Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

Drying clothes

109 replies

ReginaFilange001 · 08/03/2022 12:52

So today is a beautiful sunny and breezy day - cold but warm in the sun. I've literally has all the bedding washed and on the line, blankets from the sofa and a load of clothes.
I'm as concerned as anyone about fuel price increases so waited for today to get it dry for free instead of using the heated airer which would have been on all week to dry what I've washed today.
We live in a residential area ( I can see other gardens from my bedroom windows) and literally noone else has hung out washing. I know there are loads of parents at home ( I work from home so the washing is a perk!!)
I slightly puzzled that all my neighbours must be very well off/hands in the sand/ or maybe just plain lazy about staying clothes and like their dryers! I mean who doesn't love a line dried sheet!
I realise there are more important things in the world right now - are you line drying where you are?

OP posts:

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 08/03/2022 12:53

Yes. As are my neighbours.

purplesequins · 08/03/2022 12:57

maybe they are at work during the day?

tbh we don't dry much outside due to hayfever.
we have a line in the attic - very drafty - where clothes dry quickly. the heated airer is used as well, but only switched if we need clothes dry more quickly than over night.

Woollystockings · 08/03/2022 12:57

Yes, I usually do. I don’t have a tumble drier or even a heated airer, so no alternative.

Imsittinginthekitchensink · 08/03/2022 12:59

Bedding currently blowing about on my line.

RhubarbFairy · 08/03/2022 13:00

Yes. I put mine out this morning before work.

Orchidflower1 · 08/03/2022 13:02

I have bedding on the line and undies / pj on the airer.
Partly because if the weather turns it’s quick and easy to grab big stuff in.

Original poster

ReginaFilange001 · 08/03/2022 13:03

I know that my immediate neighbours (either side) are not at work.
I find it very strange.... So many of you with washing drying on the line but literally noone near me is.

OP posts:

AHungryCaterpillar · 08/03/2022 13:04

I can’t really put a washing line in my garden as there is nowhere for it to go, so maybe that is why?

AHungryCaterpillar · 08/03/2022 13:04

And I don’t even own a tumble drier so....

Bicnod · 08/03/2022 13:04

I have done two washes today and I have one wash on the line and another wash on the airer. A few bits (towels etc) in the tumbler. I love line drying - it makes everything smell so fresh. I can't see any other washing outside at the moment - I think people don't trust the grey skies...

GolfForBrains · 08/03/2022 13:07

Ours is out (I did bedding yesterday, clothes on line at the moment and desperate to get off this conference call to empty the load sitting in the machine and hang it up too). Yesterday our neighbour had sheets on line too but we are the only two gardens who even have lines that I ever see. It baffles me what our other neighbours do, even in the height of summer!

CarbonelCat · 08/03/2022 13:10

I did a load on the line yesterday but it was so windy I was worried it would all blow away!

ParkheadParadise · 08/03/2022 13:11

Yes, I always line dry I love making my bed with freshly washed bedding.

I do have a neighbour who NEVER puts out a washing it's always tumble dried.

20+ years ago I moved into my first house with Dd1 I was a teenager. I will always remember a neighbour who I had never met stopping me at my door to introduce herself and tell me I hang out a lovely washing 😂😂😂😂😂

SpinningTheSeedsOfLove · 08/03/2022 13:12

I've noticed a few neighbours' washing poles and lines - some attached by ingenious contraptions to fences - have been damaged by the recent storms.

BooksAndHooks · 08/03/2022 13:12

I haven’t put our line back up yet. Usually a few more weeks so I can make sure it’s fully dry. Doesn’t mean people are using tumble driers though, we don’t own one, the clothes are all on the airer.

Topseyt · 08/03/2022 13:13

I'll be putting a load out in about ten minutes when the washing machine finishes.

I do have to dry a lot indoors during the winter as our garden is in shade then and it simply doesn't dry, but it just goes on an airer (a basic one, not heated) and on a radiator. My tumble dryer is used only occasionally, if something particularly bulky simply won't completely dry.

I agree that too many people are way too dependent on tumble dryers and heated airers. Also, at 5p an hour overnight, heated airers are not that cheap to run anyway. I did once by the Lakeland Drysoon one as people on here raved about it. It was shit.

MissusArmitage · 08/03/2022 13:17

4 loads on Sunday! Love it! During lock down met an old man I'd never met who knew me as he sees me "putting out a washing", could have been creepy but i loved it. My actual favourite domestic task! I've brought washings in for neighbours before too, on request of course. Line drying is one of life's great freebies!

uncomfortablydumb53 · 08/03/2022 13:17

I don't have a garden but put my washing on an airer outside in courtyard. It dries well as long as the ground is dry. Saves space in my tiny flat too and smells fresher

Original poster

ReginaFilange001 · 08/03/2022 13:17

@AHungryCaterpillar

I can’t really put a washing line in my garden as there is nowhere for it to go, so maybe that is why?

Nope we all have similar length quite good gardens and I can see lines (all empty).

Like a pp I am baffled by it. Clearly I need a life. Overall I'm fascinated by how other people live - maybe that's why I'm on mumsnet!!!

It's not just bills though, it's environmentally better to line dry and the sun gets out all kinds of stains! I can understand not putting socks or pants out - I line dried yesterday but it looked dodgy so left them on the radiator to dry when they came on.

OP posts:

DinosaurOfFire · 08/03/2022 13:18

I tumble dry everything except delicates which go on an indoor airer above my radiators, if I waited for a dry day laundry would rarely get done (I live near the coast in South Wales). This way we have dry clean clothes, having a dryer has been a life changer tbh! I don't see anyone else hanging out laundry round here either- the weather is unpredictable so most people I know either tumble dry or hang everything indoors on radiators.

uncomfortablydumb53 · 08/03/2022 13:19

I do have a tumble drier but only use it when absolutely necessary

Original poster

ReginaFilange001 · 08/03/2022 13:19

@MissusArmitage

I love this.

I find pegging out washing quite calming. I can hear the birds singing and I have lovely thoughts about the fresh smell and the smugness if it being dry at NO cost!

OP posts:

Tlollj · 08/03/2022 13:21

My back garden doesn’t get any sun until much later in the year. There’s just a thin slice up near the back gate now.
But in the summer I’m non stop.

BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 08/03/2022 13:23

We don't use a heated dryer or a tumble dryer. We don't even put the central heating on and rely on a small multi fuel stove in the lounge. The heat drifts upstairs gradually, including overnight so that helps to dry things.

We hang clothing up on a rail in the en suite - the window is always open a crack and it's south facing so the sun heats the room up. We use a clothes horse for towels, bedding and underwear. In the warm weather I have stuff up outside or under the gazebo if rain is forecast.

Thesearmsofmine · 08/03/2022 13:28

I don’t have a tumble dryer and put washing out all year round. Even if it’s cold or a bit drizzly the breeze gets stuff dry or close enough which can then be finished off in the house,

Flip

1 2 3 4 5