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?

Someone tell me the secret to not shrinking your clothes so I can use my drier! Got a combo one when we moved in, firs attempt at using the drier and I shrunk all the tshirts, not massively but still noticeable. So it hasn't been used for 3 years since then! In the winter I just hang them on driers inside

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

That sounds like quite a lot of money to me actually. The absolute minimum number of washes we get through is 5 a week. So that's £150 spent drying clothes a year.

I work full time + have two kids but I line dry where ever possible. Sometimes leaving the washing for a few days so I can time it with decent weather.
I mostly peg out in the morning before dropping off ds and going to work.

although I do use the dryer for towels, love line dried clothes but hate line dried towels

Yanbu, Dont have a dryer, never did. Clothes dry perfectly well outside!!

My rule of thumb is that if the ground outside is dry or drying and it's not forecast to rain then the washing goes out. It's a good way of seeing whether water will evaporate that day.

I don't have a drier. I line dry, even when there is snow on the ground.

I'm not allowed a washing line in my garden so have to dry indoors. I use an airer though

OP what machine have you? Mine is on its last legs.
I'd love a big washing machine.
I was brought up believing that a drier 'eats electricity ' and is therefore really expensive to run, so I rarely use mine. But I use my garage rather than line dry as I live in a country where it rains fairly often. In summer I line dry.

I've never had a drier, and always coped. Just seems like one of those luxuries that people "need" once they've had it and got used to it, like a dishwasher.

You don't have to have a kettle and they use a lot of electric (proportionally)

Relative to what? To my electric hob? Or to just not boiling water?

YABVU. Towels from the dryer are so soft and plump. Double important in the early days of breastfeeding. Towels off the line feel like sandpaper on my delicate nips.

WTF?

The OP is BVU to line dry her towels in case they hurt YOUR sensitive nips?

How does that work?

Just checked on electric Ireland website- stumble dryer with a 5kg load to dry used as much electricity as a roast of lamb in the oven for 3 hours.

I have a washer-dryer. I hardly every use the dryer & only really for re-proofing waterproof clothing.

Luckily I have a large airing cupboard with a clothes horse in it, for wet laundry days.

I like to line-dry things but IMO it is hardly dry enough to put away, even in the summer, & needs to go into the airing cupboard overnight.

This time of year, as soon as the sun is dropping in the sky, it becomes damp very quickly.

We all have luxury items all over our houses luxury items are there its just a tumble dryer to dry clothes that we need drying jeez

I hang outside where possible, there's some out there now. I find the dryer makes things more creased and then there is the risk of shrinkage too.

We do have a dryer for back up though but it probably gets used once or twice a month in winter.

I wouldn't put up with any 'not allowed a washing line' bollocks, how ridiculous, especially as no-one can come up with a better reason than 'some people think they don't look very nice'.

I live in Italy Land of Pizza, Pasta and Sun.

Even better I live in Southern Italy where our average daily winter temps are around 15-18 °C.

I have a dryer that is used a lot more than yours. YABVVVVVVVVVVVVVU

If you hang washing out in winter you sometimes get the amusing 'freeze dried' effect where the clothes go so stiff they stand up themselves. No sure if there is any actual drying going on though.

If I lived in a hot dry country I would always line dry and don't really understand why you wouldn't provided that you had the space and were physically able to hang it out. In the summer, stuff often dries in an hour or two so you can even just hang it out in the evening after work.