People who hang out washing in heavy rain

[Klonc]

Why do people insist on putting out washing when having heavy rain?

If out all day, don’t do it. If in, take it in as soon as it rains!

Washing stinks when out in the rain. Or when is stuck in the washing machine - as parents’ washing machine on Friday. It didn’t drain - the pump has gone. I took the load home with me and washed it as stank. Not strong, but enough to feel conscious about it.

My mum told me (decades ago) that getting rained on helps the towels dry fluffy. It doesn’t smell out in the rain. I don’t hang in the rain but we’ve had loads ofvshowers so I’d just let it stay till dry.

So? It'll dry today. An extra rise in the rain won't hurt it. & Christ knows where you'd have to live for rainwater to make it smell 🙄🙇🏻‍♀️

I don’t stand there pegging out washing while it’s pissing down, but I’ll purposely put duvet covers out when I know it’s gonna rain and brighten up again. Nature’s own ironing service if you hang it neat enough. Also, if you buy anything second hand and it smells of smoke, body odour or damp; wash and peg outside to get wet in rain and air dry. Stink go bye bye!

If I hang out and ( despite me checking forecast) it rains I will leave it out unless nearly dry.

I don't get the rain smell idea- although I imagine living in a city rain may be contaminated by exhaust fumes, smoke, pollutants etc.
I live in a rural area, surrounded by woodland, rain here is clean and sweet.
Hanging out clothes kills bacteria, deoderises and really freshens and softens up fabric.
UV light from the sun, heat or freezing termparatures are all good, as is wind and rain.

However I don't really care what other people do with their laundry.

I'm not trawling the thread to see if someone has said this but if you're in a hard water area then hanging washing out in heavy rain removes the hard water deposits that make clothes feel crispy and rough. All rain water is soft. The pp with the mil who hung towels out in the rain to soften them was correct. People who cloth nappy their babies will do this to remove the hard water deposits and washing powder deposits that can affect the absorbency of the nappies.

I regularly have left washing out in heavy rain. Six of us. I don't have time to be in and out getting it in ans then putting it back out, or have space inside.

It also doesn't smell. In fact I am pretty sure that the occasional heavy rain is good for clothes. I know when I used cloth nappies we were always advised to strip wash them by leaving them out in rain for as long as possible - it would remove some of the build up from detergent and make them more absorbent. Same as towels.

It's not the main point of this thread, but just picking up on something else in the OP...

Leaving washing in the machine doesn't necessarily make it smell.
I guess if you leave it ages it would.
But if you have a clean machine it shouldn't if you leave it for a day/overnight.
Clean machine = monthly service cycle/tub clean, clean drawer and seals monthly, empty filter every few months, leave door and drawer slightly open after each wash so that it can breathe/dry, effective regular washing (appropriate temp/detergent use

It was a gamechanger for me when I got better at this and knew that I didn't have to plan my day around washing

Why do you care??

You're wrong, you're bossy & you're grumpy..

I can talk about the benefits of hanging washing out all day long.

But I don't think someone would hang out IN heavy rain. Think maybe they hung it out, went out and THEN there was heavy rain.

Like last week I hung out, went to the shops and on the way back the sky went very black and I thought please just give me 20 more minutes to get home before the heavy rain comes.

I hang mine out irrespective of the weather. It will dry eventually (south coast).

Also it smells INCREDIBLE after a few days on the line and after being rained on.

Why do you care, OP?

OP is this the second bizarrely overly-intense post you've made about the rampant stupidity of people who put their washing out in the rain and the non-existent stink that results? Or maybe, there's a friend for you out there:

Washing on lines in the rain. | Mumsnet

Rained on is akin to being darked on in this house

I've been known to risk it, then get caught out by a heavy shower. At that point it can't get any wetter (and it too wet to dry indoors without another spin in the machine) so I often leave it in the hope the rain passes.

It doesn't smell.

I can talk about the benefits of hanging washing out all day long.

@Magnoliasunrise me too. Line dried washing is one of my favourite scents in the entire world. I feel like line drying gives things an extra freshen up and kills bacteria that a normal temperature wash would not. I'm especially obsessed with line drying my son's socks as he has athletes foot.

I'm intrigued by the idea that letting washing get rained on makes it smell even better.

I live in a soft water area and my towels are still crispy when line dried. Would leaving them in the rain make a difference here?

It doesn't smell in the rain. In fact it often comes back smelling lovely like summer when it's dried in the sun after! Constant drizzle would be a bad idea, but sudden summer storm, who cares

It’s the spider willies - the rain magnifies their stench.

TBH if my DH is sneezing really badly the impact of line dried closed is probably minimal.

I don't have the space to dry king sized duvet covers and cotton sheets, and towels inside and I'm not going to use electricity to dry them when it's warm outside.

Drying clothes inside can create mould spores and that's sometimes worse than pollen.

Christmas Dsy is best.

And when the sun finally appears it bleaches stains out of fabrics, and the light and the weather even work their magic on armpits.

Strangely interesting.

This is my neighbour. As others have said it will dry eventually and it isn't going to smell.

But they'll also dump a full load on to the ground and then start to slowly hang that up over the next few days. No idea why they do it and I can't imagine letting damp clothes sit on the ground for days improves the smell. 🤷🏻‍♀️ They don't hang anything out over the winter so I assume they have alternative ways of setting their clothes.

Washing stinks when out in the rain.’ No it doesn’t. Not in my garden. Where do you live that has smelly rain then?

If your washing is left in the rain all day, yes, it stinks. You might be nose-blind to it.

They dump clean washing on the ground?

The weather is very changeable. I started hanging washing out in sunshine the other day and it started raining before I had finished. I carried on as it was just a shower and all you need is a couple of hours of dry weather at this time of year to dry washing outside, the sunlight removes any stains and it smells great line dried too - even if it has been rained on! We don’t own a tumble dryer though, so I will dry outside whenever I can as our heated airer is great but takes a lot longer.