To think I will be surrounded by wet laundry forever?

[DC1214]

Family of 6 here, 3 school age kids and a lovely late baby who thankfully is well but has reflux and several allergies and vomits throughout the day requiring frequent clothing changes. Along with uniforms, towels, bedding and sports clothes I’d say I’m putting machine on at least 4 times a day. Tumble dryer is rubbish - it’s a replacement model for previous one that kept switching off mid-cycle but it’s doing the same thing and I think it’s just not up to the job rather than faulty. I dread to think how much fuel we’re wasting trying to dry everything. Upgrading to a more efficient model isn’t an option any time soon.

Live in a particularly rainy part of the country so opportunities to dry outdoors are limited. House is a reasonable size but no spare rooms as such with open plan kitchen/diner/living area. I’m guessing laundry on radiators isn’t going to be cost-effective this winter anyway. We’re destined to be surrounded by dank smelling laundry for a long time, aren’t we?

What can work:

Reduce what you’re laundering and when

Anything that’s not underwear gets laundered much less often, and then only when visibly dirty or stinky

Spot-cleaning dirt and stains if you’re able. If you work full-time this might not work for you always. I got away with only washing school jumpers at the end of term by spot-cleaning and washing the cuffs occasionally when visibly grubby

No-one ever died from leaving linens on the bed for a few more days. Same for towels. At boarding-school we only had one clean bed-sheet a week all term, clean one one the top and top-sheet went on the bottom. We bathed every evening, so no-one went to bed un-fresh.

Get out of the habit of undressing and automatically tossing everything in the laundry-basket. Same for everyone else in the household.

Back in the bad old days, before our family had a proper washing-machine save for a boiler and a mangle, skirts, dresses and woollens were worn over and over before being laundered. Sheets and towels once a week but rarely all on the same day due to lack of drying space. In the winter that was on a pulley (sheila-made) in the unheated kitchen. Washing was put out on a washing-line in the garden always unless it was actually raining or snowing. Stuff can dry even on a winter’s day as long as there’s a good stiff breeze.

Ensure the spin-speed on your machine is set to max, even if you have to do an additional extra spin at the end. You need to have some discipline about unloading and hanging as soon as possible to prevent creasing and consequent ironing. Four loads a day, I wouldn’t be ironing a thing if I could avoid it

Is your tumble dryer a condenser?

How often do you clean the inside filter?
Not the one in the door but the one you pull out and have to rinse?

The performance of ours drops dramatically when the big filter needs cleaning - it's a horrid job but I use a degreasing spray, very hot water and a thin bottle brush to get it as clean as possible every week as I know my dryer works so much more effectively when o do this.

I've had friends who've complained about their rubbish dryers and haven't realised there's another filter that needs regular cleaning. When they've done it, it's like a new dryer!

Energy efficient dehumidifier will dry washing quicker and stop the house getting damp as a result of drying inside. Ultimately you need to massively cut down on how much laundry you do in a week. All bedding should be able to be done in 3 loads, towels in another 1. PJ's & underwear obviously needs regular washing but everything else on an as needs basis. Even with a puking baby you should be able to get down to well under 10 loads a week, preferably closer to 7.

Probably preaching to the choir - but have you taken the big filter out of the bottom and rinsed it in the bath using the shower? That fixed mine. 😳

I'd take it all to a launderette as a one off.
All clean and dry and one less thing to deal with.

We’ve not had a dryer for almost 2 years, we’ve recently moved and although our last house had a lovely garden we couldn’t use it to dry clothes because of the amount of bird shit. I would build up towels, bedding and anything that could go in a dryer and take it to the laundromat to dry, one of those big machines outside. It was a complete game changer for us. I’ve not needed to do it so far here but I’ve already found my nearest one outside our local Morrisons, I definitely plan on continuing using them rather than buy a dryer.

i also have a heated airier, it’s an expensive Lakeland one I treat myself to about 4 years ago to claim some of my house back but I love it, I just Chuck the cover on it and I can’t see the clothes. I even keep it in the coldest part of the house and still drys everything. I know Aldi have done cheaper ones in the past.

if you are washing 4 times a day that’s 28 a week.

it’s clear you need a system!! And you all need much less clothes.

monday- kids hampers
tuesday-adult hampers
Wednesday- all towels in the house
thursday- kids bedding
friday- school uniforms
saturday- white wash
sunday- your own bedding

check clothing before it goes in the wash, if the jeans/ outfit are clean, fold them up place ontop of dresser and they will be worn the next day (clothing gets damaged if washed all the time and it’s bad for the environment, your water bill and electric bill)

kids capsule clothes girl/boy

10x pants
10xsocks
7xvests
4xtshirt
4xlong sleeve
3xjeans
2xshorts
4xdress
2xskirt
4xtights
3xpjs
1xhoodie
1xcoat
4x school tops
2x school jumpers
2xschool trousers

1 towel each, gets washed once a week, if you are using it after you are clean out the shower/bath it will not be very dirty in 7days.

pjs worn mon-Thurs, new set on the weekend fri,sat,Sun and you always have a spare pair of 2 for accidents with the kids.

the key is to not just throw things in the hamper at the end of each day otherwise you will never crack the washing cycle

1 set of bedding for everyone get rid of the rest, wash, tumble/line and redo in the same day, forces the bedding to be done fast when you do not have replacement bedding

good luck hope you find a system that works getting from 28 washes a week to 7 is beating the system!
🌟

Like a pp I couldn't manage without my dri buddy. I got mine from Argos.

I have 4 airers;they get loaded at bedtime ;my dehumidifier is switched on;thé items dry overnight and the airers are down during the day so they are not in anyones way.

Impressed by the greenhouse and carport drying solutions. Perhaps we should have a 'how to dry washing without a tumble dryer when it's raining' thread?

What I missed when we moved house was the long upstairs landing rail that would take a king size duvet cover that would dry in a couple of hours due to air moving up through the house.

What we also need is for people to take a stand against flats etc that have rules that ban people from drying washing on balconies and in shared gardens.

What harm does it do? A few busybodies thinking that it 'doesn't look very nice' is not a good enough reason for the environmental and economic cost of such rules.

4 loads a day seems insane. That’s 28 loads a week or 4.5 loads per person per week. I’m a single adult and do about 5 loads a month. Fair enough you need to wash the baby’s vomitty clothes daily but even if you washed everything the family have worn that day at the end (so 5 sets of underwear, tops, trousers, jumpers plus the baby’s clothes) that would surely only be one big load, maybe 2 in winter when there are more layers or on days where the baby has been especially vomitty.

Is everybody in the family wearing multiple outfits daily? If you’re going to be washing uniform at the end of the day anyway do your kids need to change out of it when they get home or can they wear it all day?

Do things ever get reworn? Jeans, jumpers/ hoodies etc can all be worn multiple times so long as they’ve not had anything spilled on them. If you have loungewear that’s only worn in the evenings in the house and not being worn out that can probably be worn a few times too before needing to be washed.

How often are you washing sheets/ towels etc to generate so much? You shouldn’t need to be doing these more than once a week and can probably go 2 weeks for bedding assuming it’s not very hot and sweaty weather and you don’t have any bedwetters.

It sounds like you’ve just gotten into the habit of washing everything after one or two uses but that’s not good for the clothing, your bank balance or the environment! I think you need to really make a plan to try and reduce what you’re washing by only washing things when they’re actually dirty, not just because they’ve been worn.

Definitely wash less. Prioritise baby stuff, underwear, T shirts and sports tops. Sheets and towels are fine for longer than you think.

You will have more free time due to less washing so do something you enjoy, even if it's sitting down with a mag and a cuppa.

Lakeland have 20% off their Dry Soon (I think they're called) heated airers at the moment which get great reviews. I also had a thing on my Halifax account which gave me 7% cash back and Quidco have a Lakeland cash back offer at the mo too.

But also definitely a dehumidifier makes a huge difference. You can get them from toolstation or screwfix for about £100.

We have a 2 year old DD and another DD on the way in October. To prepare my husband has treated me to a heated clothes airer which we are going to keep in the conservatory to get all the little person things dry as the weather gets cooler and we don't want to block the radiators with wet clothes and create condensation. Sounds very sad but I'm genuinely quite excited about it!

Sorry but that's disgusting,what about bedsheets.and towel do need to be properly washed.
Febreeze only cover up bad smells,it doesn't clean anything

Can you not report it to the manufacturer. X

You need to reduce the amount of cycles.
Family of four, very messy toddler and baby, we do 5 cycles per week (1 baby, 1 underwear and towels, 1 black, 1 white, 1 random (bed sheets or gym clothes etc))

@DC1214
This has already been mentioned, but I would suggest a ceiling airer if possible. The washing would be out of the way when you are moving around, yet still in a place where it can be dried using natural sunlight. I remember in my childhood home the washing drying on a ceiling pulley in a utility room.

My parents did warn me when we had three children that we'd have a clothes drier up permanently. - as that was their experience even with a lot of line drying.

buddy drier - helps a lot.

Dehumidifier a decent clothes horse and we found drop down self for washing this useful as well - as can put on hangers wait them there them put hanger and wet clothes into biddy drier - and then wardrobes.

These are also good - www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q45TV7J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 sticking clothes and pants on and can be easily moved in and out for showery days.

Plus we got a 9 kg washing machine - that cut down on number of washes needed as 5 kg was never off and didn't last.

I do find in winter bedding and towels often aren't washed any where near as much as is usual.

Despite this I've had people who wash for fewer people insist I must be doings something wrong - my MIL among them till we had a prolonged stopped all fine as summer - then a week of wet weather and she finally realised more people does seem to be much more washing and drying then you'd think and never been mentioned since.

ceiling airer if possible

I had friends with these and they are good - but both properties we've owned not been possible odd false ceilings and hard to find joists.

I have never had a tumble drier.

In winter I hang things on the shower rail, use an airer in the bath (no one baths here), and the heated towel rail. Two adults, one in clean uniform every day, one in gym stuff a lot, two kids who are filthy from the stables a lot. the bathroom window is always open.

Towels and bedding gets take to the launderette, I wash it hear and dump it their driers costs about £5 for king and two single bedding sets.

There is a Tent type thing can’t remember name which u erect outside to dry ur washing under all year. I was think of getting one myself as really do not want to be tumbling anymore. You could actually make one yourself. A neighbour of mine had a big tree in garden which she had a washing line on she used it all year. Obviously both previous statements no use if u have no outside space.

There are some great recommendations on this thread. Although I don’t have to do big family washes any more I am already planning how to avoid paying any more than I have to to the millionaire CEOs of energy suppliers and their shareholders. I see this as sticking up a massive two fingers to them. Thanks for the suggestions and I would just add that cutting back on the amount you are washing is the top suggestion.
and don’t iron. Most stuff doesn’t need it.

The trick it to cover with a large sheet (or cover if it comes with one) and it's really effective. Mine is on my upstairs landing so has the added bonus of warming that area.