Laundry line love

What are YOU doing on National Hanging Out Day?

By SANDY LONG

UPPER DELAWARE REGION — If you’re not hanging out, you’re missing some amazing laundry-related, life-enriching experiences. That’s what local laundry line enthusiasts say, along with the passionate people at Project Laundry List, who are busy preparing for National Hanging Out Day on April 19, a New Hampshire-based event encouraging fans across the nation to organize celebrations in support of making air-drying a simple and effective way to transform their energy consumption.

When asked about their interest in line-drying laundry, folks in the Upper Delaware region revealed a deep devotion to the practice. I figured I was one of a fading few who still cherish the sight of freshly laundered items flapping madly in a blue-sky sun-burned breeze, and who thrill to the fragrance of line-dried fabrics pressed to the face.

Then I heard from Lisa Gonsalves, of Rileyville, PA: “I have a laundry line I love, because it is just a wholesome thing to do. It was one of the things I looked forward to when I moved to the country. The usual argument for energy conservation stands, but I like the upper arm exercise as well.”

Gonsalves went on to admire her laundry for how it enhances the view of her lake, brightens her chores (“much more enjoyable than cramped in my laundry room—yuck!”), harnesses the sunshine and encourages use of cloth napkins.

More confessions came. “I do it because I love the smell of laundry that has dried outside on a breezy summer day. No dryer can make laundry smell like summer!” noted Gudrun Feigl of Wayne County, PA. “My husband loves the fact that it saves us quite a bit on our energy bill. I grew up in Germany where lots of people still dry their laundry outside; I never owned a dryer in my whole life and I don’t miss it.”

“I am an avid proponent of line-dried sheets,” enthused Kitty Kreitner, who has a second-floor level clothesline in Honesdale, PA, which she uses every chance she gets. “I feel there is no greater luxury than crawling into a fresh bed that smells of the great outdoors. When I snuggle in for the night, I thank the Powers That Be for giving me a place to sleep that smells like heaven itself!”

Kreitner welcomes the “exfoliant” quality of line-dried towels, and takes pleasure in the beauty of clothesline laundry. “I like to hang my laundry in a pleasing design, so I can grin while it wafts through the air,” Kreitner wrote. “I had a friend who used to love to watch her mother and grandmothers’ giant underpants billowing in the breeze!”

Air-drying amore

I began to realize I was onto something big. And beautiful. Environmentally restorative. Physically and spiritually uplifting. Whether for the sensory delights, the environmental benefits, or the way it stirs up memories of a simpler and sweeter time, the fact is, laundry line users are committed.

Twenty-five years ago, Barbara Yeaman of Milanville invested in a solar clothes dryer. “Initial cost was $4.00 (adjusted for today’s inflation), and annual user cost is only for energy to place clothes on the dryer,” noted Yeaman. “It gets my clothes dry, adds a delightful fresh-air scent to them, wrinkles almost vanish, and it includes a mild bleaching action on most stains.”

Cynthia Crisp has been hanging out to save energy and “to get the fresh smell in the items” since she moved to Jeffersonville in 1987. “I love the stiffness from air-drying,” Crisp said. “Sometimes the clothes get stuck in the hedge they have to pass over and sometimes when I am away for a trip, the grape vines grow over the line and I have to compete.”

Susan Vorstadt of Barryville, NY, weighed in from her four-person family’s perspective: “We are trying to reduce our carbon imprint because of global climate change. We watched the video ‘Kilowatt Hours’ and were horrified at mountaintop removal in the Appalachia region. Our dryer is electric and one less appliance is important to us.”

The household has not used its dryer for over a year and hangs wash in the basement to dry during winter. Vorstadt asked, “Why pay for air and evaporation when it is free? We added up the kilowatts we used and set a goal of trying to reduce that number.” The family plans to put that savings into buying an Energy Star washing machine.

Janet Burgan and Edward Masler of Equinunk, PA decided to go solar because “dryers are such a waste of electricity or gas. We don’t want to use dryer sheets or fabric softener because of the health risks involved. In the winter, we use a clothesline set up in our greenhouse.”

Michele Sands of Tyler Hill, PA hangs out laundry partly for the environmental benefits, but also for the memories it stirs. “My grandmother was the laundress for the local hospital in north central Ohio and I would ‘help’ her by handing her the clothes pins. That fresh smell of sun and earth will be with me always,” she said.

Jan Goodman agrees. “Laundry dried in the sun smells wonderful. The whites stay brighter, and think of the energy you save. I love to bury my face in sun-dried laundry. It’s a smell evocative of childhood.”

Joan Rosenfelt of Glen Spey, NY, was motivated to try line-drying in response to rising fuel costs. “Last summer, I looked around my yard and thought, ‘why not?’ I’ve got plenty of trees and I sure would like to not burn up that precious gas in the dryer so fast.” Rosenfelt has been hanging laundry out ever since.

Others appreciate the more poetic qualities of the practice. S. Zoe Hecht noted, “I like the smell of spring in the sheets and the view of their flapping musical notes as they furl and unfurl in the breeze.”

Judy Feldman values the positive energy the act imparts. “I love the way it makes me feel when I am hanging laundry up. The act is therapeutic, I guess. And I love the look of laundry hanging on a line, in all kinds of settings, both city and country.”

Diane Townsend hangs everything outdoors except during winter. “We have a small coal stove and the laundry hangs overhead and dries in a few hours, plus adds humidity to the dry air. We also have a “mitten” rack by the stovepipe. When I lived in a loft in New York City we had a hammock that converted to a clothesline for 20 years. Here in Milanville, I’ve been hanging out for 15 years, for a total of 35 years!”

For newcomers to the practice, Alexander Lee, who founded Project Laundry List in 1995, notes that one of the biggest challenges to changing our laundry practices is change itself. “Doing our laundry differently requires us to change and Americans shy away from behavior changes,” he explained.

Drying laundry outdoors used to help keep communities connected. The practice encouraged conversation and the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. Lee touts the many other benefits on his non-profit organization’s website, as well as the challenges that remain, like the fact that communities exist across the country where outdoor line drying is prohibited.

Visit laundrylist.org for laundry advocacy actions, a multitude of laundry tips and the opportunity to vote on whether the White House should set an example for the rest of the nation by installing a clothesline in its new garden.