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?

The hole in your argument OP is that you assume it's not going to rain.

My next door neighbours peg out before going to work. At about 5pm there's always a bloody shower and they come home to soaking clothes.

That's the bit I hate about lines - having to watch the skies obsessively, especially if you live in a coastal area where it rains without warning.

Reminds me of that Peter Kaye sketch "It's spitting! ITS SPITTING!!!!!"

I use mine all year round. Life's too short to peg out a million socks every week and I hate towels that have been line dried into cardboard.
We have all the extra towels and bedding from our holiday cottage, so I would go mad without mine.

Also. I don't use kitchen roll. I use old nappies as cloths. They belonged to my 28 year old and we're used for them all.

Did you use disposables OP?

You don't have alot of washing if you do one wash a week how many people live in your house?

I line dry as much of the year as is possible. Everything goes in the drier for a few minutes then just to finish off (helps soften the towels etc). There's 5 of us so I couldn't afford to tumble dry 4 lots of bedding, 3 lots of school uniform and a gazillion towels every week.

Na, I like using the tumble dryer.

I'm not farting about pegging out a million odd socks on the line and no one needs to see my knickers out there. Also, line-drying towels makes them slightly scratchier than sandpaper.

I do put bedlinen out in the summer though.

YABU to try to apply your beliefs to other people's circumstances.

I

We're a big family; I use my dryer all the time, all year round?

HTH

Well I agre with the OP that your dont NEED a dryer.

But it makes things slightly easier as you dont have to think about when/how to dry stuff.

I personally found that there was one time when I really wouldnt have done wo a tumble dryer and that's when the dcs were in (cloth) nappies. Nothing was making said nappies soft enough than the drier.
A friend of mine got one when she was looking after her terminally ill mother. Being able to wash and dry sheets within a few hours was a god sent for her.
Im sure othyer people will ahve found times when they just wold NOT have done wo it.

For the rest of the time, its just more convenient but yes not needed. Same difference than between a want and a need iyswim.

One a week? OMG I do about 16-20 a week!! There is no way on this planet I could live without a tumble dryer but we have two very young children. Towels, 3 lots of bedding, nappies 4 times a week, DPs work clothes (building sites), darks, lights, whites, baby clothes. Could not go in together even if I had a massive capacity machine. It's a massive faff to hang stuff out but I do if it's roasting with no chance of rain but it obviously takes a lot longer.

I actually don't know how I will fit work back in

I don't have a washing line in the garden. I have a lovely garden and don't want it spoilt with a washing line.

I have 3 kids and do about 8 loads of washing a week, everything apart from delicate clothes go in the tumble dryer.

Yes it uses money

Whether it is a waste is only for each person to decide.

Some will feel it is a waste and this is fine.
Some will feel it is money well spent and this is fine.

Oh and I live in the wettest part of England....

Agreeing about the effect of living near the coast. Whole week soggy frets that even turn the dog shit on the pavements furry. You can spot the houses the same type as ours, on right move that have been empty for a few months as the walls are black.

Love my washer drier tbh, pop dirty clothes in, press go, go about my day, take them out and put them away.
No faffing with lines, pegs, weather watching and all that nonsense.
Washing takes me about 10 minutes.

I'm with you OP for 25 years I managed perfectly well without a drier, I only have one now because I inherited it from my late DM. It lives in the shed and is only used very occasionally if I need something dried in a hurry. When I worked full-time I always set a timer on the washing machine so that it finish just as I was getting up and I hung it out before work and took it in again after work, often in the dark both times. I'm now part-time so don't do that so much. If its still a bit damp it gets finished off in the airing cupboard. When it rains its hung by the radiators or on the heated towel rail.
I remember my DM use to wash on a Monday morning no matter what the weather, in the winter clothes would often freeze solid on the line and have to be brought in and defrosted.

Mrs Jayy - by "tent effect", I mean I use an indoor airer and a sheet draped over it to trap all the heat inside. It's very effective. Lakeland do their own version:
www.lakeland.co.uk/around-the-home/laundry-and-ironing/indoor-drying-and-airers/electric-dryers-and-airers/?gclid=CjwKEAjwv7HABRCSxfrjkJPnrWgSJAA45qA2jAOCPOyMz_vETL1Fh1Bl9hKCGoutWMLC9KApuk6t_hoCSTjw_wcB&src=gpsol&s_kwcid=AL!49!3!152993974202!e!!g!!lakeland%20clothes%20dryer&ef_id=VhUNwgAABFtHaaDE:20161023114526:s

I wouldn't mind having a dryer. I can definitely see the appeal.

Well does it really bloody matter how other people do their washing

I use my tumbler all the time. I love it. I've got two kids and I live in a flat so to get to the washing line I would have to take baby plus child plus washing down 4 flights of stairs. Not thanks!

I'm also boggling at one load of washing being a lot! Unless your washing machine is the size of a car.

You seem to be presuming we are all washing for one. On MN, I'd have thought most people are doing a LOT more washing than that, and don't have the luxury of 'waiting for a dry day' as people in the family need the clothes back to wear.

I can 't see how you could peg out a 15kg load of washing in less than five minutes though - I certainly couldn't.
Don't get me wrong, I like seeing a line of washing - on sunny / windy days as much as the next person, but there's no way things dry in my garden between about October and March-ish.

It's also just SO much better to get clothes out of the tumble drier. Towels are soft. Nothing needs ironing.

you sound like a very boring person

As I said above, I don't give a monkey what other people do. As opposed to other posters however, I don't find bringing the laundry outside a chore at all most of the year. The kids are outside with me and the dogs, they can run around for a little while instead of being cooped inside. It gets a bit chilly in the middle of winter, but how long does it take to peg a full load!

It would be different if I was in a flat, where you can't start the laundry at 5 or 6am, but when you have no neighbours to disturb, it's fine.

I could very well manage without my drier. I just don't want to. I could also manage without my coffee machine, my computer, my iron and my hairdryer. But I don't want to. I wonder what it is about tumble driers that makes people feel superior for not using them?

Op?

I think it was fine for large families to peg out when people only changed their underwear twice a week and wore the same outer clothes all week, minimising washing, but now we have different hygiene standards, as others have said, there is no such thing as a 'wash day' and people have their machines on the go once a day or even more, so for any household with more than a couple of people this is going to be a major issue.

Added to this, we no longer have coal fires and ranges to stand things in front of, in draft houses. We insulate our homes, which means there is nowhere for the moisture to escape in a lot of homes (but which also means we save fuel).

Finally, unless you are sitting home all day ready to pull the stuff in if/when it rains, it's going to mean a lot of extra planning and work, plus there is a risk it becomes overdry and very creased if you aren't there to get the timing exactly right for cottons on hot days, meaning more time with the high wattage iron plugged in (probably in excess of dryer time).

So I think it's a bit like dishwashers and nappies - people bang on about them being un-green but in actual fact there are lots of factors people forget to take into account when assessing the environmental impact. There is this idea that just because something takes a lot of work, it is somehow virtuous and better, and that is not always the case.