, though. They are like sandpaper when they come off the line.
I really did like the way the clothes looked hanging on it in the sun. I took a lot of pictures of my son's clothes out there. Maybe someday we will have another one.
I like to fold mine as I take them down, too. It's relaxing and the smell is great.
My mom always hung our laundry out. I loved that smell, it was comforting. The sound of hanging out the clothes is a comfort also. My mom used the kind of line you pull back and forth between two poles. When I hear one of the sounds a blue jay makes - kind of a squeaky wheel 'screech' sound - it reminds me of clothes being hung out on that line.
Hey guys..
can I ask a sligtly odd question..
what do you pay per month for electricity in the US?
Here in New Zealand our monthly bill is around $500 NZ dollars which is roughly $370 US dollars.. is that more or less than what you pay?
thanks!
Liz (from NZ) :)
is everything in your house electric Liz? or do you also have gas for a water heater and furnace?
my electric bill in the summer--running a window air conditioner--is about $90 but i have a gas water heater and furnace....
Liz,
I live in a medium size house and there are four of us. There is basically always somebody home. In the summertime it averages about $200 a month because of the air conditioner. In the winter it averages about $150 or so.
During a heat wave, I can get a bill of $300. But I live in Connecticut. One of the states that like to gut and bleed their residents dry.
I use the clothes line spring, summer and fall. I do not like doing winter hang outs. I know what you have to do but it is a pain in the ass and I do not like freezing...LOL I have lines hung up in the basement for the winter and I use the dryer.
Stiff towels? You have to shake them before and after hanging. It takes the stiff out. But, you really have to whip them around. It's a skill. Heh.
I am guessing their clothes don't last long what with all the filth & chemicals that gets attached to them hanging out. I like to hang out sheets & blankets, the big fluffy stuff. Jeans & towels are just mean if you hang them out! & in a big city it will get stolen and ruined anyways & looks like poverty nowdays. I'd rather dry them in a dryer then have to iron everything anyways. Time lost you can never get back!
rox
Liz in NZ: Our monthly electric bill here in Indiana USA is about $180-$190 in the summer with AC's going upstairs & downstairs. It's our winter gas bills that are so painful. But last year we insulated our attic & it cut our costs waaay back. Our summer gas bills are about $30. We have gas water heater also so that adds to it. Our winter gas bills run about the same as our summer electric bills now that we insulated. Its still way too much tho. But old house, thats the way it is.
rox
I am the gloomy one. I HATE the feel of line dried clothes and prefer my soft stuff.
I have a long clothesline in my yard and every time I have hung out clothes, birds crapped all over them.
My dark towels bleached out and will never match the drier-dried ones.
sorry!
ahh...climbing into bed on freshly laundered/line-dried sheets...a little bit of heaven!
hmm you all need new dryers! mine has a steam refresh so if u cant get to the clothes right away you just hit refresh when u have time and my dryer steams the wrinkles out in 15 mins..and both my washer and dryer have sanitize setting to kill bacteria and germs.
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