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’m up north but outside of summer stuff doesn’t dry properly outside in my garden. When something I hang out at 9am is still damp at 6pm my outdoor drying days are done for the year.

Couldn’t live without mine, it’s a god send in the winter, it’s not used in the summer though.

we have a lot of washing in this house, I’m happy to rewear clothes but not my work uniform as I do a manual, dirty job as does my dd2.

my teens wear clothes once and it drives me nuts even towels are only used once.

I do have a heated airer and it’s alright if you stick a sheet over the top of it all, dries quicker.

Ive never in my life had a dishwasher, people think that’s essential 🤷‍♀️.

Or cooks and has a dog...

We do tonnes of washing as I'm clean and don't want to smell, which I do as I have ADHD and so a lot of the time overstimulated and a bit sweaty.

I find it easy without one.

I used my tumble dryer yesterday for the first time in months, just to finish a load of towels that were a bit crispier than I wanted. Also, we've had three sets of visitors and lots of heavy rain. Normally we're a household of two, both retired, so plenty opportunity to hang laundry outdoors and space to use a dehumidifier.

I am in the SE and I put a wash out to dry this morning. It mostly dried by the time the rain came and I just finished off drying inside on an airer.
As long as the atmosphere is dry (so paved areas are dry) and there’s a breeze clothes will dry outside all year round. It doesn’t matter if it’s cold or not. My Grandmother told me that trick many years ago and she’s right. It’s saved me hundreds in tumble dryer costs.

Oh gosh, I couldn't live without a dishwasher. Everything disappears in it, the kitchen is never messy, there's nothing waiting to be washed, or waiting to be dried and having to clean the dishes.

I never want to have none, some posters on here even recommended having 2! Genious.

Don't have one, never had one.
Live in the West Pennines where it rains a lot but we line dry outside when we can. Indoors we have two large airers and two de-humidifiers.

I probably use ours once every 2 weeks (winter only) so YABU. Mainly only for bedding and towels.

Only time we ever had one was when we lived in the US in an apartment - 2 adults and a 3 yr old. Tried the dryer a few times, seemed to be on for 2 hours and stuff wasn't dry. Bought a clothes horse, put washing on it, dry in a day, seemed way less fuss.

Never had one and apart from towels and bed linen, nothing really I own can go into one, it would all shrink!

I have one but barely use it, certainly not this year. Also in rural Sweden with snow from December to April. We are lucky to have an upstairs utility area with a drying rack and pulley Maid which we use most of the year for most of the year. Summer washing goes outside - best drying ever.

Calm down OP and get this 'problem' into perspective
I couldn't afford a washing machine when my son was a baby and I survived

I have a friend who thinks it’s a badge of honor that she doesn’t have a tumble drier or a microwave!

she actually believes people who own these appliances are somehow beneath her😂.

they are just appliances - no idea how people attach so much of their identity to whether they use them or not!

My washing dries outside on the rotary drier, or if ita bad weather on a clothes airer (unheated). We have a bannister rail on the landing which I drape sheets over. If the heating is on I rotate things from the airer to the radiators.
I don't need to do a wash every day.

I have a tumble dryer, I probably use it once a fortnight in winter, and barely at all in summer, im not sure if id miss it. I do about 3-4 loads of washing a week for 4 people and it gets dried outside if dry/good weather, and on a ceiling mounted dryer in the utility room the rest of the time.

But agree with a pp I couldn't live without a dishwasher. Ours broke 5 years ago and it was the longest week imaginable! 🤣

Never had one and you don't miss what you've never had!

It is difficult this time of year, heating isn't on yet, and I'm in Wales, it's been raining on and off all week so couldn't hang anything out. We do have a dehumidifier, which helps, bit it's much more effective when the heating is on.

Agree, naturally dried clothes smell fine. Those silly fabric conditioner ads are poppycock. It's the same with 'scent boosters' and all those people in beds saying things smell 'fresh'. A house full of air fresheners and scent boosted laundry is an asthma attack waiting to happen for some of us.

We didn't have a microwave until we had DC. Never saw the need. Had a dishwasher before that though! I always say that changed my life

I won my top of the range Miele heat pump drier in a competition about eight years ago (along with the matching washing machine). I love it like another child, despite living in a hot country. In fact line drying in Australia is a pain as it’s really easy to fry your clothes if you leave them out for any length of time, and we have solar panels so most of the time the drier is free to run. I actually had it serviced for the first time last week as my husband says we will never be able to buy another one like this! The service guy told me it has done 3100 hours, and they are expected to do at least 10000 hours minimum, so we should be good for a while yet. I used to live in Ireland with a crappy washer/drier and had washing hanging all over the house, I do not miss that at all!

Whilst we do have one, I have to admit it's rarely used. I only use it a) when the sun is shining and b) when I have a mass of socks/underwear/small stuff that I CBA to peg out, or a load of sheets.
Rest of the time I hang on an airer in front of the Rayburn or a radiator with a stove top fan pointing at the washing.
One other thing I do now though is do a second spin cycle - we recently replaced our washing machine with an AA rated one - the spin cycle is half the time of the old machine (hence the 'low' energy rating, I imagine). A second spin cycle removes moisture to a similar amount of moisture as the old machine. Otherwise it was taking too long to dry indoors.

How long does a load of washing take to completely dry in a tumble drier? Someone said they cost 1p a minute to run but how long do they need to be on for?

I’ve got a heat pump dryer that I’ve used twice since March. Both times were yesterday because it was piddling down. Had I have hung on 24hrs to do the washing it would have blown lovely on the line today.

I’ve got a load of bedding in the machine that will be finished first thing in the morning, when we get up, so we can get it on the line because it’s forecast to be a nice day. I’ve decided to make an effort to use my dryer as little as possible this Winter, because I managed fine without one when I had 2 little children.

Totally agree OP, we finally got one this year after having a baby and it’s been life changing! Would never go back. I swear our house smells nicer as well because it is way less humid and musty from washing drying inside in winter.

I couldn’t manage without mine. I have a heat pump one so very efficient and it doesn’t have to be vented to the outside. And I cannot bear to see washing draped around the house.
I recall a time in the office when it started to rain. Almost all of my female colleagues looked out in dismay and said ‘oh no, my washing is out.’ My response was ‘I can bet your bottom dollar that your husbands, boyfriends, partners are not thinking the same thing.’ Women often do not value their own time so would prefer to be a martyr to their washing lines.