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Part of contributing to a forum, is that we share our experiences, which is why @Sarah_39 and I shared that we haven’t had these sort of experiences with Chinese guests that you have had when it comes to this issue.
This is important in identifying whether this is a cultural issue, something specific to your guests, a communications issue etc.
If you look at my earlier posts I did offer you advice on your situation, several times (with no acknowledgement or thanks on your part).
Oh dear. Thankfully I won’t live long enough to see the coming apocalyptic future where what little washing is done will be by hand with nothing but line drying.
Thankfully the underwear thing is pretty automated now they are young men. Sadly I have not yet won the battle of getting the socks from the floordrobe into the washing basket! Then the dog gets involved, socks end up in the dog basket instead and all bets are off.
Unless you use a wasteful, noisy and smelly method of drying clothes (tumble dryer) you are poor? The smell of laundry dried outside cannot be beaten, and lines of billowing clean clothes look cool. I used to especially love nappies. This sort of madness is where benign dictatorship needs to come in.
I had a bad experience hanging clothes outside just yesterday. I put the blanket out there and went later to get it. I was pulling it down and felt something on my hand and wrist and it was numerous tiny little ants. Ugh. So I look and they are all over the blanket. So I had to wipe the line clear of all ants, then I sprayed the pole they climbed up to the line on. It took me several minutes to pluck all the visible ants off and then I had to wash the blanket again. Then I dried it in the drier to make sure I avoided a repeat. In the warm months bugs getting on the linens outside is a real issue. In the spring there are dust storms that sometimes come up rather quickly. I like my line but I’ve had more than once where I had to relaunder items dried on the line.
I don’t understand some folks here. I wouldn’t put up with that crap for a minute and would ask (tell!) them to get out and I would call Airbnb. Put what you need people what to do in your House Rules and you will be solid.
I grew up hanging laundry—smelled great unless a bird pooped on it, it blew off the line onto our red clay dirt, or a mass of grasshoppers decided to love it for a cool place to hang out (spines on legs make them difficult to get off)
Many neighborhoods in my area do not allow clothes lines because they can be a hazard for children on bicycles or running through backyards. and some think unsightly. It isn’t the outside laundry drying that is banned—it is the clothes line itself (I know the end result is the same)
Wtf. If my neighbours kids run or bike through my garden I will not be pleased. I don’t get how that scenario can be made into a law. Run or bike somewhere else!
Rotary lines might be safer from a decapitating onself point of view. They do currently have a social stigma in the UK. That wouldn’t stop me, be a leader not a follower.
Sign of poverty!!??
Here down under, we have some of the highest electricity prices in the world.
I have clothes lines at every one of my houses and laundry gets dried outside 95% of the time.
This is normal.
A relief to hear. Yesterday I could just not get my laundry dry outside in the UK, no rain whatsoever just humid and cold, urggh. I put it on the trusty pulley airer inside in the end. No regrets though, the washing still smelt great!
You may have misunderstood what I meant by “many neighborhoods won’t allow…”. It isn’t a law. It is a neighborhood restriction. In areas without a this restriction, you may have have a clothes line.
I think the idea of it being associated with poverty is because neighborhoods of traditional housing that are higher end tend to have active Home Owners Associations.
Townhome & condominium communities usually have a Home Owners Association with rules & covenants.
I live in a middle-class townhome (2 stories; adjacent neighbors in the same building, & I own the dirt under the home; HOA owns all common spaces). The HOA owns the yards & are unwilling (unable due to insurance) to accept the liability that comes with kids being kids and clotheslines placed on HOA owned land, so we have a no clothesline rule.
OK, communal land and homeowners associations are rarer in the UK, most houses are freehold. There is a call to reduce the leaseholds we do have. Most washing gets dried in private back gardens.
I agree it makes zero sense. We used to have a clothesline when I was child growing up in a rural area where no one cared. My new neighborhood is also pretty rural but it’s also brand new and I think they’re trying to make us look ‘respectable’.
This lady came to me off platform, so I can’t call Airbnb on her. Regardless, she pays me a substantial amount of money to stay here. Kicking her out because she used an extra $10 worth of electricity/water a couple times would be akin to cutting off my nose to spite my face.
Then those children should be Darwinned anyway. Bu seriously, I lived in the day when clotheslines were heavily used and am from a generation that regularly cut through yards and gardens and climbed fences. I never once was in danger of decapitation.
Children in this era dont walk 3 blocks without Mums there helicoptering or rather driving them to their next guided activity, so honestly I don’t see the risk.
I agree some issues are cultural and some are down to how someone is as an individual.