to wonder why nobody ever mentions how long it takes to hang up washing when they tell you not to use your tumble dryer?

[MissClimpsonsTypingBureau]

I've just hung up a full (9kg) load of washing. It took me half an hour.

I may be unreasonably slow (but kids/ babies= a lot of very small items in a load) and I totally agree with the environmental arguments - but why, when people say 'oh, you can save loads of money by hanging your washing up' do they never talk about how long it takes?

(I don't think it costs as much as £2 to run a full load through our tumble dryer. Even if it did, that's £2 to buy back half an hour. My hourly rate is well above £4...)

@MissClimpsonsTypingBureau how many individual items? I can well believe 9kg of tiny clothes taking half an hour. I have a 8kg washing machine. A not-quite-full load of our family's washing - socks, underwear, t-shirts, pyjamas etc probably took 15 minutes to peg out earlier. I can see how that could be doubled with twice the number of items.

Agree, if you have time for any form of social media, you have 10-15 mins to hang the washing out. Im up at 6am every weekday so I can manage 10 mins to get the washing out before the school run/work. I get it in just before dinner/bathtime and sort it when the kids are in the bath. Not really that challenging!

Agree, if you have time for any form of social media, you have 10-15 mins

Exactly- funny how all these mega busy people manage to post on MN and browse threads

Yep! I did a load this morning, I was still out the door by 10am. Plenty of the day left for doing what I want to do. Household drudgery is just one of those things that's part of life, unless I hired someone to do it all for me which I can't afford it's just about sucking it up and getting it done.

Yep-I cant understand how anyone cant do it and our mornings are rushed and stressed (like everyones). But not having all the clothes shrink and saving energy/money every day of the year (unless its horrible weather) is totally worth it.

Omg this has blown my mind!' I don't iron, but I also set everything to fastest spin plus an extra spin to get more water out. But! On a hot sunny day there is obviously no need to do the extra spin, or even a fast spin 🤯 my mind is genuinely blown at how I did not think of this!! So hot sunny days = less spin and less creased clothes. Amazing!!

I genuinely do not have time before work (I’m not going to bother to explain why, I will assume you believe me) so during the week I put the clothes on airers indoors in the evening and then just move them outside in the morning. I find that easier than trying to squeeze in before work.

Because people want to use their free time fancying on mn not being a skivvy / cleaner? Why should I spend my free time hanging up washing when I want to use my break to faff on sm?

Takes me about 10 minutes

I hang everything over the line first then walk along with the peg bag and put all the pegs on in one go

big items on the line - towels, blankets, sheets,
t-shirts and clothing items on the clothes horse, set outside. Baby clothes, socks, underwear, towels and other small items on a multi peg hanger, set on the line. Quick, easy, 5-10 minutes.

I have time to hang up washing, just not so much that I don't resent it! I do it the night before which means it gets done in the approximately 90 minutes a day I have neither working or looking after my (very young) children. Those extra 15 minutes a day are actually quite precious to me.

I dont consider 5-10 mins to mean I'm a "skivvy" LMAO thats funny.

So you don't clean your house then?

I rather like the few minutes spent pegging out because it’s in the sunshine, listening to the birds and getting a few minutes of fresh air.

If I have lots of washing to do I peg out the larger items of each load and chuck the socks etc into the tumble dryer until all 3 or 4 loads are done, and they I turn the dryer on for one loads of ‘smalls’.

This is because I don’t have a long enough washing line to hold more than about 1.5 full loads so unless it’s an exceptional drying day I can’t get it all done.

I rather like the few minutes spent pegging out because it’s in the sunshine, listening to the birds and getting a few minutes of fresh air

Same. Its not unpleasant at all being in the garden in the sun listening to the trees rustle- in fact, it lifts my mood far more than staring at a computer screen for 10 mins.

Christ what are you doing for 1/2 an hour

on the plus side in todays weather by the time you get to the end of the line and finish pegging it out
the stuff at the start will be dry and you can bring it in

I use my tumble dryer for everything in the winter and towels all year round. I line dry the rest of the year. I have no outdoor space but have room indoors. Yes it takes longer to hang washing out, I generally listen to something on my Alexa with a cup of coffee on the go.

Yanbu, I think your point is it’s a faff and takes longer to peg out than sticking in the dryer. That’s true, fact.
but I still do the faff because I care about the environment. A full massive load of kids stuff takes me 10-15 mins

It takes me about 20 minutes but I do all the sorting into who's it is and turning stuff the right way round at that stage. If DH does it it takes 5-10 minutes, but bringing it in takes ages. I prefer to spend more time when I know I have it so I can get it in quickly if the weather looks like it's turning.

I totally understand there will be some people who cant-my Husband does crazy hours and leaves before most people are up in the morning, so I understand there are some people who genuinely dont have time before work. In that case, I would hang it out in the evening if it was a week like we have at the moment. It would be dry by the morning.

However, if you do a normal school run (say 8.30) and then go onto work, most people have 10 mins when the kids are ready (breakfast and dressed) to hang the washing out. I do it at 8.20 pretty much every day, then straight to school after that.

On the contrary, I work full-time as a senior manager and have a disabled child. I've learnt how to be efficient at housework 🤷‍♀️.

Honestly of all the household chores, hanging the washing is probably the least annoying for me. I'd far rather do that than the bloody hoovering, can't stand it!

Not sure how it takes you 30 minutes. I literally grab a 10kg load from washer, dump on chair, grab and hang each item. I do it usually in the last 10 min before I fly out the door to work which does encourage speed in my case.

I tumble everything that’s possible to tumble without shrinkage or damage.
There are 3 of us living here and the majority of my stuff can’t be tumbled so I hang things like jeans and jersey tops.

But I always tumble underwear, towels, cloths, bedding. I haven’t had a washing line for about 6 years and I don’t care what people say about the environment- I do enough other good stuff to not worry too much about tumble drying. Martin Lewis says it’s about £1 per load.

I hate doing any part of the laundry but hanging it out on the line is the least annoying bit. It takes ten minutes, tops, though probably not even that. Less than that still to bring it in again. It takes longer to hang out on the airer but even that doesn't take half an hour.