People who hang out washing in heavy rain

Why do you care??

It's not the main point of this thread, but just picking up on something else in the OP...

Leaving washing in the machine doesn't necessarily make it smell.
I guess if you leave it ages it would.
But if you have a clean machine it shouldn't if you leave it for a day/overnight.
Clean machine = monthly service cycle/tub clean, clean drawer and seals monthly, empty filter every few months, leave door and drawer slightly open after each wash so that it can breathe/dry, effective regular washing (appropriate temp/detergent use

It was a gamechanger for me when I got better at this and knew that I didn't have to plan my day around washing

I regularly have left washing out in heavy rain. Six of us. I don't have time to be in and out getting it in ans then putting it back out, or have space inside.

It also doesn't smell. In fact I am pretty sure that the occasional heavy rain is good for clothes. I know when I used cloth nappies we were always advised to strip wash them by leaving them out in rain for as long as possible - it would remove some of the build up from detergent and make them more absorbent. Same as towels.

I'm not trawling the thread to see if someone has said this but if you're in a hard water area then hanging washing out in heavy rain removes the hard water deposits that make clothes feel crispy and rough. All rain water is soft. The pp with the mil who hung towels out in the rain to soften them was correct. People who cloth nappy their babies will do this to remove the hard water deposits and washing powder deposits that can affect the absorbency of the nappies.

If I hang out and ( despite me checking forecast) it rains I will leave it out unless nearly dry.

I don't get the rain smell idea- although I imagine living in a city rain may be contaminated by exhaust fumes, smoke, pollutants etc.
I live in a rural area, surrounded by woodland, rain here is clean and sweet.
Hanging out clothes kills bacteria, deoderises and really freshens and softens up fabric.
UV light from the sun, heat or freezing termparatures are all good, as is wind and rain.

However I don't really care what other people do with their laundry.

I don’t stand there pegging out washing while it’s pissing down, but I’ll purposely put duvet covers out when I know it’s gonna rain and brighten up again. Nature’s own ironing service if you hang it neat enough. Also, if you buy anything second hand and it smells of smoke, body odour or damp; wash and peg outside to get wet in rain and air dry. Stink go bye bye!

So? It'll dry today. An extra rise in the rain won't hurt it. & Christ knows where you'd have to live for rainwater to make it smell 🙄🙇🏻‍♀️

My mum told me (decades ago) that getting rained on helps the towels dry fluffy. It doesn’t smell out in the rain. I don’t hang in the rain but we’ve had loads ofvshowers so I’d just let it stay till dry.

Rain water is SOFT. The tap water round me is very HARD, that means it has loads of calcium in it & we have to add plenty SOFTENER to washes. But the softener only goes into the wash part as it’s mostly the heating which makes tubes etc get blocked in the wash.
It's usually recommended to use soft water especially to rinse woollens.
Why does it hurt to give fabrics an extra rinse? Who knows if all the additions to clothes wash gets properly rinsed out by wash machine, especially if it’s a v large load?
You can ask your water supplier about the hardness levels of your tap water.

I've found that if my clothes dry outside in the summer when I come to folding and putting away, maybe the next day, I'm sneezing like mad because the pollen is lifting off the items as I'm doing it.

I can’t imagine many people actually hang it out when it’s raining heavy, but are either out when it starts raining heavily, or forget it’s out there.

He doesn't. He's quite active and cycles most days through country lanes. The way washing is dried makes no difference.

I wash my pottery clothes and towels by hanging them out in the rain and then waiting for them to dry. The clay dust buggers your drains.

There's definitely no smell from washing being rained on.

And the thought for today is....

Why do people insist on putting out washing when having heavy rain?
If out all day, don’t do it. If in, take it in as soon as it rains!

Stimulating discussion, eh?

Who is insisting?

You do appreciate that some people can't take it in - they are out at work perhaps?

Or that some people (me) take a chance if it's spitting with light rain when I'm pegging it out.

Like other posters, if my washing is caught in the rain (rather than being purposely hung out in a thunder storm) I give it a quick spin when I bring it in. It smells lovely and fresh and far better than before as we have very hard water.

My gran used to collect rain water to rinse her hair for the softness.

why on earth do you care what other people do with their washing?

Washing doesn’t smell if it gets rained on.

It's true doctors tell you not to hang washing out. Try not hanging it out when pollen is high. He will notice he suffers a lot less.

I'm a bit further south than you and we get way less rain.
Mid or south Cheshire.

If washing machine isn't draining it's usually because there's something in the filter. It's usually easily resolved by taking the filter out and draining it. You then just put aait through a rinse and spin cycle.

How far up the road do I need to go? 🤔

This doesn't make sense.

If you go outside during the hay fever season you are exposed to pollen all the time anyway.

My DP has very bad hay fever (enough to use prescribed steroids at times) and having clothes dried outside makes not a jot of difference.

Have you considered moving house?

This will blow your mind but I do often put washing out in the rain on purpose. I have very hard water, and rain water is a natural fabric softener.

I get why people do that though. Once it's got soaked through it's not going to get any wetter. So they leave it until they have the time and energy to bring it in and deal with it. Why would this matter to anyone else?

Not everyone has such boring lives that they can spend their entire day in proximity to the washing line in case it rains. This is the UK - it can turn rainy in the middle of a heatwave without any warning.