True, but for me, all of those things are outweighed (and then some) by one simple fact: it takes me 20 seconds to move the entire load of wet clothes into the dryer. I can’t even get to the line in 20 seconds, much less hang all the clothes…

Gigantic gas-powered clothes dryer is one of the only things I miss about life in USA.

When the weather permits, I'd rather take 5 minutes to hang clothes to dry, and then other 5 minutes to fold them.

A lot like cooking food, that's a time to let your mind wander and breathe.

I'm the opposite. Hanging up clothes is probably my least favorite thing to do.

But I still do it because it seems wasteful to use a dryer, and damages the clothes as well.

We have a washer/dryer in our apartment. We still hang dry over 50% of our clothes because the effort involved is really minuscule, the chances of the clothes getting destroyed are significantly lower, they last significantly longer, some clothes run a risk of catching fire if the temperature is too high, and finally the clothes just feel so much nicer to wear.

Bonus, especially if electric dryer, you save a ton of cash not running it several hours a week. In AZ, it may take clothes less time to dry, IDK, I don't own/use a dryer.

Death of the World is just so convenient.

What are you doing that's more appealing than spending 5 minutes outside?

Well, you know; spending time with my children, programming my hobby projects, cooking, sleeping, working on my bicycle, riding my bicycle, lifting weights on my roof deck, googling the candidates on my absentee ballot, having sex, cooking something else, reading a novel, taking a bath... I mean there’s a veritable laundry list (ahem) of things I’d rather spend 5 minutes of my precious, precious time on than hanging my clothes on a line.

YMMV, of course...

(Possibly relevant: my clothes consist primarily of a few identical pairs of shorts and fatigue pants, and 20 identical heavyweight no-brand T-shirts, plus maybe a hoodie...)

The sun will ruin clothes much faster than a properly configured dryer

YMMV - it may be different closer to the equator, but in the great lakes I don't have an issue. The brightest colors and most delicate fabrics are hung inside or in shade. With a medium washer spin speed there's very little wear on the clothes.

In contrast, my experience with the dryer is clothes and up looking threadbare and worn from a high heat dryer. Just look at how quickly the lint trap fills up.

I’ve found most wear on clothes comes from people who only used timed washes on high heat

I wash my clothes and dry them according to type with automatic settings which end the cycle early if the clothes are dry before the full cycle is complete

On the flip side when I lived in a place where dying clothes outside was the norm there was no avoiding sun bleached clothes unless you dryer your clothes at night (which only partially worked because it was a tropical climate)

I line dry and have tshirts that are over 20 years old. I've lost clothing to a washer that broke a paddle though.

Another benefit of line drying is you don't need to iron, we don't iron clothing. The only times I've ironed in the last couple of decades is job-interviews and attending Buck House.

I haven't needed to iron in a long time and I use dryers. Wash on medium and dry on permanent press. Remove immediately and hang or fold. As long as you don't pack the dryer with heavy items, clothes come out wrinkle-free.

I've only lived at 50-55° N, and 99% of my clothes are black. They seem to last much longer without fading if I don't use a dryer. On cheaper t-shirts, the dryer gradually ruins the elastic around the neck.

I use the dryer for clothes that don't matter, and line dry the nicer ones.

Mostly because the tumbling damages the material by abrasion. The damaged fibres look dull and hold the pigment much worse.

Likewise washing without tumbling is much gentler but clothes dry a lot longer.

I took some super-macro photos to try and see this, but there wasn't as much difference as I hoped.

The second photo is my newest t-shirt, and the fourth is the oldest.

https://imgur.com/a/8wzFWki?

> but there wasn't as much difference as I hoped

That looks like a huge difference to me, the first shot looks super old whereas the last shot looks brand new. What sort of difference were you hoping for?

Yeah, but the fourth is an old item. The second is the newest.

I wonder if I'm looking at it the wrong way, and all the "fluff" has been sucked out of the fourth one by the dryer, which probably weakens it.

Possible, but I'm not convinced that this is a given. You have UV v mechanical tumbling and deformation. Line drying is also quite a lot faster on on a warm day.

Even on a not so warm day, the moving air really helps dry it out a lot faster. Not as fast as a dryer maybe but still. Plus, outdoor air freshness. If you don't live near a major road anyway.

We dry them on the other side. Also, we avoid leaving them in the sun more than an hour or so. The dryer stays outside during the night and is moved inside in the morning during work days or left for about an hour in the sun otherwise then moved inside.

Not in my experience.

Presumably with this in mind you make sure to keep them well covered every time you go outside wearing them?

If you're worried about items fading, just hang them inside-out.

And one more reason:

Line-dried clothes and beddings smell wonderful (even if you use detergents and softeners that don't contain perfume) after hanging out to dry.

That’s funny. The main reason I don’t line dry my clothes is because I dislike the way they smell after being line dried.

To each his/her own!

+1 for vinegar, I would add that it helps a lot with sporty clothing that you sweat through and through often. Especially with synthetic, they tend to get some nasty stench that doesn't go away with normal washing. Vinegar helps with that

Doesn't vinegar destroy your washing machine?

Maybe on some models - I've been doing it for years and I have no issue.

I don't put a ton in, and I imagine most of it is neutralized by leftover soap residue and a relatively hard water supply.

It will accelerate corrosion and rust. Modern, higher end machines are probably going to use stainless for all the affected parts but I wouldn't risk it on an expensive newer machine. Older machines are more likely to have non-stainless parts and if you've got an older machines you probably don't want to accelerate its demise.

Wouldn't chlorine bleach also have the same effect on your washing machine since it is quite the oxidizing agent?