Line Drive in South Orange

Amanda G. checks the weather forecast before she does the wash. Amanda, who chose not to use her last name for this story in deference to her sons' feelings, dries the family laundry on a clothesline. "My kids say it's bad enough that their personal clothes, pj's and such, are out there for the neighbors to see," she says. "But using the last name might mean other middle schoolers would know." She laughs thoughtfully. "They're not old enough to remember the expression 'Let it all hang out.'"

Amanda is joining what seems to be a growing national movement. A detergent company, Seventh Generation, launched a seven-day challenge in July, urging users to both line dry laundry and protest laws that make doing so illegal in some communities. Fortunately for Amanda, it's legal in New Jersey to have a clothesline.

Still, when clotheslines were the norm, they probably weren't considered unsightly, which is one criticism that Amanda feared. She reports no comments from passersby, however. "I have a deep yard," she explains. "And tolerant neighbors."

Her reasons for line-drying are simple. "It's cheap and green," she says. Statistics from General Electric suggest that clothes dryers use at least 6 percent of all household electricity consumption.  Amanda doesn't know how exactly how much money or power she saves, but, as she says, "I'm paying nothing, not one cent, for drying clothes. Obviously, with a family of five, that's a savings right there."

"Sure," she says. "Rainy weeks are harder, and then I turn on the dryer. But this dry summer has been no problem." Her three children play sports for most of the year. "Believe me," she says. "That air drying does wonders – wonders  -- for a smelly jersey."

Many older homes in South Orange still have metal-and-plastic anchors through which the line can be pulled. And local grocery stores, including Pathmark and Bravo, sell line and clothespins, right next to dryer sheets and detergent.

"This is one of those easy ways to go a little greener, which so many of us are trying to do," notes Amanda. "My 91-year-old grandmother has never used anything but a clothesline to dry laundry, probably for her whole life. I said, 'Nonna, you know you're an environmentalist, on the cutting edge of sustainability?' She laughed, and told me to go bring in the wash; it looked like rain."