To wonder how on earth anyone copes without a tumble dryer?

[Bumbles55]

Ours broke yesterday and I feel like I’ve lost a limb! Having to wait an entire day or more for washing to dry (and having to put the heating on full blast 24/7 in order to facilitate this) is torture. I’m so used to washing uniform etc at night and being able to quickly chuck it in the tumble dryer in the AM whilst we get ready. Washing loads take proper pre planning now! Despite it being only DD and I at home we easily get through one full wash per day so the house is already absolutely covered in clothing drying on radiators etc.

The new one won’t be delivered for 2 weeks - unsure how I’ll survive in the meantime 🤣

I put my washing on a airer in the bath, as small bathroom, put on dehumidifier in the bathroom. And its dry within hours

I got mine about a year ago. I realised I was heating rooms just to dry clothes, and they'd take days to dry, so it was more efficient to have a tumbledryer. I now use it year round, I empty the water onto my plants in summer.

Ditto!!

Clothes horses - heated ones are useful
Outdoor clothes line
Enough clothes so you're not immediately short of underwear if you can't do washing a particular day.
Designated DIY / work clothes that are allowed to get stained because they're only used for messy jobs
Designated clothes for messy animal care.
Aprons for cooking / messy arts and crafts
Gaiters for grown ups / rain suits for small children who play in mud

And the most important one:

Only washing clothes that are dirty / smelly. Unless either of you is incontinent or suffering horribly heavy periods or you have a tiny machine you shouldn't be able to generate a load of washing per day between two of you. There should be maybe two loads a week, which is much more realistic for drying stuff around the house.

Things that really need washing after one wear in the UK in winter: underwear, socks, tights, vests, maybe the t shirt layer, teenage + adult sports kit + muddy child sports kit. You do have to wear underwear under long johns etc otherwise they have to go in the daily washing pile.

Trousers, skirts, jumpers that aren't visibly dirty or smelly will be fine being worn multiple times without being washed.

Towels can be aired and used again - they take a while to dry.

It's manageable if you minimise washing by stopping most clothes from getting dirty and by only washing things that are dirty.

This is why we go through so many loads of washing and the tumble dryer is a god send for us. DS is incontinent so the washer and dryer are on constantly.

4 days!!!!
I put mine on the airer overnight and finish in the heat pump TD.
Everything is liovely and soft, non creased and ready to fold

It must smell mouldy if it trakes 4 days to dry 🤢

I live in a hard water area so yes, my towels dry pretty stiff and scratchy- I love it, means I don’t have to exfoliate 😂 (I also find fluffy towels less absorbent).

Stick on radiators. Turn once, dry in an hour. Have a dryer but don’t think I’ve used it since last year!

My airing cupboard is my drying cupboard. All dry overnight.

I assume you live in a flat with no garden. I love my wind and solar powered clothes dryer, even in winter. So glad I have a garden.

I’ve never had a drier, I used to just do it on a clothes horse by a radiator, but now I have a heated one with a cover and a dehumidifier running beside it and stuff dries so quickly now for me.

I have a tumble but unless I've gotten really behind on the washing I just hang. It up near our dehumidifier and it's dry overnight

We’re in Scotland- never owned a tumble dryer and never will (the cost, the environmental impact). Family of 4 (previously 3 in a flat). Today was brilliant day for drying outside- cold is irrelevant- dry and windy huge laundry practically dry in 4h. But obviously you can’t not do laundry cause it’s pouring - a good wide airer reasonably close to the radiator and clothes will dry within 24h (ideally open the window for the first 20min to get some of the humidity out), faster if you can be bothered flipping etc. (I can’t be bothered) I usually do a laundry every other day in an 8kg washing machine.

Never had one! Line dry, bathroom airer or heated airer on upstairs landing. Only underwear and socks get washed every wear. Sheets 2-4/weeks.

Mine broke about 8 weeks ago.
I've tried alternatives. And I can't be doing with the faff.
It turns out I'd rather tumble dry everything so I ordered a new one this morning, gets delivered on Wednesday.

It can be done just about. I have a dryer but try to use it as little as possible to save money. I hang clothes out as much as possible (luckily I live in a dry area) and then finish them off on the radiators over night. Its a lot of work though! I check weather forecasts and try to do loads first thing using a timer so I can hang them out before work.

There are 2 of us and I do around 2 clothes washes per week.

I have a tumble dryer that is used maybe 3 times a year usually if we come back from a holiday with a pile of washing and I can't get it dried outside.

I haven’t used mine since the electric bills went up so much. It’s actually not as bad as you might think, I’m still hanging washing outside and drying it. I find there’s only really a few months in the year now when you can’t hang it outside. Is harder in those months of course and it can be annoying having it hanging round the house but mostly it goes outside so no issue.

I ditched mine a couple of years ago when I needed to replace my older washer dryer. I opted just for a washing machine. Instead I line dry all year but if the weather is very bad then I use a heated airer. The heated airer with a cover and fan directed in a corner tries the whole load within a few hours (definitely overnight). Line drying on a breezy day works all year round and laundry smells so much better after being line dried. I really have not missed my dryer at all.

They rarely washed their clothes.....that's how they coped.

Nope. Just rather wet Northern Ireland! I outside on good spring/summer days with no rain forecast - it’s raining pretty much every day at the moment so no point in trying in my opinion. I work all day so don’t have the time to go running out to fetch it in!

Poor thing. Hope you can wait until your new clothes dryer arrives and do not suffer from a nervous breakdown in the interim

Tumble dryers are expensive and bad for your clothes. Never had one

In the Summer dry most of clothes on the outdoor communal.garfen washing line. Rest of the year on simple removable racks over the bath.

You could always buy more clothes.

Line dry in the summer, clothes horse and dehumidifier overnight in Autumn/Winter with small things like underwear on the radiators. Maybe I've got a basic dryer, but it shrinks a lot of clothes so would only dry towels, bedding in the dryer and only then if I was really stuck. I only really use my dryer now to give clothes a quick 5 to 10 minutes to take out creases before hanging them on hangers to dry so there's rarely any ironing to be done. We have high dado rails, Ideal for hanging the hangers above the radiator so they dry even quicker. I'm also much more aware of if something really needs washing or will a spot clean and hanging it up to air be fine. Conserves energy and means clothes don't wear out so quickly.

How are you getting anything dry in the bathroom? Surely it’s humid from baths/showers?

Running tumble dryers is expensive - buying more good quality clothes (which I dont actually need, I like to keep a capsule wardrobe) is even more expensive.

Do explain how tumble dryers are bad for your clothes? I hang out about three times a year so the majority of our clothes go in the dryer. Only cashmere and a couple of my more snug tops go on a rack in the airing cupboard.
I have some jeans, tops, jumpers that are years old so I wonder what’s happening to them while they tumble away out of site. I’m intrigued.