AIBU? To think that a lot of people aren't drying their washing properly these days?

[Oobiedoobiedo]

I notice a lot when I'm out and about people who haven't dried their washing properly *, and so it has that sour musty smell washing gets when it's wet too long or isn't getting enough air. To me it's a really "loud" smell, and I just wonder if people don't notice it? Or maybe don't care?

*disclaimer: I'm not critiquing people whose circumstances mean they can't dry them any other way, I have been there myself, but the people who could dry it correctly but don't.

It just puzzles me.

I’m very, very sensitive to smells (I have autism). I have definitely noticed more damp laundry type smells and a lot of just not proper washing themselves type smells. It’s really horrible but also really sad because I do think it correlates to the whole cost of living crisis. I’m on a health group for one of the health issues I have and we’ve had several people recently say they can’t afford to wash as well as they used to.

I’m a laundrette devotee. I take 3-4 loads of washed clothes and it’s all done and bone dry within 30 mins across 2 dryers. We have no space for a tumble dryer at home and the heated airer is great, but not for multiple loads.

I wouldn’t use the washing machines there unless mine was broken though, they do such short cycles I don’t think they clean well enough.

Laundrette is also perfect for spending 30 minutes sitting alone with a podcast or a book in a nice warm room that smells like clean washing. It has a lot going for it.

I smell some things more quickly than DH such as roses and Himalayan balsam, but I don’t really detect anything when he talks about washing smelling damp. I don’t know which of us is typical.

I don’t feel really strongly about this issue, but this bit stood out to me from the OP:

people who could dry it correctly but don't

I’m intrigued by people who are so sort of rigid and confident about things being ‘correct’ or not. There was another comment on the thread about people not being able to clean their homes ‘properly’. In my world, things are just on a sort of sliding scale. So I know that it’s better to dry things on the line, put them in the airing cupboard and (ideally!) iron them. But I can’t manage that a lot of the time because we’re so bloody busy, it always rains and the kids keep needing their kit washed. So I sling a load in the tumble dryer and hope for the best. The clothes will look better via the first method (and the environment suffers less) but it’s not a binary whereby one way is ‘correct’ and the other is ‘incorrect’ 🤷‍♀️

@RedToothBrush that’s a shame I have lived in a a couple of northern cities and never been too far away from one , currently 5 mins drive away.

I do actually love them. A bit weird possibly, but you get a very interesting cross section of society using them, ( posh ones dropping off their service washes, , students, and local mums getting their washing/drying done ) I also love how warm and cosy they are in winter, and the smell 😃 Sunday afternoons are best avoided though, everyone getting their clothes ready for the week ahead, can get a bit hectic.

Also like how you can do a big blitz of washing/drying and just be done with it.

Yes, that's right. Window open if drying without a dehumidifier on a heated airer, radiators, airer, pulley airer etc.

It's the smell of laundry that's been...... DARKED ON.

Use a dehumidifier inside. This stops humidity being too high, musty smelling clothes, and most importantly is better for health

@enjoyingscience totally agree, much better than having damp washing hanging round your place.

I probably smell a little musty at times

i do not have a garden/outdoor space, tumble dryer and restricting the heating its too costly

can’t say I’ve noticed others smelling if I did I doubt I would give it much thought

It's the smell of spider spunk!

Nothing quite like having to thaw out the stiff as a board frozen washing though when you bring it in!

We had this for almost a year after replacing an old washing machine with a shiny new one. Eventually I realised that although they were the same make and the new washing powder drawer almost identical to the old one, you were supposed to be putting powder for the main wash in the righthand one in the new one, not the left. Suddenly the smell was gone and people stopped backing away from us.

Laundry cleanser, Dettol or otherwise.

How boring!

I've never smelt this on anyone...now I'm worried I smell terrible or something. And I seem to be alone here 😅

They absolutely do this on the coller washes, clothes come out of lower temperature washes so wet that they are dripping at Revolution. Wash your stuff at home and just use their dryer.

The hotter wash cycles in the big 20kg washer are great for king size duvets, reasonably well-spun, and I take them home to line-dry.

I don't find this to be true.

I'm in SE England and have a covered deck I can dry clothes on. But for about 5 months of the year I can't get clothes properly dry outside. Even if it's a windy day with a bit of sun I can't get clothes dry outside through the darker months.

I might get them mostly dry and then I always need to finish them off on the heated clothes airer.

When I got the covered deck I was super excited thinking I could dry clothes outside year round but it hasn't worked like that.

We don't have a tumble dryer and dh is not worth living with if I try to put the heating on before he thinks it's cold enough. It's been dank and grey outside. Consequently clothes are currently taking 3 days to dry if even then. I did smile to myself at dh going bananas this morning nectar the shirt he wanted for work was still a bit wet. I imagine the heating will soon be back on . Think lots of people are in a similar boat.

Count yourself lucky. I seem to
come across these people on a regular basis and I don’t think it can all be blamed on COL - it’s been going on forever. The smell makes me want to gag. Tends to be men rather than women and I think it’s because they can’t be bothered to hang the washing properly.

Traditional house design was established by somebody unlikely to be doing the laundry.

Designed with an assumption of launderette or laundry service, or predicated on an outdoor wash house.

My partner can smell this a lot too. Especially jeans. He refers to it as slow dried ming. I have rubbish sense of smell so I’m not bothered by it.

I am super aware of this smell too OP. I rarely use a dryer - so outside dry or inside on a rack. I’ve found my washing start to smell in the last few weeks - it’s not warm enough to dry anything quick in or out so the clothing drys musty (particularly thick things). Have sorted it by washing very early and putting the rack out for hours when it’s not raining and only hanging one item over two rack bars (if that makes sense). I’m very invested in non-smelly washing and know immediately when it does smell.

I don't smell that musty smell of clothes taking too long to dry very often. It's much more common to smell strong fabric conditioner which is very unpleasant.

DH and I do our own washing - different detergent but the same machine cycle at 40°C, same drying rack etc. Lately his has been smelling musty even straight from the machine. He uses Surf pods. I use supermarket own brand gel and no problems. He’s now used up the pods and got a new pack and his washing is smelling ok again now. We concluded it was a dodgy batch of detergent.