To stick the kids clothes in the f***king dryer??

[Jazzybeats]

We have 2 kids, 1 and 3, who generate a lot of washing. We also have a washer dryer.

DP infuriatingly insists on taking out the kids clothes from the wash and hanging them up to dry. Every. Single. Day.

Believes that the washer dryer will shrink the clothes.

Creates a ton of extra work for us that I reckon is not needed.

I don’t have the energy to argue about it but DP constantly moans about the never ending washloads and yet doesn’t see the martyrdom!

AIBU to stick the bastard clothes in the dry cycle or will they really all shrink to nothing???

@lotusbell admittedly I don't work all the time, but on days when I work, I'm up at 5.15am, often put a load of washing on, then have to get myself and kids up, washed, dressed, commuted, at school by 7.30am, so that I can get to work on time.

There is no time for pegging out. Often it isn't light by the time we leave the house, and I'm not home before dark.

I know we're not alone, because breakfast club at school is heaving, as is after-school club.

When I have time, I hang the washing up/out, but it takes 15-20 minutes, which is time I simply don't have, if I'm trying to get to work!

DH can't do it, because he's up and gone most days before me, and back long after.

OP: put the kids' clothes in the dryer.

Cannot believe all these people who don't have time to hang washing out!!!

I do have time, I just have other things I’d rather do with that time.

It's not the hanging out. It's the bloody watching the weather like a hawk for the whole day. I spent most of my childhood looking out for dark clouds and running out like a mad person when it started to rain. Although, if my mother was getting into a lecture, she could always be deflected by 'Is that rain?'

My tumble dryer has two heat settings (just kind of presume they all have but am not sure). I would tumble dry the DC's clothing on the cooler setting.

I tumble dry everything. Don’t have a line. Don’t dry stuff on an airer or radiators because it produces mould and damp in the house. I don’t massively find stuff shrinks much. Really really cheap primark type stuff might. I whip anything delicate out before tumbling the rest. If I am worried I just use the cool tumble setting

I swore that the dryer didn't shrink anything...

Until I tumbled one sock and air dried the other eye opener! It was half the size!

So either buy socks too big, or hang them out. Otherwise crack on. I've never seen jeans actually shrink, but they do get worn out quicker. IME it's worth it

I chuck it all in the dryer, except for the rare delicate item. Never had any shrinkage issues.

I prefer to tumble dry things but that said, I’m anal about checking labels to make sure they can actually go in the dryer.

I find with line dried clothes you have to fold them with a cricket bat because they dry so stiff.

I tumble dry EVERYTHING on a cool cycle with wool balls in the drier which halves the time! No shrinking here!

Dryers shrink clothes.

“Shrink the clothes “ = children GROW

We don’t use the dryer unless necessary. Environmentally unfriendly for starters

just do it, why have it if you cant use it, id be lost without mine, i dont think ive ever used the line at this new house...
3 reasons for that before i get slammed for not caring about the earth, i have hand issues where i cant grip things, even a pen, so i cant hold the pegs long enough to get them on the line, and we live on a gravel road, so even if i could hang them out they get covered in so much dust i would have to rewash, and the lines are a braided metal so in the wind ( this happened in the house previously to this one when my teenager would hang it out for me) when it is windy the clothes swing back and forwards and develop little holes where the pegs were pressing on the wire lines, so i have many tops with holes on both shoulders on both sides of the shoulder seam.... fuck the line, i use the dryer!!!

I love my tumble dryer ok a bit too much. It does shrink the clothes a bit, some more than others and you need to be careful, check the labels as some can't get tumble dried. If you did by accident they will no longer fit your kids.

I get your pain but he is willing to do all the work I'd leave him to it. How does that work in winter though? I've not had clothes out since last summer. Tried some bed sheets a few weeks ago and a sunny dry day was quite mild but had to put in the tumble dryer later as were still damp.

I don’t understand how someone can not understand that some people don’t have time to hang out washing - at least during the week. I’m on mat leave at the moment and if it was actually getting above 10 degrees in the daytime and dry I would have plenty of time to hang out washing. When I was at work I’d get up at 7 after a broken nights sleep (not getting up earlier when I’d been up every 2-3 hours all night). Get myself and the toddler ready for work and nursery (with some assistance from DH) and all out of the door before 8. By which time in the winter it still wasn’t light - in the summer it would be but no chance was I getting up before the toddler to hang out washing! Then home between 5.30 and 6 (in winter already dark), cook, get everyone fed, bathtine and bedtime for toddler and by then it’s 8.30-9ish. DH usually entertained toddler and preventing house distruction while I cooked or vice versa and cleared up from dinner during bath and bedtime. I would then put the selected bits from a load or two of washing on the indoor airer - it would be pretty pointless to put them outside at that time of night. I don’t want to put whole washloads on the airer as then they take ages to dry and risk causing damp in the house. I also don’t want to spend my weekend doing a dozen loads of laundry then being tied to the house in case it rains and I have to bring it all in.
Surely this is a pretty normal routine for a lot of families where both parents work full time.
I know the tumble dryer isn’t particularly eco friendly but I compensate by not washing towels every time they get damp or bedding every day!

Tumble driers burn loads of energy and are therefore bad for the environment. Also expensive to run.

We used to hang out all the laundry and it took bloomin ages. Gave up and switched to tumble dryer for most things a couple of years ago. Seriously improved our life.

Yes a tiny bit of shrinking but nothing major (and DD2 is smaller for her age than DD1, so hand me downs fit perfectly ). I tumble dry DH and my clothes too, except delicates and shirts. Haven’t noticed the adult clothes shrinking particularly tbh.

Once the DC are old enough that they don’t dirty clothes quite so quickly, or ideally help with the laundry, I’ll go back to hanging it up.

I don't have a drier but then I don't do loads of washing and it only takes 5 mins to hang it out

We are lucky to have an airing cupboard reading this
No space for a dryer anyway. But who is hanging washing outdoors this time of year? It’s too unreliable.

Tumble dryer's do shrink clothes, i use the dryer for jean's, towels, sheet's and underwear.

If something is much easier for you, then do it!
There aren't any awards for being the person most able to air dry.

All the children’s clothes go in the dryer here. It makes them nice and soft and o frankly don’t have time to hang out lots of tiny clothes. In the summer I love line drying sheets but otherwise I’ve been a convert to the dryer for most things. As an alternative we’ve also got a heater airer which is cheaper to run and fab.

I don’t like tumble dryers either - even if they don’t shrink things (I think they do, but others disagree) they definitely do wear things out more.

Get a Lakeland heated airer to Hang the clothes on. Clothes don’t shrink, it’s cheap to run and you rarely need to iron 👍🏻

I would be lost without my dryer. Unless it’s delicate it’s going in. They save so much time and the only thing that shrinks is my jeans which is why I put them in there 😂, you really should use it.