Ok, this is not the deepest question ever asked but I'm a bit of a goody-goody-two-shoes that also doesn't want to get walked over by other's big swiss clumsy clog-boots.
Today we were cleaning the apartment (during the day, not during lunch) and were shaking a pillow, blanket and table cloth over the balcony...
I know, I know - barbarians we are!
Anyway - the grey haired fox downstairs let us know that 'this is not done here'.
Really? My boyfriend cutely asks me 'but of course it must be done here otherwise what do people do?' Now I do see that basically if it was dirty stuff one could or should go and do it downstairs. Noone likes the upstairs person's dust or dirt on your balcony. But does everyone really go downstairs? Is it really a rule that you can shake nothing over the balcony - even a basically clean blanket. Are you allowed to do it downstairs even?
And then when she said 'not done here' - did she mean this apartment above mine, this apartment block, this gemeinde, this kanton, in german-speaking kantons or Switzerland as a whole? (Yip I'm getting the hang of things here!)
And do I have to worry about Sami Chlaus coming to get me now?

I would go and ask her but I'm a bit scared...

You may be surprised to find this as a clause in your lease under "Allgemeine Verbote". Basically it may be forbidden to shake tablecloths, carpets, bathmats, brooms or mops from windows and balconies.

So now you ask, what does one do? If you were to go into the communal laundry room, for example, you would have to vacuum it afterwards. My suggestion is shake these items in the bathroom, in the bathtub or shower, or on the floor. Or just vacuum carpets and mats (as long as they are not wet).

I once had a neighbour who shook everything out the window, constantly. Her boyfriend owned horses and I imagine she was trying to get rid of the horse hair. But it was extremely annoying particularly if the wind was blowing in my direction. There is nothing you can do when private homes are concerned. However, I must say I do not shake anything outside that could affect my neighbours. I make the dog hair my problem, not theirs.

In my experience, it's most likely an apartment block thing, or even your personal neighbour's point of view.

My parents were asked by their downstairs neighbours to stop feeding the birds because of the 'presents' the birds left on the balcony below...

However that balcony (due to the design of the house) juts out further than my parents' balcony, so the request did make sense.

Where I live, people frequently hang their towels / sheets / duvets out of the window / over the balcony railing. And when I had someone come in to help with my cleaning (a Swiss lady), she used to shake my bath mat off the balcony... so I've seen both sides of the story.

Both my parents and I live in Vaud, for the record.

Why don't you ask your concierge (not sure what that is in German... hauswart?)? I've found mine very helpful in explaining 'how we do things in this building'. Which in the end is sometimes the most important thing... obeying the building's unwritten rules.

Achooo!!! Please vacuum - atichoo! - everything you think - atishooo! - needs to be shaken over the balcony railing.

It's only being considerate to your neighbours.

(I meant instead of shaking the stuff outside and sharing your dust, fur, lint, etc.)

This is no Brainier ,at least not for a swiss wearing big clumsy clog booths ,sandals or what ever .Who in all the world wants to be showered with condoms,pubic hairs,breadcrumbs and other other undesirable crap.

I suppose you have no idea how to post a letter either...

Ok - like I said it was basically clean, small things that would be odd to vacuum (like a table cloth). There were no half eaten meals being flung downstairs with odd pieces of cutlery. Thank you though for the suggestions, I really was curious as to what people do here and shaking it in the bath or shaking it on the floor and then vacuuming is probably the answer.

The whole post office thing - sorry a little too obtuse to be categorised as a 'help & tips'

I've read this discussion a few times and am a bit puzzled...Regardless of what the rules are or are not, would you want someone dropping their dirt onto your balcony and or patio ?

Shouldn't this be more a question of having common courtesy towards your neighbors rather than a question of what the rules say ?

If you really must shake things out instead of vacuuming, why not bundle them up, carry them outside and shake them in a place where the dirt/stuff/whatever doesn't fall on your neighbors

Lucky me. I live in the bottom flat, a bit above ground level, which just gives me room nicely to shake my very large cotton blanket out of the bedroom window. If I shook it standing on the ground it would pick up more dirt than I could possible shake off. From the dining room, table-cloths with a couple of crumbs on please the birds.

However, I once lived in the middle flat of three and the neighbour above us used to shake her very heavy, fluff-shedding handmade carpet over the edge of her balcony onto mine. Then she'd come down with her brush and shovel and sweep up my balcony for me. Wonderful. Never had to clean my balcony myself at all. You just have to get your neighbours trained right.

Remeber the old 'Flummer"

Baseldeutsch gives 'Fluumer' not 'Flummer' which is why it took me a while to catch on what you meant.

Wonderful things. Positively covered anyone below in dust when shaken. And there was no internet for the 'victim' to complain to everyone else about me either. Those were the days.

I just covered by dog hair, dust and crap whilst standing on the balcony. We have asked the neighbours above not to do this several times face to face, which they agreed to. Then even written a letter but they persist.

I will update you with the outcome, first I need another shower and clean clothes

I shake my tablecloth into the kitchen bin, then sweep the floor.

DH prefers to shake the tabecloth outside, but our balcony is over the carpark, and rather than shaking it onto the cars, he shakes it onto the balcony...to be dispersed more slowly by the wind and rain...

I do consider it impolite to shake your dust onto someone else's balcony/home... fine if it's just your own garden/car/balcony...I can understand why your neighbours complained...

At our old apartment, we had a window that opened over the garden (rather than over the balcony below) and we had a spot where we could flick the tablecloths and it wouldn't bother the neighbour....in the garden was a railing over a pavement area which I was informed is actually the railing for doing exactly what you decribed - hanging the mats over and beating them with a rug-beater... I'd never seen one before coming to Switzerland - those were apartments built in the 40's and 50's...

I wait until it's a bit windy and there's no one out on the balcony below mine, then ... shake my stuff over my balcony. *shake*

Imagine the rage that ensued when I threw a few deadheaded geraniums off my balcony which landed on the common-area lawn, in front of the balcony of the apartments' very own constabulary/curtain twitcher. She must have been waiting for those petals to fall because seconds later she was out there screaming up at me - to which I called down a sincere apology. Not accepted. She then proceeded to stomp her way up to my door and banged on it for 10 minutes, yelling through the door that she knows I am inside and I better open up (while I cowered in a corner of my living room, of course). That sure taught me a thing or two about "what is or is not done here."

Hardly been a Mod 2 minutes and he starts advocating highly illegal and antisocial behaviour

yep... and after the sun has set or before the sun comes up

Which directon is the wind blowing I hope you make sure it is blowing the crumbs back onto your neighbours and not all the nice cars in the street

Curtian twitcher...lol...

bothersome old bag