How low do you go?

[HellesBelles396]

It is 3C here today but sunny (well winter-sunny IFKWIM) - is it too cold to put washing out and expect it to dry?

What is the coldest you have put out washing at?

[diamondee]

If I have to put a coat on hang the washing out it's too cold for me

[magimedi]

If it's sunny & a bit windy I'll put it out for a bit, especially bedding, as I like the fresh smell it then gets.

[HellesBelles396]

I put it out but it is very chilly!

I'll bring it in when it stops glowing in the sun (it's whites)

[CointreauVersial]

Mine only goes out in the summer.

Otherwise it goes on the rack in the utility room.

[HellesBelles396]

my bedding's already on there (asthmatic so bedding is dried indoors)

[CrazyOldCatLady]

I find washing dries quite quickly in the right sort of cold - and the quickest drying is when it freezes solid. So, pretty low : )

[HellesBelles396]

thanks to the blustery breeze, much of it is nearly dry already and I feel a little bit as though spring is getting near

[NotInMyDay]

I heard a good tip once that said if the ground (i.e. slabs or concrete not grass) is dry then washing will dry. Might take ages but it'll still be drier than it was.

[HellesBelles396]

good tip - just checked, path is dry

[WhispersOfWickedness]

Really warm I hate getting cold hands from hanging it out when it's too cold out. I also don't really like the smell it gets outside (although we live rurally ) so much prefer it tumble dried! I only hang stuff out out of guilt

[specialsubject]

I've dried three loads of washing outside today - including big towels. It is sunny and windy, doesn't matter if it is cold.

only one planet, folks - turn off the tumble driers.

[HellesBelles396]

no tumble drier

[LadyInPink]

Hell no, if it's sunny it will definitely dry (or as near as dammit). I hang out at every opportunity as we have a damp house and tumble driers are expensive to run all winter. I hang out even if cold and grey out and it's usually 80% dry when I bring it in and then dries in an hour or so over the airing rack.

Today is sunny although a bit cold and mine was dry within an hour!!

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

If it's sunny, then the humidity is pretty low, so it should dry OK even if it's freezing.

I remember in the Little House on the Prairie books, Ma would bring clothes that had frozen stiff like boards, and iron them like that.

[HellesBelles396]

katy awesome clothes-drying fact there. I'm impressed!

shirts and t-shirts were dry - except ds pe top. towels were dry also.

[fussychica]

As soon as DH puts my line back up after working on the patio - fed up with indoor drying on the VERY rare days when outdoor drying is actually possible.

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

I almost never dry my clothes outside. I know it's lazy and awful of me but I'm American and I just... I don't know. I just can't do it. If it's really sunny and warm and I have nothing better to do and I happen to think of it, I'll dry clothes outside.

Terrible waste of money, I know.

[HellesBelles396]

probably being a bit dim here but why does being American mean you don't put clothes out to dry katy

[CremeEggThief]

How do you all get washing dry in an hour or two?

It has to be 25° or hotter for any I hang out to dry that quick! I only hang out between March and very beginning of October, usually, and only if I'm nearly 100% sure it won't rain and I still expect it to take at least four hours. Dry to me means bone dry though- straight from the line to the drawer/wardrobe. Do some of you finish off inside?

I have always lived in houses with north-facing gardens though, where I don't think it's worthwhile putting it out before about 10.30 a.m., so that might make a difference.

[DeathMetalMum]

North facing garden but had washing out about 50% of this year so far anything above freezing and it is out. I put some out a few weeks ago and could see the water evaporating out of the washing (like mish when you breathe). I do finish off inside, on very cold days I usually put half outside half in and what is in has dried by the time I get the washing in from outside so less washing hanging around.

[DottyDot]

we have to put ours out - no tumble drier and no inside space to dry it! So we hang it outside but under a carport and then finish it off over various radiators - they're enough to finish stuff off but not dry everything entirely.

Sometimes the washing can come in fairly crisp with the cold though...

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

HellesBelles, washing lines are relatively rare in America. Growing up, I didn't know anyone who did it. In fact, thinking back, I'm not sure I remember knowing anybody who hung their washing out to dry, although I do remember seeing clothes lines.

In some areas, clothes lines are actually forbidden. Where I lived as a teenager and where my father lives now, for example, it is forbidden to hang clothes. This is usually down to HOA's (Home Owner Associations) rather than any local governments. And, in recent years, some people have challenged these HOA rules because they think it's absurd.

But, to put it bluntly: until pretty recently, I think clothes lines were seen as something only poor people did.

[BoffinMum]

Mine never seems to dry unless it's about 12C or more, or windy, so I have given up attempting this in the winter.

Dyson needs to develop a more efficient system IMO.

[WhispersOfWickedness]

That's what I was thinking, Cremeegg
I can't put clothes away unless absolutely bone dry and it takes a good few hours in perfect sunshine with lots of wind to get it even vaguely like that

[WhispersOfWickedness]

I think it comes from growing up in damp houses and having to put on damp clothes some mornings