How are poor people getting their clothes dry this winter?

[9thFloorNightmare]

I don't have a tumble drier. I hang the clothes on airers and leave it by the radiators.

Past winters, I would live the heating on most of the time and the clothes dried quickly but now that I am living in a place with a pre-pay meter and with the energy prices the way they are, I am leaning to 'heat the human, not the home' and the heating goes on for a few minutes a twice or 3x a day just enough to take the edge off / come out of bed / out of showers etc.

Up until December the heating was on more often and for longer and as long as I kept checking the clothes (changing position, creating room between them, removing the ones already dry etc) it was fine, but now in January, I noticed that I'm having to top up my pre-pay meter more often so I decided to be more careful and the result is the clothes are not drying quickly enough and I'm running out of things to wear, especially my go-to's.

I'm planning to get a new washer/drier for next winter (I don't have space to have it separately) but meanwhile, what can I do? What do people do??

Sometimes I find myself longing for the heatwave when everything got dry in 10 minutes or less (joking!)

Apparently using a desk fan (like you use in summer) costs pennies and can really help dry (keep a window open). Obviously in a different room to you as so cold! Also extra spin in washing machine

Yep, that is what I do. I turn the dial to the spin cycle, I think it is 7 minutes

Have you got space for a dehumidifier? Turning that on next to a load helps a lot and actually warms up the room too by a few C.

Extra spin cycle has been a revelation for me. I still use the tumble dryer but the average drying time has been cut from about two hours to nearer thirty minutes.

I am poor! Heating on for an hour a night - although top floor flat so we are lucky we get other people’s heat as their radiators are switched on permanently in the block but we have separate heating from the other residents- I just hang everything everywhere ! On tables - chairs - running machine etc!

It is really challenging. I’ve been wearing things more, so washing them less frequently. But chunky winter clothes take soooooo long to dry. When needed I iron things the hang them in doorways to help dry them.

I’ve found that if fleece is just put out to dry and it takes a few days that it begins to smell odd. I’ve put fleece items on the radiator when it’s on to not have this smell.

I used to love doing that in a distant past! So satisfying to take all the clothes super dry and warm back home, using my coins...

The laundrette closed, there isn't one near enough and I don't drive...even to the one that was close by I used to take my clothes in those granny shopping trolleys or in big bags on the buggy😅

I do an extra spin and I have a concertina airer and a dehumidifier. I put the airer over the top of the dehumidifier so it's physically inside the airer, and hang the laundry. It's shut in the smallest room we have so it's trying to dry the smallest area possible. It works best if I've a sheet hung over the whole lot. The dehumidifier blows dry air up through all the clothes on the airer.

I’ve got a condenser dryer and although it was more expensive no problem with condensation. You just have to remember to empty the water reservoir otherwise it beeps at you 🤦🏼‍♀️

I have a new build, fully electric home. My energy bills are high but I’m still using my dryer. I just cut back in other areas. Eg we don’t need the heating on as it’s generally warm enough without it.

I don’t want to risk mould or condensation in the rest of my home. Also we have thin glass “contemporary” radiators so can’t really hang much over them.

so far the drier hasn’t caused any condensation or mould, but it isn’t perfect. Sometimes things come out about 90% dry, especially towels and bedding.

I heard washer/driers are rubbish, researched them years ago, was hoping they had improved the technology;(

I’ve never had any problems with mine over many years now. You use them differently from separate appliances but having some sort of dryer is very useful. Having said that, I tend to dry most things on an airer in the bathroom with a dehumidifier on if they can’t go outside. The dryer gets used more to finish off laundry that has been out on the line and is still slightly damp, or to part dry laundry before I finish it near (in my case) storage heaters.

I have a set of scruffs as I call them, so I have worn the same set of clothes to go on two hikes and to do outside work in the garden. They were really muddy when I put them in the machine today.

I have never washed clothes as much as some but was raised washing everything by hand so it’s a habit.

We have a ceiling airer above our stairs.

We have had to cut down on laundry. Clothes (except undies) need to be worn at least 3x unless there is a visible mark. Towels are washed once a week. Bedding is now only washed maybe once a month. Things that would normally be washed regularly, like coats and blankets, aren’t being washed at all - they are being spot cleaned. It takes 3 days to dry laundry on the cold radiators so I can only do maybe 4 loads a week. People are having to choose which items are highest priority to be washed and which can stay in the basket until next week.

I use a dehumidifier to speed up indoor drying.

Don't count on a combination waher/dryer....they're all shit! ( we've had 3 over 2 houses and they're OK for drying one thing at a time but they won't dry a whole lot of things together like a regular dryer!

where do you keep it? would you please share the brand/model?

We wash less and spin the clothes in the washer. We then hang on an airer and use a dehumidifier (300w) next to it which helps dry the clothes and prevent damp / mould.

I also have an airer over the stairs - hot air rises so this is a good spot.

Hoodies are a bleeding nightmare to dry though, my DS has two that he loves that take days to dry.

I heard washer/driers are rubbish, researched them years ago, was hoping they had improved the technology;(

I have a washer dryer. It’s better than no dryer, but not as good as a stand alone dryer. I think the problem comes when people try to dry a full wash load. You have to either wash a smaller load, or split it in two to dry it. If I try to dry a full load it has been known to take four+ hours, now I do a second spin and do smaller loads, it’s around thirty minutes.

We have a stupid amount of towels. We use a towel for a week, when the old towel is dry I pile them up folded in a bath we don’t use and then when there’s a blowy day I wash the lot on a timed early morning program so I can get them on the line a soon as the sun comes up. I do the same for bedding too.

My mum hangs everything outside as long as it isn't actually raining. If it rains she brings it in, but as soon as it's stopped she hangs it back out again. When it's below freezing, she gives each item a shake to get the ice off it before bringing it in.
When it's showery then everything can be in and out all day. I call it her rain dance.

I prefer to hang them over the doors and the chairs in the lounge and they do dry.

With towels, we've stayed using travel towels that are quick drying. We'll go back to normal towels in the spring.