Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

To hang washing outside?

70 replies

ceeveebee · 26/02/2012 20:33

We live in an affluent borough in SW London, but both me and DH are originally from up north.

We always hang washing on the line in the back garden when the weather is nice, IMO it makes the clothes smell and feel nicer and saves electricity too (I cannot stand washing on radiators in the house so only alternative is the tumble dryer). However I have noticed that none of my neighbours do so, and today our NDN mentioned that his neighbour on the other side had commented to him that she'd noticed we always have a full line (we have baby twins).

Is it so unusual to hang washing out in nice weather? Is this a north/south divide thing?

OP posts:

startail · 26/02/2012 22:29

First day of the year I've put stuff out. It came in almost dry too

Notcontent · 26/02/2012 22:46

In Australia everyone hangs their washing outside to dry. Dryers are for rainy days. When I moved to the UK I was really surprised that many people never hang stuff outside even if they have a garden and it's sunny!

SwedishEdith · 26/02/2012 22:49

Well, thought about it for 5 seconds realised none is mine. Have left it out

lazylula · 26/02/2012 22:50

I hang my washing out all year round unless it is raining. It doesn't always dry but does seem to dry quicker once I get it in and put it on the drier.

Averyyounggrandmaofsix · 26/02/2012 23:27

I used to love to see lines of snow white nappies, a rare sight now!
I am an obsessive line dryer, all weathers apart from rain, we are in the south east and it seems to be a bit of an age thing rather than a snobby thing round here.

Tiddlyompompom · 26/02/2012 23:49

YANBU but it's def not a north/south divide, if anything it's a town/country divide! Rarely ever saw London neighbours washing outside, but now I'm back in a small town everyone's got their lines full. I didn't even know domestic tumble driers existed til I moved to London ...
Besides the fact that drying outside saves electricity & money, it's gentler on your clothes, the sunlight kills off dustmites and bleaches whites!

featherbag · 26/02/2012 23:53

ceevee, it's a widely known fact held opinion in these parts that 'North' begins at Scotch Corner. Anything under that is 'South.'

Earthymama · 26/02/2012 23:56

On every count you are NOT BU,
Saving money *
Saving fuel*
Saving Planet*
Smells Good*
Makes you Smile*
Makes you feel Virtuous

marriedinwhite · 26/02/2012 23:59

SW London here too. The washing has been on the line all weekend - 6 loads - all dried and just sat down having finished the ironing.

Our elderly neighbour, when we first moved in once made a comment about not hanging the washing out on Sundays but he got over it after a few years.

OneLittleBabyGirl · 27/02/2012 00:14

We are not in London but in the south. Very few hangs their clothes outside. When we were looking at houses i dont think any has a clothes line in the back garden. (While in NZ everyone has one. Even in the town house i lived in, it has a compact one that collapsed onto the wall).

I know from friends and work colleagues they use their tumble driers. You can't hang everything indoors as the condensation will make your house mouldy in no time.

I think it's very green to dry clothes naturally. As long as you don't hang them up so high you can see all the knickers over a 6 ft fence. Yes that's someone in our neighbourhood who has a line strung from the second floor.

Bunbaker · 27/02/2012 00:25

Why do you have a problem with seeing other people's knickers on the washing line? I assume they are clean?

I am from South London, but now live in Yorkshire. I have always hung washing outside unless it is damp. I think it is ludicrous that some people think that line drying washing is "common"

I line dry for all the same reasons as Earthymama

NadiaWadia · 27/02/2012 00:52

I read somewhere that in the US hardly anyone hangs the washing out, they use tumble driers all the time, and often hang things out your neighbours will complain and you might find its against the rules of your housing estate and you could be forced to stop. Crazy!

carabos · 27/02/2012 07:55

I have a couple of friends who tried to tell me a few years ago that it wasn't quite "naice" to hang washing outside. One of them lives on a farm on top of a hill in a village with a name that reflects how windy it is there, next door to a wind farm with no neighbours and uses her tumble drier year round.

We are in the proper north but apparently it's a class divide not a north/ south divide.

VickityBoo · 27/02/2012 08:04

Why on earth is it a show of being poorer in the States? How ridiculous. Is it really against some housing area rules? Crazy.

TroublesomeEx · 27/02/2012 09:30

I always hang washing out unless it's raining for all the reasons Earthymama gives.

Some people who use tumble driers put little sheets in them to try and make them smell like they've been dried outside

Don't hang underwear out though.

ArielNonBio · 27/02/2012 10:31

You can't hang everything indoors as the condensation will make your house mouldy in no time.

Ahem. I have to hang clothes inside when it rains for weeks on end in the winter, and this is why I invested in a dehumidifier. It's proper brilliant!

Actually it was when I was thinking about how often I had been able to hang clothes on the line that I realised how relatively dry it had been this winter.

This post may be the most boring I've ever written by the way :)

flamingtoaster · 27/02/2012 10:37

I live in the South and always hang my washing outside if it is above freezing and not raining - I don't have a tumble dryer because of the amount of power they use. I love the way it smells when it comes back in.

RevoltingPeasant · 27/02/2012 10:39

Vickity et al. - I grew up in the US and we hung washing out every single summer's day, almost.

Suspect this is one of those ridiculous urban myths....

Yes, some developments will ban washing outside but then so do some in Britain! As a tenant I have signed contracts that specifically preclude hanging washing outside or in view of the street. This was in Yorkshire in 2009 so quite recent.

maybenow · 27/02/2012 10:46

i don't like putting my washing out as it's down two flights of stairs and out the backdoor (that i can't find the key for), but mostly because i can't see it from our windows... i just feel nervous, i wouldn't know if it was starting to blow away and i'd likely forget about it.

we have a pulley in the kitchen.. and our house isn't damp...

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 27/02/2012 10:57

another northerner living in the Swest and an obsessive line dryer, its out almost daily unless its raining. where I live most houses have two lines a low one then a pulley system on a high line from a tall pole, its great as things can hang freely even duvet covers, never had these 'oop north' my mum was fascinated when she first came to visit. I clearly need to get a life as I love putting washing out and am a bit obsessive about how the pegs go

Flip

1 2 3