What We Lost When We Stopped Hanging Clothes on the Line

Do you ever feel nostalgic for a time and place you never visited? Many of us have a love for the simple, agrarian lifestyle of rural life in the mid 20th century, shaped by reading the Little House on the Prairie series and visiting tourist trap Amish country in nearby Lancaster County.

It’s easy to imagine the pros and gloss over the cons of such a lifestyle. I can see that there were rich experiences, like hanging clothes out to dry, that have been more or less lost in today’s world of instant gratification.

Sure, using a clothes dryer is faster and more convenient, but it doesn’t offer the multi-sensical experience that hanging clothes would have. Not to mention the economic, environmental, and physical benefits that modernity encourages us to trade away for comfort.

The truth is, we’ve lost something tangible and meaningful. I don’t mean that to be critical of progress or nostalgic for an older way of life, but just to point out that there is something good that can still be recaptured today.

It was only a few generations ago that people were far more frugal than we are today, and heck, even some of our parents can remember helping with this chore. I think it’s worth pausing to consider the following list of things we’ve lost since we stopped hanging clothes on the line.

Frugality

It’s cheaper to hang clothes to dry than to use energy in a dryer. But in our society, convenience trumps all, and it has been the single greatest force shaping our economy in the past 50 years.

Adventure

Planning your life around the weather to get your laundry dry might sound like an annoyance, but in many ways, it’s an adventure. Helping my wife get clothes on the line before a storm blows in is a fun shared memory for us.

Reduce your carbon footprint

We don’t often consider how wasteful it is to use a dryer, but when it’s laid out clearly, it’s easy to see. Hanging clothes on a line requires no electricity and only a small bit of human labor. Compared to running a dryer, which is one of the most energy-intensive items in your house, it’s a huge win for the environment.

Deeper connection with nature

How many times have you used the beautiful weather as an opportunity to hang your clothes out to dry? That might sound like a strange question to ask in modern life, but by yoking our chores to the beat of another drum, we are forced to become more aware of the world around us.

Nostalgia

We hang our clothes out to dry in the summer, and I get a strange joy from seeing them pleasantly flap in the breeze and then laying my head down on a wrinkled pillowcase at night. It makes me think of a world I romanticized as a child, a simpler time and place I never lived but still love.

Physical exercise

One of the great challenges of modernity is the need to carve out special time to exercise. Many chores that used to require physical exertion have been automated away. Hanging clothes on a line requires some physical strength and flexibility, which makes me think it’s a good habit to incorporate into my life.

Fresh scent

Few things are as pleasant as the fresh, airy smell of clothes that have been dried outdoors. It’s a clean and crisp scent that any number of chemical fabric softeners promise but always fall short in delivering.

Mindfulness and contemplation

For me, sorting the laundry and hanging it out to dry is a time to slow down and reflect on life. Pacing back and forth as I work on this simple chore can be mentally energizing, like taking a long walk. But it’s not the same as throwing clothes in a dryer and walking away.

Less wear and tear on your clothes

The high heat and tumbling action of dryers can be quite hard on your clothes, causing them to wear out faster. Compared to hanging clothes up to dry, which only exposes them to the breeze, this is a huge difference in gentleness.

A sense of community

At least where I live, people hang their clothes out to dry in the backyard or near the house. This can make for a more active front yard and a greater sense of community than the fortress-like subdivisions that have become the norm today.

A sense of accomplishment

Hanging clothes to dry is in many ways a more involved process than using a dryer. For me, that sense of “chores” is in fact a sign that I’ve done something useful, which makes me feel more satisfied than simply pushing a button.

A connection to the past

Hanging clothes on the line is one of the few rituals that ties us to a past that is disappearing, one with its own goods that we should appreciate. Many people think back fondly to what they call “the good old days,” but they rarely think of how they might actually preserve that memory in their own way of living.

Appreciation for simple pleasures

It’s my belief that modern convenience drives up our expectations for life, and without realizing it, begins to make ordinary chores seem like annoyances and tasks to outsource rather than embrace. I have found that, like many chores, hanging clothes on the line is a simple pleasure at its core.

Gratitude for conveniences of modern life

Hanging some of my clothes on the line to dry makes me appreciate all the more the other conveniences I enjoy, and instead of taking them for granted, they become something I can use to my own advantage or strategically opt out of for the sake of preserving some other value.

Conclusion

While most of us are grateful for the conveniences of modern life, there is something we’ve lost in leaving behind so many of the simple, physical trades we used to practice. Hanging clothes on the line was one such task that, while seen as a chore, forced us to think about nature and the weather, while providing a deeply sensorial experience as well.

On top of the psychological benefits, it’s cheaper, easier on the environment, conducive to physical fitness, and fun. It’s a reminder that what we see as progress is often nothing more than a tradeoff, many times what is convenience on one hand, isn’t worth what we have to give up on the other.