To think putting clothes in a dryer is a complete waste of money unless it's raining outside

[emmeline25]

I have a lot of laundry to do each week. I bought a large washing machine and dryer so that I could do one load of washing a week. I do my laundry every Friday morning.

Friday morning, as I was putting my laundry on the line, my new neighbour mentioned that it was only 10degrees celsius today. I explained that as long as it's not raining, my laundry goes out on the line. When I got back from work my clothes were completely dry. It was only 10 degrees but the wind had dried them.

If I know it's going to be raining on Friday I put the wash on, on a different day. If the forecast is for rain all week I use the dryer. The dryer has been used about 10 times in the two years I've lived in this house.

Even in very cold weather , clothes will dry. It doesn't have to be a hot sunny day for them to dry. Yet among my friends and neighbours the dryer is used weekly and clothes only put out in the summer. Some of my friends use the dry on very hot days!!!

I lived in a flat for two years and had no choice but to use a dryer then. I hated it and ended up putting a communal washing line in the grounds.

I find when I do use a dryer, even on the lowest setting it can shrink and damage clothes. Clothes definitely don't last as long as when line dried. Driers also cost money. Okay it's only 30p-50p per load but still, if you can line dry I just wouldn't bother. I also absolutely love the smell of line dried clothes. I have always been brought up with line drying though.

So, AIBU to think if it's not raining and you have a garden with space for a clothes line, putting clothes in the dryer is a waste of money?

It was perhaps the tone of the original and subsequent posts.

telling people that something they do is a waste of money is somewhat judgey, no?

I have a bed wetter in the house. Basically I have to do about a load of washing every single day to keep up with it. Before I had my tumble drier I found it impossible to keep up with. I had clothes continually decorating the hallway, the banisters and wherever it would fit. Often it does not dry outside so then I'd have to move it in and hang it up again inside. My tumble drier has been a huge time saver and I feel like I have my house back.

puppy to me that 50% makes a big difference. But not the only difference. I love the fresh smell of clothes dried outdoors, no need to use fabric softener. The wind makes clothes soft, cold and UV light kills germs, takes out stains, makes whites brilliant. I dry outdoors 12 months a year.

telling people that something they do is a waste of money is somewhat judgey, no

Not really when it's worded like "Am I being unreasonable to think that it's a waste of money?". OP certainly appeared to be speaking from her own experience and her own line of thought too, not saying "you people who do this are wasting your money!".

I mean, obviously lots of people DID take that in a judgey way, so my point was just that maybe these people need to relax a little.

I love my drier, proper lovely smelling warm soft clothes and all washing done dried and back in the cupboards within 3 hours. I hang shirts, sweatshirt material and jumpers. Anything else goes in the drier, I cannot imagine having to a) plan my washing around the weather and b) havjng clothes hanging around indoors for days, draped around the house waiting for them to dry.

vghifcqueen "lovely smelling " clothes? How does a tumble drier do that?

It was the smug 'housewife of the year' tone that irked me. I'd love to have the single, weekly small load, time and supposed skill required to hang out clothes, but both me and dh work FT, we have 2 kids (various school and PE kits) plus live in Scotland where the weather is not that reliable.

My tumble drier helps me enormously.

i add some zoflora to the wash and then tumble dry, and my clothes do smell lovely. I can also vary the smell if I like!

Got one at the beginning of the year. Fed up drying clothes on radiators, I don't think it's healthy. I'm ashamed to say I didn't hang a single item outside all year.

My Gran who's 93 was overwhelmed when we bought her a dryer. According to her tis much berrer than during that bleddy war when we ad to dry our drawers by the fire.
.

i add some zoflora to the wash

Delightful. A synthetic fragrance derived from petrochemicals,.

I prefer the smell of pure fresh air.

Oh bully for you. Suppose you shower in the rain too?

mindtrope they smell so much better, a little bit of fabric conditioner in the wash and so soft. I can't stand the slightly damp smell of washing which has dried in the house and really don't get the supposedly lovely smell of line dried washing, it's horrible

I love both. Fresh sun-dried bed linen smells gorgeous, but towels dried on the line are like cardboard and DC complain. The smell of the drier fills the house with warm, clean air and the clothes come out soft and with no need to be ironed, whereas line-dried cotton clothes are very hard until ironed. So a bit of both.

vghifcqueen depends where you live perhaps.I live in rural Scotland, soft water means no need for fabric softener, and pure fresh air means my clothes smell amazing.

Bloody hell, I do at least a wash every day, I dry outside if I can, but if it is cold there is no way it dries in a day (I have tried it!) Sometimes life gets hectic and I end up doing tons of washing and drying all day.

The tumble dryer we have now is a bloody marvel. Clothes dry really quickly, don't smell and come out super soft. We didn't have one before this one (6yrs old), and we just got sick to death of damp washing hanging up around the house making the house even damper and mouldier than it already was.

I don't have a tumble drier. Outside when I can, on radiators if needed quickly, or on the airer for a day if not.
Used to live in a flat, no garden, no tumble drier. Three radiators. You learn to crack on with it!

I am amazed that you only do one load of washing a week. Three of us here (all adult) means at least one load each day. Even my mum, who lives alone, has three loads - darks, lights/whites and sheets and towels/tea towels etc. All need different temperatures and different washtime.
I dry outside in the warmer months, but at this time of year, my garden has a damp feel pretty much all day and washing has to go in the drier anyway, so might as well go in from the start. Also, tumbled clothes often don't need ironing, whereas anything that's been line dried gets ironed.

Why do you have an industrial washer for so little laundry? How many children do you have?

Agreed. I do 12 loads a week.

I reckon I do one/two loads of bath towels /tea towels/face wiping cloths (75-90), one sheets and bedding (65)
3 dark, 3 light (30-40) , one low temp toys/delicates etc wash. At least. Anything with food crusted all over it or puke or any of the other crap babies smear everywhere will fester if left.

How can you do one load a week?? You need to separate out towels, bedding and delicates as well as darks and lights.

How can you do one load a week?? You need to separate out towels, bedding and delicates as well as darks and lights

I wash it all together. The only thing I separate is whites from everything else, but we don't have many white clothes so it's just them with bed sheets in one wash and then everything else in another.

Actually, I think I sat behind someone who does only one wash per week, on the bus, yesterday. I lied to DS1 when he asked me what the smell was.