Clothes drying woes

[Finallyfree2026]

I’ve recently left my family home due to domestic abuse and am currently living in a rented property with my children. What I didn’t realise when I accepted the house was that there is no room for a tumble dryer. I’ve managed fine during the recent sunny weather as I’ve been able to hang the washing on the line, however now that the rain is coming in, it’s made me wonder how I will manage through the winter months. I have never lived without a tumble dryer. At the moment it is too warm to put radiators on to dry clothes and the radiators here are so close to the walls I won’t be able to hang anything over them to dry anyway. The house is small, so although I’ve considered a heated airer, where it could actually live to dry clothes I do not know…. Then my parents have suggested getting a tumble dryer and putting it outside in one of those little garden bin storage boxes. Just looking to see how other people manage either without a tumble dryer at all, or whether they’ve put one outside with a similar setup and made it work. If people are using airers/dehumidifiers, where are they putting them in the house if you have limited free space? Any advice welcomed.

A clothes horse near a bright window. Make sure you crack a window otherwise you will get condensation. Then also some over radiator racks for the winter.

I do have a tumble dryer now but when my 3 dc were small I didn't. I just dried everything on radiators if there is no room behind them can you use hangers attached to them?. If you iron clothes when they are wet its drys them

A dehumidifier and an airer .

A drybuddy or non- branded equivalent ( takes up very little room)

Using a laundrette or automated washer/ drier at the petrol station.

Or a combination of the above.

I'd use a dehumidifier and airer too. You don't want to risk mildew or damp from drying laundry indoors. We don't know your house, but a small enclosed space would work best, or a sort of tent or sheet over the airer to enclose it to be more efficient.

A tumble dryer might not work well in an outside storage box due to ambient temperature and ventilation.

ETA. Wishing you the best for a brighter, safe future!

Minky tiered heated airer. Cheap to run, dries clothes quickly. I only use my tumble dryer for towels if I’m in a hurry - the minky dries towels and bedding too! I love it!

You should get out of the habit of the tumble drier. You only really need to dry things indoors if the climate is damp or its actually raining, that does involve line management.
Or a dehumidifer, we have one of these but I prefer line drying. My OH is lazy and wont do the bringing in and taking out depending on the time of day thing, so just sticks the thing on even when it could be dried outside. He would love a tumbledrier, always banging on about it.

Is there no space anywhere or no space in the kitchen? I agree a dehumidifier and airer would work.

We got those lines that you hook into the opposite wall, minky or something. We have 3, so we have 3 inside washing lines and we use a dehumidifier in that room.

Im not sure what size you had previously but they do a compact dryer - 3kg/3.5kg I have one squeezed into the boot room. It’s very small but still dries 3 bath towels or a medium size load of washing no problem. Better than nothing if you have even a small space for one anywhere.

Best wishes in your new home btw, I hope you feel safe there 💐

I've never had a tumble dryer and never struggled drying washing. You can dry outside all year round. If it's breezy and dry, even v low temps will allow most washing to dry most of, if not all the way. We do have a heated airer and it sits in the kitchen overnight if I need to use it. Everything is dry by morning and I fold it flat and put it in the cupboard under the stairs.

We have a tumbler outside in a little wooden shed we built. Only really use it for bedding in the winter.

Otherwise, in winter, everything else is dried indoors with a dehumidifier.

Airer and dehumidifier in the living room/area overnight, move it into the bedroom during the day is what I did in a tiny flat

”if the climate is damp or if it is raining” is about 70% of the year in the U.K.!

When it’s too wet to hang outside (the patio doesn’t dry out) and with windows slightly open…
I dry bedding over the landing. As many clothes as possible go on hangers on door frames. Smaller items hang from radiator racks.
I do have a tumble dryer but only use it to fluff up towels when they’re almost dry.

Well no, it depends what side of the country you're on. The east has very little rain, I think the driest part of the UK is east anglia and it has very little rain in general.

As long as the ground is dry, the climate is dry that day. You can put the washing out. Do it during day light hours. It does mean having to put it out and then put it in and hang it somewhere else indoors but it would be quicker drying it outside than relying on indoor drying even if you have to move it half way through the drying time. Man made fabrics dry quickest and cotton, linen etc very slow to dry. Wool is terrible

Yes I spend a lot of time thinking about this!

We have to put the heated airer in my bedroom we have no choice

I put the clothes on airers in my bedroom, dehumidifier on and door/ windows shut. They dry much faster and it avoids that damp smell and condensation/ mould issues.

Can you get a washing machine with built in tumble drier? I have one and I put towels in dirty and they come out clean and dry on one program. Takes hours mind! But I’d no space for a separate drier this may work.

i only really use it for towels and sheets, everything else on an airer with dehumidifier running. It is a pain moving out of whichever room is being used though.

I see on a lot of these threads people drying things over the bannister. I would never do that, if you have wood/wax it could transfer from the bannister onto the clothes and even if you dont, the wet on the bannister would ruin the paintwork over time.

We have our tumble drier in a bedroom and pop the hose out of the window. Works really well for us.
We also stand an airer in the sunny windows to finish airing

Order 2 large washing racks. In winter I have the heating on so the clothes dry quickly. I have never had a dryer.

Maybe you need a machine with a better spin cycle. I don’t dry things on the bannister either but that isn’t why and I can’t imagine it being an issue.

Well if you put wet things hanging over wod regularly, particularly painted wood, you can cause damage over the long term. Its why I dont allow bath towels hung close to the door when we've had a bath/shower.

I remember many years ago hanging some bedsheets over an airer and a bit of the sheet touched my parquet floor (where I lived at the time) I didnt realise that the woodstain had transferred onto the sheets and I never got it off, very annoying. So I wouldnt hang anything over stained or waxed wood for that reason.

I used to take mine to a launderette to dry only. When I had my twin babies in the winter.

If it's too wet to dry clothes outdoors, I use an airer and a dehumidifier in the bathroom, for a few hours overnight. The dehumidifier also keeps the bathroom nice and dry.