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!)

Airer and over doors

Heated airer and a dehumidifier in spare bedroom with door closed. Clothes dry within 12-24hrs

Check your spin cycle is actually on the max. My washing machine does a spin from 600 all the way to up 1400. On a quick clothes wash it defaults to 800, so I have to manually change it to 1400 and it makes a massive difference.

Putting things on hangers and hanging them on door handles, and wardrobe door handles and spreading them around (rather than all on an air dryer) does help to speed up the process.

For large items like towels and bedding - hang them over doors or banister rails. Again it really speeds up the drying time.

On the thread about washing towels last week almost everyone said they wash all towels after 1-3 uses.
No way on earth I can do that. Cost & drying space. I double spin. We was until actually dirty etc

For towels, I invested in some Hamas ones. V absorbent but take little to no time to dry after use or after washing. There are only two of us in our household and both mainly WFH so don't generate a lot of laundry but years ago, when I was a student, I bought a dry buddy; I think it's a JML one. I've dug that out and it's brilliant for us .I just hang jeans and hoodies in that, crank open a window and shut the door. Washing is all but dry in about an hour or two. I keep an eye on the smart meter and it doesn't appear to rack up a large amount. I used to do the outside line dance but, quite frankly, living in the rainy part of England meant that I soon got bored of that!

Glad to read this. I do rotate my drying to speed it up. Thought I was the only one who did it. Feels quite geeky, applying physics and all that. Makes me happy to think of my clothes drying nicely. Little pleasures.

I have 3 teenagers now and have never had a tumble dryer. I use airers, washing line, banisters, radiator rails and have a cupboard with emersion tank in that has a slatted shelf I hang clothes underneath on hangers. Autumn was always worst time as hearing not on yet. Would struggle with Jeans and hoodies and hope for a sunny day. Sometimes I would have to wash again if too musty. It is hard but never tempted to get tumble dryer.
In last house we had a pulley type Victorian airer over our stairwell and if I hung out a load at bedtime it was usually dry by morning.

I’m spinning everything twice. I also have a dehumidifier where I have the washing maidens up. It’s working beautifully- even with five adults in the house.

We haven’t had a dryer for a couple of years now. I’ve not needed to this year as we have room to hang and a decent airier but last year I’d use the launderette machines at our local supermarket. I mainly used it for bulky items, towels, bedding, DHs jeans… made such a huge difference, I’d use every towel and piece of bedding first, wash several loads and dry in one of the big machines for an hour, sometimes they’d need an extra 15 mins.

We have one of these and have used it for 6 years:
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071W9BPWQ?SubscriptionId=AKIAINII3XBB4YWNS5LQ&ascsubtag=342713490-14-1718170979.1674864342&linkCode=osi&psc=1&tag=besdeatod00-21&th=1
Really cheap to run.

Are they OK with that? I will admit that its been a long time since I used a launderette, but the one I used had notices up saying you could only dry things you had washed there and the attendants were very much on the look out for any one who tried it.

We finally, finally managed to buy a dehumidifier. It's from the Range, £116 or thereabouts.

I wasn't expecting much at that price tbh but it's been pretty good. I put it next the airers and off it goes - and drying happens, like actual physics . It's easy to empty the collection pot and only around 4p per hour.

The house will benefit from it as well no doubt, although we think that our faces will turn into dried walnuts.

I air some of my tops after I wear them to avoid washing them so often, I hand them on a hanger from the curtain rail over night.

Wet washing is mainly hung on hangers over the shower rail in the bathroom with smaller things on a an airer, also in the bathroom. I then open the window wide and shut the door to keep the cold out of the rest of the house. In the evening I close the window but still keep the door closed when the heating comes on as it heats the small room quite quickly. I find most things, apart from jeans, dry in 24 hours.

I do have a drier and still use it to dry bedding and towels but I’ve cut down on the frequency of washing them - without noticing any difference to how they feel or smell really!

I'm using an airer in the bathroom where the radiator is on maybe two hours per day. But crucially the bathroom window is kept open a crack at all times to maintain air flow.

Rather than buying a tumble drier, i would recommend buying a heated clothes drier OP: They cost about 7p an hour (£1.68 per day). Mine is on all the time.cover with a big sheet and the clothes dry overnight.
It also slightly heats the room.

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/around-the-home/household-electricals/electric-dryers-and-airers?src=ggsea&utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsaOJgM7pAIVA9DtCh2onQrBEAAYASAAEgKD-vDDBwE

We've had the lakeland heated rack for years. But I'm puzzled as to your dd, does she have BO? Cyclists don't normally wear hoodies, and those that do hill walking they wouldn't get dirty or smelly, so why is she washing them so much? They take an age to dry even on a heated rack.

no rain yesterday, dried on the line.
otherwise if hangable, hang over radiator, they are not on all day but are on in th emorning and in the evening.
otherwise hang on airer
the worst time for drying is wet weather without th eneed for heating.

i mean hang in the window, which is over the radiator.

I have airers everywhere. The best is the one over the stairs lodged on the bannister as the heat (what little there is) rises, so hoodies and joggers and towels go there. Then another in the kitchen which I rotate to face the radiator., Another in the downstairs loo. As soon as the weather picks up it will all go outside.

Honestly it's the thing I'm resenting the most about the COL crisis! We were SO poor when the children were little, and now they are grown up and we are down to three in the house and I'm back to washing draped everywhere. My dh and DS2 are in uniforms all day and need clean stuff every day and DS2 has autism and simply cannot bear to wear anything twice at all, so we have loads and I seem to spend most of my free time rotating washing.

Roll on summer!

I was wondering as well. My teen DS doesn't need his hoodies to be washed often. Washing is mostly shirts, t-shirts, socks, pants and shorts he wears for sports. If you are hot and sweaty then the hoodie comes off surely?

the heated airers don't really work out much cheaper than tumble dryers if you consider that you need to have them on for hours (e.g. 24 or so) vs a tumble dryer for one hour. I think the cost is negated by this fact and there's little difference in the overall cost to run them (if anything).

It's a bit like the slow cooker thing - having to leave them on 12 hours costs little less than the oven etc.

also for tumble dryers there's not the work of hanging everything on the airer etc.

I use the tumble dryer balls, which cut a significant drying chunk off, do an extra spin in the washing machine before putting in, and throw in a dry towel for the first 20 mins of the cycle to cut down on drying time. All these things add up so I am not sure it's quite as cost ineffective to use it doing things like this.

I would do your sums OP before discounting a tumble. Also have you considered a condenser dryer? they can go in any room as they don't need a vent outlet - all the water is collected.

I check the weather forecast like a hawk and plan most laundry around that. Essentials are dried in the house as I do have the heating on. The tumble dryer barely gets used from one year to the next. it takes up space and I should probably get rid of it.

Never had a tumble dryer - use a Sheila Maid ceiling airer that is hoisted up to the ceiling in the kitchen which gets warm at least at least once a day from cooking (though have to be careful to take the clothes down when using the deep fat fryer as the smell of hot fat permeates the fabric). In our previous house, which was a narrow terrace, we put another one outside in the yard.

I think that depends on the daughter! Mines very sweaty!