Boring Alert: Drying Laundry Outside in British Winter

[Honestlyy]

Does anyone?

It's been so rainy this month I've used the clothes horse which is fine in summer but it's made me think of winter.I'm not sure we'll be able to run the tumble dryer this winter.

Every year I say to myself I will try to use the line but it always end up in the tumble dryer. I would say I use the tumble dryer from Oct- March.

Often it looks so damp outside I wonder if there would be much point but I'll try if anyone says it makes a difference.

Just saw this on Twitter 😂

@SirChenjins It’s this one - not cheap but it stays on the line and is made of some breathable waterproof stuff that dries quickly.

Can you still get those drying racks that come down from the ceiling on a pulley? We had one in the kitchen when I was a child and the washing would go on it, overnight if possible but sometimes during the day. We called ours a "sheila" but I bet that's not the proper word for them.

@110APiccadilly they are indeed called "Sheila Maids". It was a popular brand.

I can only dream of having a Sheila Maid. You need a good high ceiling.

My mother dries all her washing in the bathroom on the heated towel rail with either the window open or the fan on.
unfortunately I don’t have a heated towel rail and the garden is too windy to cover the washing line.
There are a few methods I use

1. extra spin in the spin drier
2. maidens round the log burner
3. as the garden is very windy I can often peg out between showers
4. in the greenhouse (don’t have one anymore) or carport. I am thinking about a cheap polytunnel We are all used to rough towels.

My life's obsession..... spend all winter monitoring the weather and only do washing when I know I can get it out.... I do now have a heated airer to finish it off but I cannot abide putting washing straight on it from the machine. I've got 2 loads waiting to go on the line tomorrow!!

I have a cover for my rotary drier, which is great for days that can't make their mind up. I managed about 3 months without using the tumble drier, but have cracked the last couple of weeks.

For me, even though the tumble dryer is about a £1.00 a load, because I use it as little as possible, due to drying outside, I think it probably still compares favourably with the costs of running a dehumidifier and a heated airer for long periods.

No, because I live somewhere where it rains most of the summer and is constantly damp and misty from the sea. I get a couple of months outdoor drying a year. North facing garden doesn't help.
I do have a dehumidifier which was one of my best buys. Downstairs bathroom is the width of a shower rail, so I have several shower rails, put the washing over them and on the heated towel rail, which has additional radiator rails on it. I run the dehumidifier over night and most is dry by morning.

I bought two large airers, can dry a full load on each one.
Very rarely use my tumble dryer now but I wouldn’t want rid of it, it’s bloody handy. I noticed since I stopped using my it my clothes last longer and look so much better. I was a die hard user too, everything straight from the washer and into the dryer and now I have probably used it 10 times in over a year.
The airers either go in the kitchen (which is big so they’re not in the way of anyone or anything) or out on the patio and can be brought in within seconds if it rains.
I don’t like washing lines as they make the garden look messy! Plus I hate peg spiders 😂 and I’m too lazy for running in and out pegging between bouts of bad/good weather.
things like sheets/bedding are hung over doors over night and usually fine the following morning. we don’t have radiators as installed underfloor heating but we do have heated towel rails in the bathrooms which have been useful at times.

I hang my clothes out all year round if it's not raining. Even when it's frosty. They don't fully dry, they don't get a chance when it gets dark at 4pm, but it gives them a head start then I hang them up to finish drying. They smell a lot fresher then than if they'd been dried fully inside.

I have a greenhouse in the garden. Open the doors at either end and the through breeze dries it a good bit even on a miserable day. Kitchen pulley to finish off.

I use a dehumidifier as I can't dry in the garden even when dry. Have a heated airer so I often use that too

I'm actually quite surprised that we used the proper name for them. Very handy gadget though. Maybe in this era of high energy prices they're about to make a comeback? Though I suspect that the Rayburn just underneath was a very helpful addition to the system in my childhood home (I'm not a time traveller from the Victorian era, I just grew up in a house where the heating and hot water hadn't ever really been modernised.)

I have my Sheila maid/creel/ clothes rack positioned over a radiator. It's incredibly efficient. But yes you need a fairly generous ceiling height.

Ceiling airer, often with coat hangers off it, plus small rack over the radiator for socks. I've never had a tumble dryer.

The biggest impact is reducing what gets put in the laundry as much as possible. Pants and socks always changed but if something was clean today and just got rained on, hang it up overnight. Reduced frequency bedding change. That sort of thing.

Astonishing that people would wash something after only one wear, if otherwise clean - apart from knickers and socks of course.

Marks can be spot cleaned anyway. I wear tops two to three days and change bedding fortnightly. No tumble dryer.

I don't have a tumble drier. I spin dry clothes and then either hang them out on breezy days or use clothes airers in the garage.

Except wool sweaters which are hand washed, squeezed dry in a towel and spread on slats in my airing cupboard.

I hang out big stuff even if it's a bit showery, as long as theirs a breeze. We don't have a dryer and the items on the airer dry a bit quicker without the big things stopping the air flow.
I think this year I'm going to look into a dehumidifier though.

We've never had a tumble dryer. Luckily I don't need to do washing every day, so as much as possible I put it on early in the morning when I know it's going to be a dry day and it goes out. Obviously sometimes it needs to be inside as we have a few days of rain or it's too cold outside to make a difference. In that case it goes on the airer - coming back home it does feel humid in the room the airer is in, so I've opened the window a little in the past to circulate air. Last year, I bought a small(ish) dehumidifier so can use that as well now.

We don't have a tumble drier.
Yes, hanging stuff outside makes a difference. If it's not raining, stuff goes out on the line. Even an hour outside with a tiny bit of breeze makes a massive difference to how long it takes to get completely dry inside. It sometimes fees like hanging outside makes no difference - the colder weather makes stuff feel wetter than when you hand it up - but honestly, it makes a massive difference. We've got 4 loads dry since we got back from holiday on Thursdsy afternoon - mainly because 3 of those got outside for a bit.

We have a Beko (I.e. cheap) heat pump tumble dryer. Could not manage without it.

I line-dry stuff if I can, but quite often, I can't. I know people say stuff will dry if the flags are, but the last time the flags were dry, I put a load out. It was a bit breezy and I used the line prop. Stuff was still damp 10 hours later, and it had become really musty. I had to wash it twice to get the smell out. We live near the sea so I don't know if that's a factor.

I have airers and a dehumidifier indoors but the dehumidifier is quite old and noisy so I don't run it at night. Anything that can go in the tumbler does. We have plans to get a sheila maid in the utility and then park the dehumidifier in there. I don't like having washing all over the house.

I work ft and have small dc (and a fatiguing autoimmune condition) - getting laundry done needs to have as few steps as possible!

We don't have a tumble dryer so I dry outside whenever I possibly can and when it's raining/too cold to get it dry I use maidens, one in the bathroom close to the radiator full of little bits like underwear,
Socks, tights etc and then another in the dining room with the larger items, we have a dehumidifier as well that does help, if things are really bad I can use my mums tumble dryer in an emergency 😂.

Mostly though, I've broadened my scope of what 'dirty' is. I was very guilty of being a 'one use, chuck it in the wash' person, obviously that still goes for underwear but i will get two or three goes out of tops and jeans now, jumpers three or four, pretty much unless something has a massive stain or smells it's good to be worn in my book. Bedding is a pain as are towels, I actively discourage the use of bath sheets in the winter as they are so hard to dry but we muddle through. It's much easier to keep myself clean and nice smelling than it is to dry loads of washing in the winter months I've found 😂😂.

Oh yes! I give the washer an extra spin as well, to get as much water out as possible and try not to overload the machine. That helps a lot.