Connecticut's legislature is sitting on a big one. Oh, yes. And someday it just might hatch in the form of the right to dry your clothes in the open air anywhere you want here in the Nutmeg State. How's that for the prospect of progress?
Proponents of the "right to dry" say the clothesline reduces fossil fuel consumption, cuts household utility bills, minimizes carbon dioxide emissions and gives people an easy way to slow global warming. Various conservation websites say that household gas and electric clothes dryers account for 6 to 10 percent of electricity use.
"It makes sense," said state Rep. Steve Fontana, D- North Haven, House co-chairman of the General Assembly's energy and technology committee. "We do have the highest electricity prices in the nation. Having the freedom to dry [on a clothesline] helps save money and contributes to the safety of the planet," Fontana said in February. "I think it's the first time we've had such a proposal here."
Florida passed the nation's first "right to dry" bill. Vermont and New Hampshire are considering similar bills this spring.
Our wee humble abode is in a complex with bylaws and busybodies who make sure all unmanned socks remain indoors at all times. There are no skivvies flapping in the breeze here. That doesn't stop us, though. We use drying racks down cellar for all but the bed sheets and blankets. It works. I hang up a load of wash, leave it for a day, hope like heck the laundry fairies will fold and iron, and then do it myself oh, in a few days, when the fairies stand me up for a better time with my kid.
I grew up with crunchy socks and crisp sheets. It was a matter of course that when the weather was warm enough, the basket came up in my mother's mighty arms, got plunked on the picnic table, and then got reeled out for a day in the sun. We had no shame. We didn't need any. Nobody saw our stuff in our suburban oasis surrounded by trees.
There was nothing better than the smell of sheets dried in the sun or even the scrape of a stiff bath towel across a sun-burned back. That was top-class exfoliating for free. We had it all. We never thought anything of the basket of clothes pins hanging from the pulley by the back door. Never thought it was unsightly. Never thought anything but we were living in our home and taking care of the chores in the best way possible.
How nice it is to take the time to enjoy a warm bright day. I have a friend who once told me she used to love rolling her kids' clothes out on the line. It gave her the sense of a full and complete day. A connection to what her mom used to do. And a few quiet minutes outside.
Let the neighbors put on airs if they want. They don't have a line on me yet, but if this bill passes they'll know more about me than they ever could have imagined. Maybe.
24 Comments
Sandy, this post made me laugh today.
ReplyDeleteIn the orphanage, we always helped our social workers hang up clothes outside. It was as normal as eating and drinking and I loved the smell when we took it all back down.
Great post! :-)
I had no idea that there were any laws anywhere prohibiting the open air drying of laundry. I love the smell of sheets in the warm air. By the same token, the trailer parks "down here" take such outside activities to an extreme, especially when Bubba's skivvies are flapping in the breeze while he's in the E-Z-Boy.
ReplyDeleteSandy, I could not agree more with your sentence: ``There was nothing better than the smell of sheets dried in the sun''.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the tropics. Yes to your statement/
They use to lay the doilies on the grass to dry. They also had a curtain stretcher and that wasn't a pleasant job because it had sharp pins all around it. Happy drying. Love Mom
ReplyDeleteWell, I had been through this in my old country. We never had a washing machine & dryer back then. When I immigrated to U.S.A. I didn't see any body drying their socks and towels under the sun. In most foreign countries, drying outside is normal thing to do. I think, I like my towel soft, so I am not giving up the dryer.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about there being anyplace where you couldn't hang your clothes out if you wanted. I love the hang my sheets and blankets out but prefer my towels to be fluffy soft. :)
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Luiz
yay! i still hang my laundry outside. my mother -in -law has lived in 2 communitites where it violates bylaws or whatever. i've said repeatedly id never want to live anywhere that bans washlines!
ReplyDeletehere from david's, btw
A Law to allow drying clothes out in open! It is blasphemous for we Indians to even think that our clothes are not allowed a place under the Sun. Our terraces, balconies, windows, verandahs, wherever the sun shines, are festooned with all kinds and colours of clothes.
ReplyDeleteFresh-air is good for your heart, your soul -- and your underwear!
ReplyDeleteIllegal to air dry your clothes [shaking head] .... I think I'll stay west, thanks.
I never thought about a 'right to dry'. I shall never take hanging out my washing for granted again!!
ReplyDeleteMy partner says that when he was growing up there was a local by-law that said you couldn't hang out washing on a SUnday. He tells me about it every time I hang out washing on a Sunday. I tell him, if I had lived there I'd have made a special point of breaking that law, even if it were raining. LOL.
I remember being told to bring in the washing when I was little, and huge white sheets being covered in little 'midges'. They were attracted to the light and the dampness. I hated it as they would go all over my hair!
You're right- there is nothing like the smell of fresh laundry when it's been dried outside. But as for crusty socks, my partner's sometimes come out of the wash still able to stand up by themselves- nothing to do with the drying process. I've even tried adding with toilet cleaner to their wash, the type with formaldehide in. Nothing bends some of them.
Oh! Oh! I forgot! My mum would lay the pillow-cases over the lavender bushes to dry and the scent would help us sleep!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a nice read. I cant understand why if one has a backyard they cant hang their laundry out to dry if they chose.. saves a lot of electricity ..
ReplyDeleteDavid sent me
I went without a dryer for about six months... I do like soft bathtowels and the convenience of being able to get three or more loads washed and dried in a day, but I'm glad nobody cares where I hang my laundry. I don't want to live anywhere with covenants and by-laws and such... the prestige isn't worth the pain in the rear.
ReplyDeleteWhy did they ever take the right to hang out clothes away in the first place? Sheer utter nonsense!
ReplyDeleteYour post brought back memories of lines and lines of sheets swinging in the breeze...the smell of them and the feel of line-dried clothes....Yum!
btw - David sent me!
Oh what memories you have evoked!
ReplyDelete?Nothing like the smell of sheets dried in the sun and breeze.
I can't imagine it not being legal to dry outside! Strange. I use a dryer for the foul weather days, but love drying outside.
Over from David's btw. And great photo at the start of the post.
It's all too funny what our governments have to legislate for. Although with such an argument being made with how effective the clothes line is in fighting global warming, I guess it's really not that funny.
ReplyDeleteNice ending.
This post made me smile. Surely it's better for the environment to air dry clothes rather than tumble dry them. They smell nicer too. Sounds like a rather silly law to me Sandy.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked that clotheslines are banned in ones own yard. We had a dryer too but the sheets always got put on the line as well as towels and our clothes that dried in the sun, were sprinkled down and ironed later.
ReplyDeleteSandy, a perk of living in a rural development, as I do, is that we hang our clothes out on the line! When I was a kid, my mom would let me hang the laundry out and it was my favorite task. No comparison to dusting.
ReplyDeleteIn the winter, we hang what we can, indoors, on our iron stair railing. When we bought the house, I didn't envision that railing as a clothesline, but that's what it became.
Technically, the clothesline is probably against our "covenants and restrictions," but no one has complained. Such restrictions are so pretentious.
David sent me here too! Growing up, we had no dryer here -not sure when I was a kid if dryers had even been invented then. LOL When my kids were growing up, I rarely would hang clothes out simply because I didn't have the extra time needed to get through all the laundry by doing it that way. Now though, whenever the weather is cooperative, my daughter uses the clothesline as much as possible. But I had no idea that in some communities, there was legislation that banned hanging clothes out to dry! Amazing, isn't it, the things some people have thought are needed to feel better about themselves I guess would be the logic behind banning such things. Utterly stupid in my opinion to do that though. Makes one wonder too how many of them are then "Quasi-environmentalists" too, huh?
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of solar dryers... in fact I wrote about it yesterday! I realized that neighborhoods banned clotheslines, but I didn't realize this was a state issue. Who knew!
ReplyDeleteI think our HOA prevents us from using a clothesline, but I grew up with clothes dried in the sunshine. Mom only used the dryer when it was raining outside. Look how our modernity is killing the planet! Awesome post. David sent me...D
ReplyDeleteSandy, I've often visited your site from Wordless Wednesday. I didn't realize you were from Connecticut as well. I live in Woodbridge, not far from Steve Fontana's district. I actually know Steve from my political activism.
ReplyDeleteThis activism also put me in touch with Project Laundry List which is how I learned about the proposed CT Right to Dry Law.
Right now, we dry almost all of our clothes on a rack in the basement, but it looks like we are rapidly getting towards nice outdoors drying weather.
Thanks for being here.