My Clothesline

My Grandma has used a clothesline for as long as I can remember. I used to think she did it just to give her foster kids something extra to do around the house. But with the foster kids long gone and an energy efficient dryer sitting in her garage, she still insists that it saves money to dry your clothes on the line.

Here in New Zealand, almost every house has a clothesline that is in constant use. Some people don't even own dryers. I remember being insistent that we have a dryer in our house because of all the laundry the girls make. However, electricity is also very expensive here so not only do we have a very energy efficient dryer, we also have an energy efficient clothesline.

So after we moved in and I decided to try and be eco friendly by using my clothesline, I gave Mean Mary a call for some advice on how to properly hang things. She was a little sassy (when isn't she) but then seemed pleased that I had finally come around to her way of thinking. Clotheslines just seem to make so much sense! I mean, maybe not in the cold winters of upstate New York but definitely in the summer and fall. Think of all the money I could have saved by drying my clothes outside.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a social stigma in the States that goes along with drying your clothes outside. You're poor. I remember thinking that any time I saw someone drying clothes outside or if we were in a neighborhood where people were drying their clothes on the balcony. "Oh, this must be a bad neighborhood." Both of the houses we've owned have actually banned you from drying your clothes outside or installing a clothesline due, I am guessing, to the eyesore that clothes drying in the breeze causes.

I am a convert. I love the clothesline. I don't even mind the extra work that it causes. True, I do use my dryer if it is raining or if I need to get the one sheet that we have for Josie's crib dry before her nap but for the most part, I dry my clothes outside and I love it.