It may seem like a simple decision to install a clothes line in your backyard for the purpose of drying your family's clothes but in many areas of the country this relatively simple desire is looked down on by neighbourhood associations and municipal governments.
The invention of the clothes dryer may have revolutionized laundry in the modern world, but in current times with our focus on conserving energy and money a natural alternative for many families is the move to drying your laundry out on a clothesline in the yard. It is estimated by some that clothes dryers'"both electric and gas'"use between 10 '" 15% of all domestic energy; in our current economic climate there stands to be a lot of savings for the average home owner if they trade in drying all their laundry in the dryer to using a clothesline instead.
An outdoor line to dry your clothes on costs only as much as your particular set up; the arrangement that works best for you will likely depend on your individual yard. Some home owners like to have one long clothes line that stretches the length of the yard which can be stationary or can be accessed via a pulley system from the back porch, while others prefer a more compact rotary style clothes line that employs a single pole with concentric circles of lines that radiate outward which allow for a large amount of laundry to be hung in one small space
The choice to dry your laundry inside or outside seems like it would be a simple matter for the individual home owner to decide based on how much time and effort they were willing to invest in their laundry, however this isn't the case for a great many people across the country.
Even though a vast number of Americans are suffering in this economic crisis, an act as simple as drying your laundry on a line in your own backyard is still forbidden in some areas that fall under the jurisdiction of strict homeowners' associations. A great many associations have deemed that drying your laundry in your own backyard somehow makes the entire neighbourhood look trashy and will fine you if they catch you doing it.
It's about time that such an environmentally-friendly (and pocketbook friendly) activity was looked upon in a more favourable way than it has been in the recent past. Drying laundry doesn't make a neighbourhood look low-class; it makes it look like a community that is choosing an energy efficient option to accomplish a weekly chore.
