Is hanging washing on the line not a thing anymore?

[Savvyshopper81]

Interesting conversation with neighbour recently:

Him: ‘I see you like hanging your washing out to dry.’
Me: ‘Er, yeah. Doesn’t everyone?’
Him: ‘Well no, we think it’s a bit common.’

Now this was said tongue in cheek but I’ve come to realise that NONE of my neighbours have washing lines (only us!) and we all have big enough gardens. Plus a local friend recently said that they tumble dry everything because they can’t stand seeing washing hanging around.

Is this no longer a thing? Has the world gone mad?? I live on top of a very windy hill in a sunny part of the UK - unless it’s raining washing usually dries in a couple of hours. I’m baffled as to why people wouldn’t take advantage of that!

I'd love to but it attracts attention of nosy neighbours. Even if they aren't hovering waiting to pounce, their yappy dog alerts the whole street. I avoid doing anything in the garden as a result.

I don't think most people in the UK think hanging washing out is common. I think in parts of the US it might be (and illegal).

The sun's free so that's what I use to dry my washing! Love seeing washing blowing gently in the breeze.

I hang everything of ours out, all year round. We don't have a tumble drier - agree with PP, I don't like them. They are bad for the environment and your clothes last longer and smell lovely and fresh when they've been air-dried.
When I lived in an upstairs flat years ago, I still air-dried everything with all the windows open.
Anyone who says it's 'common', tongue-in-cheek or not, is very silly.

Aldi from time to time has great pegs. I bought 6 packets 4-5 years ago and still going strong. The problem with Aldi is it can take years before the same item is being sold again.

I live on a council estate and have a small front garden. I installed a washing line but almost none of the others do. Some put clothes horses out. I refuse to use a tumble dryer - expensive to run and bad for the clothes. I also hate this thing of having clothes horses inside,though I do it in the worst of the winter.

If your neighbour thinks it's common, he's right. It's common sense and common practice.

I hang out washing out as much as possible even in Winter, if it's dry out and the ground is dry then out on the line it goes. I don't have a tumble dryer now. I didn't use our old one very much and had owned it since 1997, it finally gave up working last year and we haven't replaced it.

I have 2 loads on the line as we speak. I don’t have a tumble dryer but if l did, l wouldn’t use it in good weather.

We stay in an ex council house and when they went private. No washing was to be hung on balconies. it is ignored I always hang mine out

I was hanging mine out in the back yard, and someone walked past and commented on how amused she was by it and that it was like something out of the dark ages!

WFHmutha25 · Today 09:14

I do have one confession and I wonder how many fo this: i leave my pegs on the line! I just don't care that they have little spiders in them 😝

i do this as my peg bag used to be home to various insects

Yeap it's common round here - everyone does it.

I own a tumble dryer but the way these parasitic utility companies are taking our money every month im suprised more people dont hang their laundry outdoors. Its a far cheaper option.

I never hang washing out. I don't have a line at the back, though there is one at the front.

The back is overlooked by some very large trees, so it would be covered in tree detritus, bird poo, etc, seems a bit pointless.
Occasionally I put the airer on the patio, but it invariably falls over (low fences so the wind catches it).

The front - I'd have to move my car if I got the line set up, so that seems a faff, there are also two large trees at the front, though they don't drop as much stuff as the ones at the back (acers).

I also find that kind drying makes two jobs of something rather than one. I can hang stuff up in the house and leave it until I need it, with line drying you have to bring it in at night, or if the weather turns, and if it's not quite dry then you have to hang it all out again indoors.

I don't think it's common though.

I just mainly dry on airers in the house, no damp issues. I use the tumble dryer now and then, for towels, bed linen and knickers (because hanging out thirty pairs of keks is very boring!).

I, and the neighbours either side of me, all use our lines. One leaves her washing out in all weathers, which I draw the line (sorry!) at! I'll rescue it from the rain and hang it out again, but if I have to bring it in twice, that's it from me. Luckily I can hang it in the boiler cupboard or on a pulley in the utility room.

Anyone who has access to a line but voluntarily uses a tumble dryer is bonkers, in my book.

Go one step further into common-ness, OP, and dry your laundry in the greenhouse, if you've got one! It is perfect for those days when it rains while you're out at work, as the laundry remains bone dry. You'd just have to hope that your clothes didn't smell of manure or tomatoes afterwards 😂

Most of my neighbours and I try to line-dry everything from spring onwards, except for when the neighbouring farms are muck-spreading or slurry tanking. Long washing lines also double as handy badminton or volleyball nets for the children or mildly drunken, but nevertheless competitive, neighbours after the annual BBQ.

I think it’s common to say it’s common.

perfectly normal and sensible thing to do.

Hanging clothes out to dry is "common"?! Is he landed gentry or something?

I often feel in the minority - that I have never owned a tumble dryer as an adult, and growing up we only briefly had a second hand one (my gran's cast off) when I was a teenager but it was used scarcely and only during winter due to the electric costs, then it broke and it never was replaced.

We dont live in a particuarly warm place but I have always managed with drying washing outside and on an indoor clothes horse. Such an unnessary expense on both the environment and our bank balance if you are able to peg washing outside.

I knew but had assumed it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Turns out it really, really does. Couldn’t hang my bedding out in the spring this year due to surgery, hay fever so much better.

I always hang mine out even though we have a tumble dryer. I have noticed I am the only one out of all my neighbours though, they don’t even seem to have washing lines. We all have large, non overlooked gardens and I’ve always thought it a bit odd.

I can't line dry mine due to bad hayfever that starts in March and ends in September. I also have really dodgy neighbours who have broken into my yard in the past and I would not put it past them to steal things off my line.

Love pegging washing out, seeing a row of sparkling whites blowing in the wind. I peg out all year as long as the floor is dry. Don't like tumble dryers.

YANBU. Way, way better outside. Housewives love nothing more than pegging 3 full loads out in 1 day, bliss! I detest washing hanging around indoors during the Winter.

Oh and it’s your garden, so you are free to do as you wish with your own washing in your own garden 😊

It's always a bit exciting going out to check whether it's dry. 😂 I live on the edge, me.

But then, there is always the balance between leaving it out for another hour and bringing it back in before it gets a bit damp again as the temperature drops at night.

I have been known to put it out at night if it's dry and meant to be a lovely day the next day.

Just ask them why do they like to pay for the electric to contribute to climate change. I'm baffled by anyone who doesn’t take advantage of free energy in the form of wind and sun to dry clothes.