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?

FWIW I'm in the US and always hang my laundry out on sunny days. And where I that's pretty much all year round. Lots of people are doing it to save the environment. And money, utility costs are through the roof these days.

But I will admit to a habit acquired from dear old Mum....I'll only hang my smalls on the inside line. Her motivation was modesty, mine's just habit.

Buy a 'prop', not sure what the modern equivalent is called, but it was a long, 8 feet, piece of thin wood that was notched at one end to fit the line.

Madness!! I love having washing out and do so all year round when I’m able to! Hate seeing it hanging up inside all over the place or using the tumble all the time when there’s plenty of sun and no need to.
I’m the only neighbour to have a line even let alone hang out which makes me feel a bit sad for the others as they never have the gorgeous dried outside laundry smell!

Committed line dryer, though draw the line 🤦‍♀️ at my 38J M&S soft cup. I’m only giving my ten pennith to see if we can get this thread to a 1,000.

They've been neighbours for 10 years - I doubt Hyacinth next door is suddenly going to start sabotaging OP's washing.

why is she even looking? you’re definitely not being unreasonable

If they line dry on a still day, they go hard; but if there's a breeze to keep them moving they soften up.

She’s nuts! I would however say there’s a woman around the corner from me that has all her washing on an airer outside her front door! She has a rear garden so that’s not nice in my opinion.

I've got a prop, but it's metal. I think I got it from Kleeneze.

I would buy some super cheap towels/charity shop rag bag and hang them out every day even when it's raining. Leave them out 24/7 for the spiders to enjoy.

If she mentions it again, ask if she's worried about her husband perving at your knickers....

Laundry at the front: big no

Back garden? That's what it's for. I really don't like seeing laundry outside, I think it looks shit, but I currently have 4 or 5 loads drying, I lost count 😂

My laundry is outside every day it's not raining. I don't like dryers, they're unsuitable for most items anyway, they take forever. Where else than the garden am I supposed to put laundry? My living room? 😂

Neighbour's bonkers.

Whats "not nice" or even "naice" about it?

Affects literally no one!

The sun hits the front of my house in the afternoon so if I had a front garden I would quite happily pop a clothes horse out there.

Yes, I sometimes wonder whether people who complain about clothes drying on the front have ever seen a south facing front garden.

This is my favourite post!

I have a communal garden and hang my washing outside to dry. So do half the flats. What an odd thing to complain about.

it does look shit, and very cheap. Like it or not, but the appearance of the neighbourhood does impact the price of your house as well.

Hanging your washing on the line for a hour or two isn’t knocking anyone’s house prices down.

How on EARTH does it look "cheap"

Explain, in detail please.

And as for a clothes horse in front of a naice house bringing down house prices of a whole street....that is hilarious. Daily Mail did a number on you didnt they?!

ETA some of us dont care if it "brings down the house prices!!" because we bought our houses to be homes, not investments.

Well I don't have a drier so I'd love to know your neighbour's solution as to how I get my washing dried....

Ps. I agree with the majority... she's NUTS.

My dear gran used to get huge grief from a neighbour for hanging her knickers on the washing line on Sundays. Was "against God" somehow.

Sensible reasons not to dry laundry outside is rain or allergies!

Your neighbour is absolutely unreasonable!

Also unreasonable are various housing associations, rules/regulations that do not allow drying cloths outside on balconies, out of windows .... for aesthetic reasons! There are also no communal laundry rooms in buildings, eg. attic for drying laundry. During my granny's lifetime this was normal. Now all these spaces have been converted to more apartments. So people are forced into using dryers, or just air dry laundry inside, and then everyone is surprised by the mould in the flats!

What is so offending about clean laundry? Smelly, soiled, stinky, I can understand. But clean laundry😜?

I'm a bit confused about how it looks cheap? Is it because you must be loaded if you can dry it all inside in the dryer?

I'm loving the weather for drying my washing and I'm a total tumble dryer convert but since moving to the cheap electricity it's cheaper to run the dryer overnight which does mean I'm limited to washing. In this weather I can get it going first thing, hang it out, put another load on, bring in the first and potentially even squeeze in a 3rd and put it in the dryer.

I can't see my neighbours washing unless I look out of the bedroom windows which I do frequently but I don't pay attention to what they have on their line, I just see it's there. I don't hide my underwear but I can't imagine it holds much interest.

Nothing better than getting into a freshly made bed with bedding straight off the line, smelling of sunshine. Bliss!

Probably not wise but I would tell her her husband prefers to see me in my undies

Very unreasonable! I hope you peg the pants and knickers on the outside!