Drying washing....

[MyLifeNow20]

Hi How is everyone drying their washing?
Ive barely had my heating on, my house is at 15 degrees.
Im struggling with drying clothes, normally go on line outside but weather is terrible now. I have an airer and tumble dryer. I have been hanging clothes in the airing cupboard to dry.
Pet hate is the underwear and socks!
Any tips please!?

We use airers (such a pain...no conservatory/utility room/dining room etc so they end up all over the kitchen!) But if I tumble dry them from wet it shrinks and fades them so badly, plus uses heaps of energy I'm sure.I use two airers and spread them out so they're over two rails and not folded back on themselves, if you get what I mean.Then once they're fairly dry I tumble dry them.

Pulley maid. It's the best as the air is warmest up near the ceiling! I've got one of those sock octopus things from Ikea for socks and pants.

Thank you.
I do the same with my airer re 2 rails per item. Just feel they never smell as good!
Hardly have the heating on at the mo so they are not drying very well!

DH has invested in a dehumidifier. Allegedly it doesn't use "too much" energy (well, compared to a tumble dryer). It does seem to extract lots of water and the clothes that are in that room do seem to be drying faster than without any assistance.

I have to put the heating on to dry laundry a lot otherwise it wouldn't get dry and everything would stink of damp and house would get damp and mouldy. Hang it over radiators, doors, bannister, towel rail, airer. No line drying for months now probably with the poor weather. We tumble dry some loads but it does shrink stuff, we tumble dry me and DH's pants (nothing fancy), socks, PJs, some odd old clothes. Try to avoid tumble drying the kids clothes necause they dry more quickly anyway and they shrink more I find, but sometimes do tumble dry theirs if I can't keep on top of it otherwise.

I put the heating on. Only for 40 mins max & put all the washing on radiators & wherever else I can hang it! If it’s a dry day, I hang it out for a few hours first to get it to smell nice! Haven’t noticed a huge rise on smart meter.

Wet clothing on an airer, in a small room, dehumidifier on, door closed.
Leave running overnight, it’s mainly dry.
Turn off dehumidifier, empty it.
Leave clothes on the airer with door open during the day. By the evening it’s fully dry, and I can put the next load on ….

But shirts and blouses go on hangers on the landing.
I find the higher up in the house, the better it dries.

Aired and dryer. There’s no other way.

As much as I said I wasn’t using my tumble dryer I’ve succumbed this weekend for underwear because as a family of four it’s not possible to manage without it.

I have worked from home since the first lockdown so in winter have had the heating on for a good portion of the day. Im determined not to do the same this year and have purchased a heated throw but I am worried about getting the washing dry I will admit.

Another vote for a pulley airer. We use that, and a heated airer for the more bulky items like towels

I've managed so far timing washing to coincide with weather for line drying, and then airer and humidifier. This weekend, I had to finish off two loads in tumble dryer for an hour.

I suspect that it's going to be tumble dryer or radiators alongside dehumidifier when there's no line drying. It's fine - I WFH, so I can be flexible. And we can afford to used more energy than we have done over the last couple of months. Just trying not to spend more than we need to.

I have my wood burner on every day and stick it in the lounge overnight when the burner is simmering down. Was leaving it in my tiny conservatory and it was literally taking 3-4 days to dry!

Tumble dryer although May use laundrette up the road if my bills are too high, I do use clothes rack too but takes forever and it's too bloody stressful

Ive put the airer in the kitchen and leave the oven door open after I've cooked, seems to be helping, then finishing off in the dryer.

Socks and pants go on a socktopus which hangs on the shower rail in the bathroom, dries overnight usually.

Large items tumble dryer the rest hung in the utility room .

Mine won't dry atm, it's been on normal racks for 2 days! so I've started using my Lakeland heated rack again tonight.

I am still using tumble. It costs less than £1 a go and it means I don't have a damp mouldy house 🥴

I do the washing load first thing, hang it up on an airer for the day then put it all in the tumble for 30 mins in the evening, fold and put away. Worth the money for me! Bedding, towels, pants and socks all get tumbled from the start. I don't have tjme to faff about hanging up 56 pairs of socks.

Put the heating and dry on radiators. I'd rather have my heating on than my tumble dryer no brainer. Bed sheets are quite difficult. I've been laying them over a few dining chairs and rotating sometimes putting them close to radiator. Often have to put them in tumble dryer for 20mins to get them finally dry.

A few times maybe about September where it wasn't cold enough for the heating but the clothes wld end up going smelly before being dry. Quite annoying!

Im finding it so stressful!
Use the tumble dryer mainly for underwear etc or turn heating on and put them all on rads.....
Or thinking of buying a heated airer

Ugh, thinking about this today.

We have a laundry maid pulley thing over our stairwell. That and two socktopus', plus use the banisters to hang things on. I can get 2-3 loads on the laundry maid, and then a few extra bits like sheets on the banisters.

We've no room for a heated airer or dehumidifier so struggle with the damp and getting it dry. It was taking 3 days to dry so we've started to put the heating on just for 30m in the morning to help a little. And I keep the upstairs windows open when we're out just to try and keep the air circulating, though obviously it does end up bloody freezing!

Dehumidifier here. We've had it a few years but to be honest I've always just used the drier. We've been using it most days for the last few weeks and I haven't noticed an increase in usage. We only have room for one airer so I do have to do a lot of rotating throughout the day but usually getting a load dry in a day.

Be warned, I did this in previous years to help dry washing in a damp house, and it worked a treat but I ended up with dreadful eczema flare-ups and a persistant dry cough! They are a little too efficient at taking all of the moisture out of the air.

You should set it to cut off at around 40% humidity. That is low enough to kill off dust mites and mould spores, but not so bad as to dry your eyeballs out.

@ellyo You literally have no space for something the size of a mid-size dustbin in your whole house? Really?

Airers for most clothes, octopus thing hanging in the airing cupboard for socks/underwear and bedding/towels on the line if at all possible or in the tumble drier.