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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

509 replies

emmeline25 · 23/10/2016 11:25

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?

OP posts:
MrsJayy · 24/10/2016 23:45

I confess I do like a sundried scratchy towel it is very exfoliating Grin your wussy dryer towels just dont do the job

BeALert · 25/10/2016 00:10

How, doman, when it's -30 out and two hours of daylight a day in winter

I am interested in the answer to this too. It starts snowing here on Friday.

Walkacrossthesand · 25/10/2016 00:18

Haven't read all 18 pages, but has anyone mentioned Scandinavian drying cupboards? I was very impressed when I saw one in Sweden - like a heated wardrobe vented to the outdoors, so you hang up your wet washing inside it and leave it - set the temperature and the timer, come back a few hours later and it's all dry, crease free and luvverly. I don't understand why they never became 'mainstream' so they're quite pricey.

Kpo58 · 25/10/2016 00:39

I want a drying cupboard. I never understand why people on Grand Designs never build one into their houses. Surely you don't want airers littered around your massive open plan room.

I line dry in the mid-late spring to mid autumn and go to the launderette to dry at other times or things stay damp for weeks on airers at home.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 25/10/2016 07:30

I hardly ever use my tumble drier because I can't stand the feel of soft floppy clothes. But I don't mind seeing laundry on an airer or radiators inside the house in the winter. Our washing goes on a large airer outside the back door and comes in to the kitchen overnight to dry off. Tumble drier used in absolute emergencies only.

However the smugness and sanctimony in the op is beyond breathtaking. I cannot believe for one moment anyone posted that with a straight face! 15kg of washing per week is a tiny amount and putting it all in one load (seriously, a white bra in with a black pair of jeans? would you?) is completely minging.

chubbylover78 · 25/10/2016 07:57

I haven't used a washing line in years and don't even own one anymore. It's time consuming enough washing clothes and cleaning a house without having to hang out washing and waiting for it to set. I can wash and dry a load in about 45 minutes and don't need to iron anything anymore (boring chore in itself) my clothes are wrinkle free and ready to put away, not all crispy and smelly from being outside all day in this weather. My neighbour hangs her washing out for days on end and leaves it until it's dry (because it's often rained when it's out). There's nothing worse than stiff scratchy towels and wrinkled jeans.

MyGiddyUncle · 25/10/2016 08:10

putting it all in one load (seriously, a white bra in with a black pair of jeans? would you?) is completely minging

'Minging'? Hmm

I wash everything together. I've never separated colours or by type. Never had any problems, never ever had a colour run and my white bras (and white anything else) are still bright white.

FrizzyMcFrizzface · 25/10/2016 08:17

I use the drier from Oct to Apr and in the summer if it's raining. I don't like doing it but our garden is north facing, small and surrounded by houses on all sides so is very damp. We get no sun in our garden all winter so the washing is always in shade. I have tried pegging out on sunny windy winter days but the washing is still damp at 4pm when it starts to get dark and it's pointless. My mum always pegged out through winter but her garden was massive, not overlooked and west facing.

Also I find that clothes are much softer and harder need ironing if you put them in the dryer. Clothes are wrinkled and stiff drying them on the line. But I still peg out in summer because I am stubborn Grin

PassiveAgressiveQueen · 25/10/2016 08:20

Up here in yorkshire there is a 50% chance it will rain any day that isn't mid summer, so I don't bother work days but still do at the weekends, it just smells nicer

PinkyOfPie · 25/10/2016 08:32

How can people wash colours and whites together and it have their whites turn grey, or pink, or anything but white?!

Offred · 25/10/2016 08:33

Dryer dries a 6kg load in three hours. The only time outside drying has ever been that quick is for about 2 months in the summer.

I have 4 kids. The dryer is a godsend.

Kithulu · 25/10/2016 08:36

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.
Sorry, but op you completely got my back up with that opening statement. I have a large machine and still need to do one wash per day and still don't get through it all. I have a massive laundry pile. Blush
However I hate the feel of anything(bar towels) that has been tumbled so have clothes hanging everywhere in the house. FML.

PinkyOfPie · 25/10/2016 08:37

My lovely 8kg does a full load in 80 minutes. I love it and would never get anything dried as quick on the line

Zbag14 · 25/10/2016 09:20

I've not had an oven for 2 weeks and have managed fine, 2 weeks without my tumble dryer might just kill me. Yabu. Why do you care how others dry their laundry? Even on the hottest summer day I'd still use my tumble dryer to finish off things like towels to keep them soft.

ghostspirit · 25/10/2016 09:26

I mix colours in my wash they don't run

LadyPenelope68 · 25/10/2016 09:28

Lol @ being nauseated by dryer users!

To the OP you do ONE load a week, then it's easy to dry on a line/radiator. We're a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers and we do at least 2 loads a day. There's no way I'm pegging our/trying to dry that lot on a radiator.

PuppyMonkey · 25/10/2016 09:58
vickibee · 25/10/2016 10:01

My dryer is one of those that is at risk of catching fire so use it as little as possible until they fix it next week. I do hang my clothes out to dry when possible - they smell of fresh air and are much easier to iron

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 25/10/2016 11:03

Suspect with two adults, four children and resulting dirty clothing and bedding I have rather more washing to do than you. I dry as much as I can on the line but sometimes it's a damp day with no wind and I don't want to wait three days for towels to dry and then stink.

I do kind of agree with you but your snotty tone put me off.

Aki23 · 25/10/2016 11:28

Tea towels, clothes and bath/bed sheets all together - yuk. If its the summer and Im at home on the weekend washing goes on the line. If its any other season or im working (six days a week sometimes) it goes in the dryer especially as I often sort it over night when im at home. I don't have time to watch it drying in the wind

BarbaraofSeville · 25/10/2016 11:32

I can't see the problem with tea towels, clothes and bath/bed sheets all being together Confused.

The washing machine goes through several changes of water and everything comes out clean - it's not doing it's job otherwise.

Those of you doing 20/30+ loads of washing a week can't be doing full loads each time, so it's not like it's more washing than someone doing a few loads a week but filling it up each time.

BitOutOfPractice · 25/10/2016 11:34

Life is too short to peg socks and pants out in my opinion

And I don't like my towels line dried. I like them fluffed up in the drier.

The rest gets pegged out or on the airer.

So in short, I use my drier as and when I choose and I don't give a stuff what anyone else does.

Aeroflotgirl · 25/10/2016 11:41

Yabvvvvv come winter there are not going to be many good days. If needs must, sickness bug, need clean sheets asap etc. Thank goodness for driers.

Stokey · 25/10/2016 11:48

I have a south facing garden in SE and still miss having a dryer on days like today. Did a wash this morning, was about to hang it out, it was raining despite forecast having been clear. The washing is now hanging on a clothes horse. Come 7pm when the heating comes on, I'll be running around like a loon moving clothes to radiators. I find even when I get to hang out on days like today, they still feel damp when I bring them in and could do with some time on radiators or in a dryer ( if I had one) to dry.

Touchmybum · 25/10/2016 12:11

I bought and paid for my tumble dryer and I pay for its use. I therefore reserve the right to use it when I see fit. Which is always. I haven't got time to run in and out to clotheslines; I am out during the day working to earn the money to pay for my dryer!!

I don't like line dried towels either, and as we have lots of bird feeders, the little feathered friends would just crap all over my washing. DH feeds them but it's my car the fuckers shit on!!!