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'd give up my oven before I have up my tumble dryer

Ha me too Giles!

Do people really get clothes dried in a day in mid-January when it's -2 degrees but not raining? IME drying outside only works when it's hot and sunny.

And no matter what the weather I never dry jeans or towels on the line they come out stiff as a board!

:o at one load of washing a week
When I wash my violin twice a day I do hang it on the line though and finish it off in the dryer if I can. But it depends how big my violin is that day and whether or not I've been up playing it in the night.

One loads per week?!?! Really?! I do 20 or more in a 7kg machine so would still have at least ten loads in your 15kg machine! Assume you don't have kids?! How can you only have one load? Surely weekly bedding and towels is at least two loads before you start on clothes?

There's been another thread today about inverse snobbery, I think there's an element of that going on here too.

I never hang clothes out because I live next to the sea and gull shite on my knickers is not a good look

I read that it costs about 60p to dry a load
It's hardly worth worrying about really, is it?

For us that would come to around £300 a year, and I'm anything but a washing fanatic. It's not a vast amount, but why waste £300 when you can dry for free? We dry washing on the line outside or on racks over radiators.

I try not to judge people and be rude but seeing as you are OK, may I ask if you have a job? Because if you really spend so much time judging other people and doing laundry you are probably one of the people everyone who is about to start a family vows they won't become.

I live in the middle east and haven't seen a washing line for 15 years! I hate it when I stay with people back home and the.duvet cover is damp and crunchy and smells of mud. Give me free electricity and a dryer any day thanks

Op not ok. Ok you are not.

Hand-wringing and self-congratulation, well played

They're wrong, you're right; you win a new thorny stick for scrubbing the pans with at the river. I bet the neighbour has hot running water and plastic scourers

Tbh I've no idea how much it costs to dry a load, however I doubt it's as much as that. My electric and gas together costs me about £1k a year, I doubt that £300 of that is the dryer.

YABU. I don't fancy going out and hang clothes out before 7am every morning.

I just burn my clothes after one wear - saves all that water and electric

Btw, I don't know if you are aware but most rental agreement contract have a section referring to not drying washing on a line outside or on radiators or clothes horses indoors. So presumably the only option is a tumble dryer?

That said, I've ignored and hung a line outside

I don't own a dryer. We're a family of 5, one a toddler with all the mess that creates, in not so sunny Manchester. I am starting to think we might have to bite the bullet and get a bloody dryer this winter and that annoys me because I have held out for a long time, citing cost and environmental impact. DH and I have discussed building some sort of movable roof thing for the yard to create a space to hang laundry under even on wet days but I'm not sure our neighbours would like it even if we could figure it out.
Gah.

We do try and line dry, but it just isn't always practical here in Scotland. Yesterday I stripped and changed the bed, hung the linen out, and it was still damp when it was getting dark, so in the dryer it went. That was a "dry day". I really resent time spent pegging stuff out, then still having to faff around with clothes horses because it's still damp.

I understand OP.
The sun is out here & its around 8 degrees but it's windy so I have bedclothes & pjs on the line. If DH had his lazy way they would be in the tumble dryer but this way saves money even if they need 10mins in the tumble dryer later.

When DS was a small baby though I used to just stick stuff in the tumble dryer because I didn't have 15/20 mins for pegging out & another for bringing in so I guess I'm making up for that now!
Many things go on a clothes horse regardless of the weather or DS clothes as they shrink so badly in tumble dryer.

Whatever works for you. I like seeing my washing on the line and I can see it now.

Tumble dryer is a back up.

Dryers arent as expensive as you think if you buy one of the new eco rated ones. I lived without a drier for 8 mths when mine packed up and DH was off sick, so couldnt afford it. Eight months of drying stuff in the house, causing condensation and having to spin stuff because it pissed down and I was at work. Cue school uniforms, work uniforms and trips to launderette ( expensive) , to dry stuff. My towels were horrible and scratchy instead of fluffy..
So bought a new dryer last Christmas when we could afford it. No more smell of washing and dog hair on my clothes ( as hairy dog loved brushing past clothes dryers. I actually hugged the thing when it came into the house.

I Am finally succumbing to a tumble dryer after 5 yrs of three kids . I am determined to only use it when it's really cold and damp and to still line dry as much as poss but I do reckon it'll be a life changer plus lots of stuff comes out not needing ironing if you get it folded straight from the dryer but I wouldn't feel environmentally right using it all the time.

We have no central heating and indoor drying the 2/3 loads i do everyday exacerbates our damp and mould problem.

Our garden is sheltered and the lawn is always wet and the washing would hang out there all day damp pretty much indefinitely if i left it out at this time of year.

No way does it take 5 minutes to do any part of my laundry. I've got a toddler, teens/20s, me and DH (a builder) to wash for. That's a lot of washing.

I don't want to handle the wet washing twice (sorting and putting it all outside and then bringing it all bloody back in still wet and having to hang it all up again on airers) thank you. Time management and all that.

If my days washing isn't dry by the next morning (and with no central heating it wont be) then i'll have 4/6 loads to try to get dry and so on.

So i'll continue with my tumble dryer unless it's very warm or very dry and windy outside,

I'd love to hang duvet covers out but unfortunately they get gulled so I have to wash them again.

I have never owned a washing line. I hated the scratchy clothes some with bird poop on when I was younger so as soon as I left home I had a dryer and have loved them ever since. I put on a wash load in the morning, it dries while cooking and eating dinner and then I fold it and we all take our own stuff upstairs to put away. No hanging about and toasty warm. And I rarely iron.

I hate hanging up clothes. I have a old fashioned pulley in my utility but barely use it and I don't even have an outside line. I never got this obsession with hanging clothes outside. It's tedious

So big raspberries to you, I couldn't and wouldn't be without my tumble drier.

We have a 12kg machine so not as large as yours but still pretty big. 17yo ds does 1 load a week, 13yo dd does 1 load a week and dh and I do 2-4 loads a week between us. We can't hang washing outside as a) we work so couldn't grab it in if it rained and b) there is a thriving bird population and we have trees they like to sit on.

We have a compromise on the drying we have a drying line inside with an oscillating fan one side and a dehumidifier that turns itself on in high humidity the other side. We can only do that as we have the space though, if we didn't have the space it would have to be a tumble dryer.

Regularly well below freezing here from October to March/April. And I'm not talking -2. It can be -40 with the windchill. Ain't no clothes drying outside in that!