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?

I also have a very large capacity washing machine (an essential for anyone who has horse rugs to wash as well as the usual) and I can absolutely assure you that there is no way on earth I could do a week's washing in one load. I suspect, op, that you may have considerably fewer people in your house than there are here. I hang it out when I can (there's some out now) and I use the dryer whenever there's a need to. I can't imagine why anyone would care about other people doing what suits their needs with regard to washing.

We need a dryer. DP works full-time, I'm only at home during the day for about 2 days in a work week and we have four people in the family. Plus, it's bloody freezing where we are and the weather changes quickly. We put a sheet out once to dry and when we came home it had frost on it!

During the summer we do try to dry on the line but a lot of the time through the year it's just easier to use our tumble dryer.

Surely the same argument applies to the op large vqoqcity washing machine? Waste of money she could use a washboard and laundry soap?

Capacity.

No idea what that word is!

Meh. We love our dryer, use it every day of the year. There was a washing line when we moved in, spanning the entire length of the (big) garden, but we had it and the posts removed.

Could not be arsed to peg out washing, plus I wouldn't like looking at it, spoiling my view

I am reasonably sure that a male dominated forum wouldn't have too many threads about drying clothes.

OP.. may I politely suggest that your joy in washing will not be riveting dinner party conversation unless perhaps I'm the 1950s.

I don't like using a drier regularly, I prefer to line dry. But often our good old British weather won't allow this. Even when its not raining, the relative humidity is usually over 50%, and often nearer to 70% so things don't dry very quickly.

I have a damp problem in my house (inadequate ventilation) so leaving things around on radiators or the clothes horse/maiden isn't a very good alternative.

I have a dishwasher. I have s computer. Printer. A mobile phone. An iPad.

None are necessary. All cost money to run.

What's the big deal about s drier ?

Dryers are there for convenience brilliant invention imo we are not all down the river banging our laundry off rocks to wash them are we ?

I live in a dip and in the winter it's always damp outside everything just hangs there , also I can't afford to heat the whole house so I'm not hanging wet clothes in a cold house thank you very much and also I don't want to live like Widow Twanky so everything goes in the dryer

I remember us getting our first automatic washing machine was a twin tub before that and im sure mum loved it more than us

I don't know anyone who has a garden.

Personally I dislike dryers so I hang my clothes up around my flat with the window open. Except for towels and sheets, those get tumble dried.

I have a 15kg washing machine. Trust me, one load is all you need.

Um no. I have quite reasonably sized 9 kilo machine and I have done half a dozen loads just this weekend. It might take you extra 5 minutes to take your one load out with your speed-hanging skills, but for me it would certainly mean a lot of extra time, compared to bunging most stuff into dryer.

I have a 8kg machine and do 4 or 5 wash loads per week 3 clothes and 1 or 2 towels/sheets. I always tumble dry towels and sheets but try to hang clothes on a clothes horse in front of a radiator with the window open. My husband will hang the washing outside if he does a load, I just cannot be arsed to stick the baby in the pram, push him away up to the back of the garden, go back to get the washing and then hang it up only to do the same thing later to bring it back in. Takes longer than 5 minutes definitely.
If I only did 15kg of washing once a week then I would do it.

Oh yes dishwashers. I have one of those too. Feel free to judge me for that too, I really couldn't give a shiny shite :)

How smug you sound

In the winter, it is dark when I go to work and dark when I get home. I will not spend my precious time hanging out every individual sock, knickers, undies just for them to get soaking when it rains during the 12 hours we are out the house (most days)

If I am at home at weekend (rarely) I will use the line. In the summer in settled weather I will use the line for all but the fiddly small items which still go in the dryer. That high humidity we had in August ? Nope, the washing did not dry outside.

I do prefer clothes dried outside except when they come back in stiff, cold and damp. But my lifestyle is massively enhanced by labour saving devices and this is one of them.

I hang clothes on radiators too

For me, the main benefit of the drier is time saved. You clearly don't have small DC as a full load of tiny stuff takes a LOT longer than 5 minutes to peg out and then take in.

And soft towels. That's been a revelation. We got a drier for the first time last year. It's been a game changer. I was concerned about electricity bills but pleasantly surprised.

Yes I am sure my mum rolls her eyes at my lack of housewifery even when she is at my house she will wash and dry a cup she knows full well where the dishwasher is.

We have a 7kg washer, and are a family of 5. I would say we do about 16 loads a week with school uniforms which with primary kids rarely get more than 1 wear out of, exercise clothes for me and DH, things like beavers/cubs uniforms, towels, bedsheets (youngest is a bed wetter so his bed is changed several times a week and includes protective waterproof sheet, fleece blankets plus sheets and covers etc)

Even with your 'big' machine it would still be 2 loads a day and we live in rainy Wales so tumble drier is a godsend.
Our tumble drier broke earlier this year and I had to go a couple of months without one - it was hell, very rarely could you dry clothes outside - they would nearly dry the. It would rain and soak them again, even if I was home you couldn't I peg several loads off the line without at least half of it getting damp!
Things hanging inside room 2-3 days to dry if thick clothes, during which time the dirty washing is piling up and up! And then there's the times there are no dry school jumpers so kids have to go to school in a damp one as no tumble drier to pop in for 5 min!

You sound like you are a single person who probably doesn't make thier clothes very dirty - kids dirty sticky hands on you etc means my clothes rarely last a day without getting something on them! I never had a tumble drier as a single person and never had a problem, as a mother of 3 it's a completely different story!

I live in Scotland. We rarely get enough dry weather to hang our washing out &I I can't afford to have the heating on for hours at a time to dry a family's worth of clothes. I'm more annoyed at the companies who don't make tumble dry-able clothes in this day&age or those that say they are but they still shrink when on cool :(

Whilst we are on the subject , can anyone recommend a good dryer?

My main issue against them is the time it takes to dry clothes. Which one would you recommend that can dry a full load (let's say 8kg) in 1 hour?
I don't have more than 2 hours between getting up and leaving the house in the morning!