I dry my laundry in my garden and my neighbour is really unhappy about it

[WashingWoes]

I really don’t think I’m in the wrong here but keen for opinions which I will take onboard if I come off as unreasonable.
I live in an end-terrace house. Neighbour is attached to me. I peg my washing out to dry on good days. We are a family of four, lots of laundry and I much prefer to peg out than use the (expensive and environmentally unfriendly) drier. My neighbour HATES me for drying my laundry in my garden. Relentless comments about how she can’t enjoy looking at her garden from her bedroom window because she can see my (clean) laundry. About how it’s spoiling her enjoyment of her garden. Why can’t I just use the drier, for everyone’s benefit (not mine, see: bills; climate change…). It’s bad manners to dry ‘smalls’ outside - her husband might see my ‘undergarments’ … honestly it’s relentless. I recently received a birthday card from them (very kind, and appreciated) which said ‘Happy Birthday WashingWoes, we really love seeing your washing on the line, have a lovely birthday’. Please reassure me that I’m normal and neighbours are barmy?

My washing is out right now (and probably dry - will check when I peg out the next load shortly). Hanging washing outside and the lovely fresh smell it gets is one of the free joys of life and I do it all year round. One of my neighbours does too and one doesn't. I think the ones who use a tumble dryer all year round are the barmy ones.

My aunt in Canada isn't allowed to despite having at least an acre of garden. Town rules apparently. Madness.

People are weird. How about she looks at her garden out of her bedroom window instead of yours, weird nosy woman.

Also not the first time I've seen a post about neighbours complaining their husbands may see another womans underwear. I seriously worry about the marriages of people who find that concerning. Like are you really telling me your husband is pervert.

See, this might be the crooks of it. She behaves like she’s our landlord, has done since we moved in. She once told me that there was a hierarchy on the terrace and that we are at the bottom because we are the most recent to move in and the youngest. We’ve lived here 10 years. Not that that matters, if we’d been here 10 minutes there is still no hierarchy! Ridiculous

She is mental, ignore

Would anyone know if she did it anyway? In a corner perhaps?

Your neighbour is a total nut job.
Be subtle, peg something completely out of place in amongst the washing every time it goes out. One day a spring onion, next time a single wellie, after that a packet of crisps, then maybe a book, a spoon, a rubber chicken…

I LOVE seeing my neighbours washing line out. They have 2 young children and the line runs all the way down their garden, all the little clothes neatly pegged up It feels so beautifully neat and a little bit old-fashioned.

I think your neighbour is ridiculous, OP.

Absolutely shut this woman down before she tries to control anything else about your garden. I have no advice how but I’d be furious if someone tried to dictate how I used my garden.

DD2 used to have a neighbour who complained about DD hanging out underwear etc . Apparently her husband was making comments and neighbour was upset .
DD told her she would continue to hang out anything she wanted and her husband needed to get a grip !

Spell out what you really think of her...

I don't like the look of it either but really it's none of my business and I wouldn't dream of interfering with what the neighbours do unless they were burning tyres or something 😀
Nobody does it in my street it's considered not "naice", and I'm not sure I'd have the courage to defy the dragons so I just take my wet laundry to the laundrette to dry it after its washed.
But if you have children that isn't always an option. I live on my own.

“Sorry, I won’t stop, I actually care about the environment”.

Hang it out like this

Try this....

She sounds a sandwich short of a picnic. Hierarchy of the terrace? Is she Hyacinth Bucket?!

Next time she mentions it I'd say that if she's going to spend her time staring at other people's knickers it's probably best not to tell them!

Then I'd hang my washing out like this:

When my parents lived in the USA this wasn't allowed either, but then everyone has washer dryers in the states so they don't need to.

I’d be very very tempted to buy a few packs of cheapest knickers I can find and make bunting out of them to hang year round directly in her eyeline.

Omg x post with everyone! 😂

Well found! I was searching for that very image.

II'd be telling her that i will use the drier if she pays for the electricity consumption, in fact just to make it easy "I'll bring it round to yours and you can text me when it's done"

And then i would laugh at her and carry on.

Front garden or back garden?

The smell is up there with baking bread and babies heads.

Tell her to join the Facebook washing line appreciation group

I had a neighbour like this when I lived in a small flat with a communal garden. I would just pop the laundry rack outside with all the baby bits on.
She would moan like crazy at me! I explained that I didn't have a drier.. she admitted that neither did she. When I asked her how she dried her laundry she said 'on the backs of chairs'.... So I suggested we put in a communal line and share it... she was happy with that!
People are mental.