you have to be kidding me?

On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:05:53 -0600, Sally Swindells wrote (in article ):

I'm with you Sally. I don't care if it's in the back yard or the side yard. But front yard, I'd have a problem with.

That said, we have no space for an outdoor clothesline here. So we've strung one in the basement laundry room. Things get a little more linty that way, but I can use it all year round no matter the weather.

Maureen

Some people have nothing better to do.

It's not about the money -- I think it is about the aesthetic. My homeowners association bans them (and a lot of other things!). No Laundry -- we actually can't fence our yards. Playsets must be of wood. No Recreational Vehicles parked in yard or on drive (includes boats, snowmobiles, big RV's....). They have nothing to gain financially -- it's all about how it looks.

My backyard is pretty private -- only 2 neighbors can see it -- and it can't be seen from the street at all. I will occasionally put something out on the deck to dry -- so far no complaints. But I bet if I strung a line -- word would get around quickly!

Thanks jeanne. We actually have 5 tiers of electric prices going from

It's about a lot of things, but mostly it's about mind-control - a small group of people imposing their will on everyone else (or as many people as they can get away with), and everyone else putting up with their crap because of an insecure need to be accepted/belong. No matter how you package it, it still smells the same.

Doc

Noooo, It must be Monday!

My Mum's greatest day was a Monday when she got her wash out on the line before old Mrs. Rowlands! To her it was a completion that she could compete in! Mum was a traditional housewife, she really did wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, etc., just like the old poem! Except she didn't bake on Saturday, her sister did.

When I was small we all lived in the same house, two families and the Grandfather (all Nine of us) in a four room house, with only cold running water. There was a coal furnace and the water was only heated when the furnace was on, winter time.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Did you walk 50 miles each way to school (uphill both ways) barefoot in a blizzard 365 days a year too? (It's not that I don't believe you, but jeez - that's epic! Write a book already - seriously!) :-)

Doc

While we can -- and do -- wall in our back yards here, we're also prohibited from stringing a laundry line here. I think some of the folks in the two-storey homes would be able to look down into our yard and see our stuff drying. As you say, Kate, it's about aesthetics. :S We also can't park anything like a boat or RV in the driveway; it must be inside a garage or the back yard. We don't have a rule about playsets.

i only picked Thursday, cuz it's today and i wanted to go home!=3D) amy in CNY

About how it looks and *image*.

You have to approach it from the correct perspective: POOR people have clotheslines---they mean you *gasp* CAN'T AFFORD A DRYER! Can't have

*anybody* think there might be a POOR person living here! Even if you're paycheck-to-paycheck, by God we must all LOOK like we're CEOs!

(Lordy, lordy, HOW many decades has it been since owning a dryer was an economic status symbol? Some folks are stuck WAY in the past...)

But this is the same mindset as "there's an approved list of bushes you can plant in front of your house---nothing that's not on the list" and "if you own a pickup truck, it must be garage kept---you may not have a pickup truck visible on your property."

(Heck, no, somebody might think someone in this neighborhood WORKS for a living! Well, THAT one is 20 years behind the times of trucks and SUVs becoming "hip" things to own for people who never haul more than groceries and a couple of soccer-playing kids.....)

--pig

I live in a townhouse style condo in Ontario. The original condo rules did not allow for any laundry hanging outside. But since the power crunch, the provincial government has overturned all rules against clotheslines. HOWEVER, after talk to our board and management company, if I want to install a clothes line, it has to be within my tiny patio area, which is enclosed on both sides with a fence and open to the common area. Mine is full of patio furniture and a tiny garden area/air conditioner unit etc. We are not allowed to attach anything to the fence, but even though we are told not to attach anything to the outside of the building, it was suggested to us that we could install a line there. The only item on the market is a small expandable unit that is only 2 feet wide, so not large enough for sheets, etc., and the laundry would be blown up against the building while it is drying. So for now, I am forced to use my dryer, and hang a few items on hangers in my tiny laundry room.

There are times I miss having a clothesline up...in fact DH bought one a few years back but never got it up, sigh. However, there are reasons for not hanging laundry outside that haven't been mentioned yet....... Depending on where you live, the air may not really be "fresh" outside. Too close to a major road, or in an urban area with heavy smog would deter me from hanging clothes out. Also allergies/hayfever. I really don't want extra pollen on my clothes and/or bedding if it is going to keep me stuffy/runny/itchy/ whatever. Some areas also have to be careful of birds. I remember having to re- launder stuff when I had a clothesline that was too close to power/ phone lines that were roosting places for lots of birds. sigh.

Yes, on most days here in the desert we can finish hanging a load, and the first things up are pretty much ready to take down. And I would love to save some money and so forth. But my time is also worth something, and the dryer is faster, or at least takes less of my time.

As with any topic, there are pluses and minuses on both sides of the matter. (And I have a general disagreement with any HOA that is set up to tell me what I can and can't do with my house/property, as long as what I am doing is private/concealed by fencing, or isn't dangerous or detrimental to others. Don't live in that kind of an area and won't if at all possible. )

Pati, in Phx

Truth be told we wee in a suburb of Pittsbhrgh, PA

Hey maybe I should write a book!

Bonnie, In Middletown, VA, and I feel rich, I have a Bernina, gas forced air for winter, AC in the summer, and gas hot water all the time!

We use the toilet unless camping.

Doc

I don't know if Bonnie's going to forgive you for that or not, Doc. Polly

"

The problem is not so much what is appropriate on your own property, it's when it impacts my property that it creates a problem, either by the look or the noise.

A neat clothesline in the backyard where clothes are taken down when dry is not by any means an eyesore. The problem is when I have to look at clothes that have been hanging on the line for days. And if you're (not YOU, Amy, you know that) the type of person to leave your clothes on the line for days, you probably don't care if your grass is cut, or if you have a couple of beat up cars waiting around for someone to restore them, in other words, an eyesore.

Rather than keep track and chase down offenders, HA's have just said "no clotheslines". You know that going in, so if it's important for you to hang clothes outside, then best not be building or buying in that neighborhood.

If people would just be considerate of other people, no rules or even LAWS would be necessary.

Just my 2 cents.

Cindy

No, it's not, you're wrong. I don't really want to look at someone's laundry when I'm sitting out on the deck drinking a cup of coffee. Nor do I want to look at their weeds, their beat up cars or listen to their stereos blasting away.

You know the rules going in. You don't have to move there, you have options.

Cindy

It's about a lot of things, but mostly it's about mind-control - a small group of people imposing their will on everyone else (or as many people as they can get away with), and everyone else putting up with their crap because of an insecure need to be accepted/belong. No matter how you package it, it still smells the same.

Doc

I once lived in a neighborhood that said your trash container couldn't stay at the end of the driveway for more than 3 hours after the trash truck came through. Good thing I didn't have a job so I was close to the house all day!

Quietest, nicest place I ever lived. I LOVED it and all the considerate people who lived on my block.

Cindy

Last week I told the neighbor if the mess out in front wasn't cleaned up I was going to put up a fence to hide it all. If I do that we both lose access to our back yards. My yard is done and I frankly don't need to get back there. His is not. He responded not in that he might consider cleaning up the mess but that could I put the fence way over on my side so he could still get in the back. I told him no. DD was right. I should just have called the city and had them tow the unregistered car (flat tire and been that way for 3 years) and make him clean the rest of the mess. If I put up the fence the city will come out anyway because of the permit. Some folks are just trash. They like living in it and don't notice it. Add to your list that they don't pick up dog poop or take much better care of the dogs than they do their kids. Taria